Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you are reading this – it means I have internet in my apartment (That is a lie - I just went to my friend's house who has wireless. I wish my prior statement was the case but it's not....)! In preparation for this glorious moment, I started writing this on August 6th (and have been writing this ever since that day until the day of posting. So, we’ve got about a month’s worth of stuff going on. According to Microsoft Word, I’ve got about 12 pages, just as a warning). Anyway, let me continue.
It has been a wild ride so far.
Let’s review!
Tokyo Orientation finished on Tuesday night (August 2). A friend and I went out for yakiniku (Korean barbeque) with some friends who were in the area. As usual, it was very delicious. They have this thing called 食べ放題 (tabehoudai) or all you can eat for a certain amount of time. For about 2 hours, we gorged ourselves on meat. And cabbage! They serve raw cabbage topped with sesame oil (I think) and a bit of salt on them. It’s quite good for its simplicity. But the simple things are really the best, right?
Wednesday morning, we were up bright and early to get ready to leave for our designated prefectures and cities. It was weird saying good-bye to everyone, finally coming to the realization that we wouldn’t always be together like we were at orientation. We made sure to get our Facebook requests going while we still had available internet in the hotel.
For me and the other Hyogo JETs, first it was a bus to Tokyo Station. And then the shinkansen (bullet train) to Yashiro, a city in Hyogo. If you didn’t know before, the shinkansen is the best. More leg room than a plane, it’s smooth and it gives you a great view of Japan.
We arrived in Yashiro and soon afterward, we met the people who would take us to our placement. It was about an hour and half drive up to Toyooka. Me and Ashley, a girl from Canada, rode together. I think we bonded pretty nicely over games soon after we started talking, so that was nice. I nearly passed out on the ride up to Toyooka, I woke up at 3 on Wednesday morning due to jet lag and was unable to go back to sleep. All in all, I think we had been traveling for about 6 hours via various vehicles. After we finally got to Toyooka, they took us to the grocery store to get us some food for the night and some breakfast.
They also gave us bags for recycling. In Japan, they don’t play around with recycling. It is very serious. I will read to you what the little guide told me. In the red bag, burnable things go into it –food stuff, paper stuff, thin cardboard, and cloth materials. The black bag is for non-burnables such as ceramics, glass materials, batteries (which need to be “returned to the shop” – not sure which shop they are referring to, will have to find that out), hard plastic goods like pens and floppy disks (hahaha, how old is this recycling guide, huh?), ash, and small electronic materials like hairdryers and water heaters. And then there is the green bag. The green bag is for plastic bottles, plastic trays, plastic cups, plastic bottle caps (to be removed from the bottles), plastic protection (for fruit), cans, plastic egg cases…you get the idea. And I quote: “You must put the right kinds of garbage at the right place on the right day in the right way by 8am in the morning.” Yikes. No pressure, right?
Anyway, we arrived at my apartment first and everyone helped me get my luggage upstairs. And then I finally got to see my apartment! It’s so nice! And very cozy! It’s a 1LDK, meaning 1 living room, dining room, and kitchen. There isn’t really a difference between the dining room and the living room but it’s all good! It’s got plenty space for people to stay with me when they do (I’m already thinking ahead!) My B.O.E. (Board of Education – I will be using that from now on, so remember it!) was kind enough to buy me some things like a table, a few cooking/kitchen supplies, a futon, a hose for my washing machine, tissues, toilet paper, a toaster oven, and a TV (it has a VCR slot in it – I’ll probably get a nice one later and stick this one in my room). My predecessor said he will give me a microwave (I’ll see him on Sunday, so this is super convenient)! Sweet! All I have to buy a few things myself, but this is a wonderful start.
On Thursday, I was taken to the city center for education for my ceremony of written appointment, filled out more paper work, and talked to the other ALTs (assistant language teacher) that were there. After that my JTE (Japanese teacher of English) was awesome and took me all over the place to apply for my alien registration card, get bus tickets, get a bank account and a cell phone, and took me up to the school so I could meet some of the other teachers. I made a bit of a blunder by being awkward and not saying much but I hope to redeem myself in the year to come.
I was pretty exhausted by the end of it, due to jet lag (not to mention was 36 degrees Celsisus plus oppressive humidity). However, I couldn’t stop there because I was invited to the festival down in Kinosaki, one of the five towns brought together to make up all of Toyooka City. It was so much fun! Lots of food and I met many other ALTs who were nothing but funny and very kind to me. The fireworks were astounding. To finish the evening right, we went out for karaoke. Yeah, I really do love my karaoke. It’s the chance for me to be a singer without the contracts, the tours, the annoying fans and all the other bananas celebrities have to go through. :p The other ALTs who had been in Tajima (the area in which Toyooka is in) said that everyone will surely love me at the enkais (drinking parties that many coworkers go to).The next day I had all these plans to go out and shop for things at my apartment – none of those things happened. I woke up early, as usual, but decided to go back to sleep for a bit. I didn’t wake up again until about 4 in the afternoon. I guess I was tired!
Fortunately, I got up in time to go to the All-American BBQ event! I got to meet even more new and old ALTs and enjoyed, as you can guess, American style barbeque complete with Japanese fireworks. Good times all around! Even after the cops came. You see, the ALT whose house we were at was on school property. Someone called the police when they saw the fireworks and thought that some kids broke into the school grounds. We also had to turn the music down. Thankfully, by the time they came, we were finishing the party anyway. The next day was when I actually did some of the shopping that I intended to do on Friday. I went to Daiso (a big store with almost everything you need for cheap) and Home Plaza (another store with basically everything you need – the top floor looks like IKEA!) to buy some things for my apartment that wasn’t provided for me already. I got to go with two of my new friends, we enjoyed some yakisoba together and then went our separate ways…
…Before we saw each other again a few hours later at a farewell party for a departing ALT (after three years in Tajima). We went to an izekaya – a restaurant that does nomihoudai (the drinking –alcoholic usually, but there are plenty of non-alcoholic drinks available- equivalent of the tabehoudai) and tabehoudai. But of course, in Japan, the party doesn’t just end at one place. Naturally, we went out somewhere else afterwards. It was a karaoke bar called Poseidon. More drinking took place and lots of singing. There was a bit of dancing involved too, so that’s always good.
I spent Sunday afternoon with my predecessor’s family out for lunch and going around Toyooka City. I’ve been emailing my predecessor for about a month before I came to Japan so it was nice to finally meet him! His wife and baby were all very friendly as well and I’d love to spend more time with them when I can. They were also able to hook me up with a nice microwave! Woot! I ended up crashing in the middle of the day, like I did on Friday. I think my body is trying to catch up on the lack of sleep.
Monday was another day of shopping for practical life things – like a tote bag for my school supplies and some gift wrap for my omiyage. I did a bit of exploring Aity, the local big department store.
And tomorrow, I go to school! My first full day.
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Actually, my first full day got cut in half because my JTE (a.k.a. the nicest person ever) took me to a local car dealership that specializes in helping foreigners get a used car (a.k.a. someone who can speak English). Fortunately for me, this was very easy! They had exactly the car I wanted (a Daihatsu Esse) and I could get it the next day! It wasn’t blue like I wanted it to be, but red is almost just as good to me. I also had a test drive. Now that was funny. It somehow felt like my life suddenly turned into a comedy show. I got in the car and my JTE and the dealership lady got into the car too. The radio was turned on to some strange music that was ridiculously serenading me as I nervously drove down the road, trying to make sure I stopped when I needed to and turned the right way, not into oncoming traffic. You’d have to be there. After all of those shenanigans, I did some more paper work, was served orange juice and raspberry flavored rusk, and was on my way after a short time. My JTE took me home after wards.
The next day was a bit more normal in terms of staying at school. My appointed time to be at school is at 8:15. I have a lunch break from 12:15 to 1:00 and then resume work until 4:45. One of my coworkers invited me to his home after work but unfortunately, I could not go because I had an appointment to pick up my car. He even tried his hardest to ask me in English. I felt bad for having to refuse the offer but I’ve got a year, right? I can make up for it.
Anyway, I took the bus (as I had been) back to Toyooka and finished up the arrangement for getting my car. And voila! Her name is P-body. It feels like a toy car because it’s so small. But let me tell you. I can park this baby anywhere. It’s rather exciting. The windshield wiper s and the blinkers are switched so guess what I do whenever I want to turn? Yup. It’s the sunniest day possible and my windshield wipers are going. Oh, and I have windshield wiper in the back too. I’ve gotten over looking rather silly in my car. Driving is a breeze now…except when the roads get incredibly narrow, especially the further up you go into Takeno. I’ve sadly knocked my side view mirrors a couple of times. I found the button that makes them fold in, so that’s handy. And you know what I’m also afraid of? The ALTs here call them “gaijin traps.” First of all, “gaijin” means foreigner. Second of all, Japan’s roads are bordered by giant gutters to help prevent flooding. Why are they affectionately called “gaijin traps,” you may ask. Well, sometimes the roads are so narrow that there is literally no space for you to go when a car is coming towards you except backwards. Many foreigners’ instinct is to go to the side. But that leads to bad news bears. I know a couple of people who have fallen in. I’m trying my best to keep that off my track record. Also, many roads don’t have any sort of guard rails or fences to at least help prevent you from falling into steep drop. Lovely.
Even though I got my car very quickly, I didn’t drive it to work the next day. I was not feeling so confident about it yet. But when I did get home from school, I went around town and it was wonderful. I was able to go shopping and exploring. I love my P-body.
Instead of going to work on Friday, I went to Kobe! Don’t worry, I didn’t ditch – it was a job-related. It was the Hyogo Orientation for ALTs. At first, I was a bit wary of this because I was worried it would be a bit useless. But it was actually a bit fun. I met even more ALTs from various places (some who I actually met in Tokyo…but forgot) and had a good time! Afterwards, we went to a pub called The Hub! I loved it there. I got some fish and chips and they were fantastic! I enjoyed the company of my fellow ALTs and ended up going to a restaurant with some others after that. Like I said, in Japan, you never just party in one place.
The Hub and the little restaurant that I wound up going to was wonderful and all but I was so happy that afterwards, I got to meet up from one of my friends, Emi, who was an exchange student at Maryland my freshmen year! She lives in the area so I was able to spend the night at her house. Before we went to her home though, I went with her and one of her friends for…guess what? KARAOKE! XD And not just karaoke, but FREE KARAOKE! Emi managed to win us free karaoke by doing a scratch card thing. Very nice.
We said goodbye to Emi’s friend and went to Emi’s house. It was rather late when we go there so we didn’t do much besides get ready for bed and watch a bit of TV. Before we went to bed, Emi’s mom informed me that sometime in the morning around nine, the next room would be a bit noisy because of the priest that would come. That Saturday was the start of Obon, a holiday for the spirits of the deceased to return to earth, according to Buddhism. It’s not supposed to be a scary thing, more like a remembrance of family members who have died. So that morning, I was awakened by the sounds of melodic clanging and the chanting-like prayer the priest made. No, not a chance I understood what he was saying. But I laid awake and listened, intrigued by the whole thing. The smell of incense wafted through the room. After a bit, he was gone. When Emi and I finally physically got up, I went into the other room and noticed that by the family shrine, they were framed photos of presumably passed away relatives. In the shrine were fruits, rice, and sweets as offerings, if I’m correct in my thinking.
We got dressed, had breakfast and chatted with Emi’s mom in a sort of mixture of Japanese and English. I still haven’t gotten to the point where I can speak in Japanese without grasping for words and sometimes dissolving into describing things in English. Fortunately, Emi was there to help explain things I was trying to say when I couldn’t get the words out. When we finished breakfast, I showed Emi and her mother some pictures of Toyooka and then, Emi and I went to the Akashi Planetarium! I even got to take a picture with some Power Rangers or some sort of Power Rangers-like people. One of them said in very smooth English, “It’s very nice to meet you!” and shook my hand quite firmly. This was a bit surprising. Even more surprising was when he turned me around and tightly gave me one of those around the neck hugs. He stopped hugging me so he could pose and I couldn’t stop laughing. Emi took our picture.
There was a pretty cool tower that we went up and we could see a lot of the city, including the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world! The planetarium part itself was a bit too relaxing. We had these lounging chairs so we could look up without straining as disembodied lady’s voice talked about constellations and planets. I couldn’t really understand what she was saying. And it was so dark, they had this relaxing music playing, and I was practically lying down…yeah, I sort of closed my eyes a couple times. By the time the presentation finished, I was ready for bed again! But we walked around and explored the place for a bit before we went to have lunch. And a special lunch we had!
I got myself acquainted with Akashi’s local food called tamago-yaki. It’s a fried egg pouch with octopus inside! People outside Akashi call it “Akashi-yaki.” There’s a sort of soup, topped with finely chopped green onions, that you dip your tamago-yaki in. Also, there are various other toppings you can put on like seaweed flakes, fish flakes, sweet sauce and hot sauce. I tried a little bit of everything and every combination was delicious. We got our sweet fix with some takiyaki. Takiyaki is pretty much a waffle shaped like a fish that can have different fillings. The stand that we went to sold taiyaki with red bean paste, white bean paste, custard, chocolate, and sweet potato. I went for the classic red bean paste and enjoyed every bite of it. Bean paste is not very sweet but just sweet enough, I think. I totally recommend it, no matter how strange it sounds.
Since I had to leave soon, I decided that before I went back, I’d have to buy some small gifts for my co-workers. It’s customary to bring back small gifts – especially food – from wherever you have been on a trip. Since Akashi is famous for its octopus, I wanted to get something that was octopus-related. I found some octopus sembei (how do I describe sembei? It’s like a really hard cracker…I guess?). My co-workers were delighted that I brought them back something and some of them have told me that it was tasty. I ended up eating one too and I did like them myself.
Anyway, my trip back from Akashi. Emi and I failed to look up train tickets in advance and discovered later on that there were essentially two ways to get back to Toyooka – one with three transfers, less money to pay, and would arrive around 8:00pm or the one with one transfer, more money to pay and would not get to Toyooka until, I think, after 9:00pm. After some back and forth consultation with Emi and the lady at the desk, I decided with the three transfers – which weren’t all that bad actually! Emi was kind enough to come with me for the first part of my journey to Himeji. We waited for my next train to come and when it did, we had to say goodbye. For about an hour, we rode to Teramae, where I’d have to transfer to a train going to Wadayama. I had about eight minutes to transfer. Oh, the mild worrying I experienced…only to discover that the I didn’t have to go all over the station to get to my next train. It was just on the other side of the platform. Lucky! I was soon able to get on my next train for about another hour and once I arrived in Wadayama, I did the same thing of crossing the other side of the platform to my next transfer that would take me straight to Toyooka. Easy peasy lemon squeezy (yeah, I said that, and you can’t stop me)!
I got back to my apartment precisely at 8:00 and plopped onto the floor. I managed to make some dinner in the process (a.k.a. microwave some food and eat it) and had to drag myself from my nice cool air-conditioned living room to my not-at-all air-conditioned bedroom and cranked up my fan. I’m so happy my BOE gave me a fan.
Because I was in Akashi or traveling all day Saturday, I missed a beach party in Takeno. But Ashley, the ALT who lives by the beach (The Canadian girl I drove up to Toyooka with) offered to have people come on Sunday too, so I took up that opportunity. I had a pretty slow start to my day and wound up finally leaving my apartment around 4:00. I figured it was in the direction of my junior high school but not exactly sure of where it was. So, I ended up doing more exploring and getting more driving experience. Oh, the experience I had. It’s not so fun to end up going in the wrong direction because it will take forever for you to find a place to turn around…that’s safe and hopefully, still legal. It also started raining very hard which wasn’t bad but it was just very sudden. I sort of gave up after a while and I decided to make my way back to Toyooka with the intention to buy a map at Aity (a department store) and figure my way out. Better than that, I ran into another ALT who’s been here for a while and she helped sort out the way to get there. With brand new confidence, I hit the road again. It stopped raining by then so that was nice. I also got some instructions from Ashley on where her house was and what to look for.
But I am Talia, the master of losing my way. I found out that I ended up going past her house because I couldn’t recognize it (never seen it before) and turned around. I went another way and found myself almost about to embark very windy, terribly scary looking mountain path along the coastline. I fortunately managed to find a place to pull off and turn around – a little beach for dogs. Seeing all the cute dogs running around sort of briefly rested my nerves as I was quite upset with myself for still being lost. A man who I assume helps maintain the doggy beach stopped me as I pulled in – I clearly looked like I didn’t belong. I tried to gather my words as best I could. I managed to be able to express the fact that I wanted to go “that way” (while pointing where I came from) and that I was lost. Once I mentioned that I was lost, he asked whether I wanted to go to Toyooka. For the sake of not making the situation more complicated for either of us, I said yes. He told me to go wait somewhere and I drove into a parking spot. He came back later with a map of Toyooka, showed me where I was and told me how to get back. He gave me the map and I thanked him, apologized, and thanked him again. I made my way back close to where I assumed Ashley’s house was and had to pull over to call her. When I did call her, it turned out to be that I was close! I made my way back the way I originally went and she was standing in front of her house so I could see it. Lucky me, I could pull into her garage. Not so lucky me, it was on this absurd little hill that my car had to climb, it seemed. Some Japanese people walked by and laughed as I methodically, drove, reversed, turned, reversed, drove, turned some more and finally got inside the tiiiiiiny garage. But, my tiny car is tiny so I got it in there alright.
After all that, I got to just sit down, eat some snacks and talk about an assortment of things. We decided to get dinner at Toyoda, the local supermarket chain here. We walked our way there because I could not be asked to get my car out of the garage any time soon. We ran into a group of elementary school children who seemed to be on a field trip. They eagerly said “HELLO!” to us, followed by fits of giggles. We said “Hello!” in return, which brought even more raucous laughter. On our way back from Toyoda, we discovered that Takeno has quite a lot of crabs that roam the streets. And I thought I only had to worry about stepping on bugs while walking in the dark. Since it was still Obon, we thought there’d be a festival on the beach or something. We heard some music and singing while we were walking back to Ashley’s house, so we decided to eat quickly and head to the beach. By the time we went back outside, it started raining again. We still walked to the beach, starting to feel like there wasn’t going to be much of anything. And right we were. Slightly disappointed, we made our way back to Ashley’s house. Before that though, we stopped a tiny store and browsed around. I found a pretty decorative ball that I bought for my car to hang from my rearview mirror (I put it up there and it’s perfect – it gave P-body a little bit of flair). I debated with myself for quite some time whether to head back home or camp out at Ashley’s house. I ultimately decided to go ahead and head back home. Night-time driving a-go-go! Since I had practically driven that way about three times by then (from being lost…), I was very comfortable getting back home. Plus, there’s nothing like sleeping on your on futon – which doesn’t give much cushion, so, sometimes I wake up achy all over (I’m thinking of buying another futon or a mattress to put underneath.)
The next day was a Monday! And that Monday, I did not have to go to school because of Obon. Yay! I was feeling pretty worn out so I didn’t do much of anything for a large majority of the day again. I had to make myself roll out of my living room, out of my pajamas, into the shower and out the door. My destination: The Daiso and that Home Plaza place. I realize I’m a bit ahead of myself, trying to buy all this stuff for my apartment. I decided to slow down and just by stuff I absolutely needed. The things I my most needed list were a broom and dustpan, curtains (because that drape thing in the apartment does not block out the world from seeing me and my lovely apartment at night. Oops!), another table for the living room (my BOE-provided-table isn’t too big and gets cluttered quite quickly), and a shelf for my bedroom (I have tons of small stuff that’s just on the floor and I don’t like it). I easily found what I was looking for except I made a mistake with the curtains. For one thing, because I’m silly and don’t think things through, I only bought one for my main balcony glass doors instead of two. Also, they were too short. Furthermore, the other curtains I got for my bedroom were also much too small. At first, I felt like I failed and a bit unhappy with myself but I realized, the one curtain would go perfectly on the small window I have in my living room. I’m going to have to measure these things before I go back out and buy proper ones. The extra table I found was cheap and didn’t require any tools to assemble it together! Yes! The shelf for my bedroom does require some assembly with tools that I do not have, soooo, the box is sitting in my room waiting to be put together. It’s weird putting your life together almost from scratch, isn’t it?
Speaking of things from scratch, Monday night was my first night of not a completely precooked meal! I bought some raw pork cutlets (made with the purpose of being tonkatsu) and some carrots, got a couple curry packs and some packs of single serving precooked rice (no rice cooker yet). After slicing up and boiling the carrots, seasoning and sautéing the pork, throwing the carrots in with the pork after it was done cooking, boiling the curry packs, and microwaving the rice, I had a pretty solid and tasty meal. It fed me for two nights afterward.
Tuesday, back to work as usual. My JTE informed me, according to my vice principal, since it’s summer vacation still, I could go home early as long as I still come at 8:15. On Tuesday, I took up that offer and went home a bit early and did more food shopping that will last me a bit longer.
And then there was Wednesday. Before this time, I had been wondering what I could do at work to spend my time. There isn’t much for me to do here, the teachers’ attendance has been spotty at best, and even if they are here, I don’t understand what anyone is saying around me. I started planning out what I could do with my time besides nearly hopelessly trying to translate the various materials that have been given to me and reading too many English text books. I decided to do some preemptive lesson planning for the elementary schools I will attend. I was all set to start on Wednesday, after the morning meeting. Oh, by the way, I was suddenly asked to give a self-introduction at the beginning of that meeting. Yes, I had prepared one, but it’s always a bit scary being asked to do it on the spot. I got through it pretty well, going off what I memorized and adding a few things about my hobbies. The teacher to the right of me, Takamatsu-sensei, reassuringly said I did alright because I must have looked a bit frazzled by the end of it. Anyway though, I was totally prepared to get my lesson-planning on. But oh no. Takamatsu-sensei explained that it was time to clean the school. I knew that this would happen, I just never knew when. I asked where I should clean and so, I was assigned to the upstairs with Takamatsu-sensei. Our goal was to clean out the tools room (full of maps, books, various other learning materials, etc.). It probably hadn’t been cleaned all summer, so it had plenty of dust and dead bugs, and lots of junk.
We started by throwing out trash. While we were cleaning, because I had mentioned I liked playing games during my self-intro, Takamatsu-sensei what games I liked. Naturally, I said I liked Sonic the Hedgehog. She said she never heard of it! I drew a silly little picture of Sonic on the chalkboard to help her out but she still wasn’t recognizing him. I brokenly explained the point of the games – running fast. She thought that was funny. She seemed to the think the word “hedgehog” was pretty funny too. It quickly turned into the English word of the day. But anyway, we cleaned things, and moved things, and threw away things. Another thing you should know is that there’s not air-conditioning in this school except inside the staff room. So, even though we had some windows open, it was excruciatingly hot. I don’t think I have ever sweated so much in my life. It was tiring and I felt gross, I had fun with Takamatsu-sensei. We talked about our favorite music. I taught her some more words in English and she taught me some things in Japanese as we went along. During our break, one of the teachers bought us individual packs of ice cream. I also took the chance to find a not-badly-drawn picture of Sonic to show Takamatsu-sensei. She realized she has seen it before actually (I thought that would be the case). When we were finished for the day, I told her I felt like I had become a zombie. I thought it’d be weird to go home early after all of that, so I decided I would stay until 4:45. I was sitting at my desk, wondering what to do with myself for the next hour or so when Maeba-san, the secretary, told me to come with her. I was a bit nervous and for some reason, thought I was in trouble. She and the other female employees, including Kawasaki-san the nurse lead me to the school’s clinic room. Takamatsu-sensei, before we entered told me, “It’s tea time!” It was like a girl’s only tea party. We had Darjeeling tea and some sweet biscuits. They chatted amongst themselves while I soaked up the moment I was having. I couldn’t really understand all that they were saying but it felt so good to be included. Every now and then, they would address me directly and I could talk with them too. We basically stayed there until it was time to go. I thanked them several times and went on home. That moment was worth all the sweat, bugs, and dust.
Wednesday night was the night I was going to get my True Blood fix with some other ALTs. Living without internet in my apartment has been a bit of a struggle. Sure, I can access Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail from my phone (these sites are blocked on the school’s computers), but I’m missing one of my favorite TV shows and it’s killing me. However, as desperately as I wanted to watch it, I ended up not being able to do so. But that’s okay! I got invited to dinner at this restaurant that’s co-owned by the ALT who gave me directions to Takeno. I met some ALTs there and enjoyed their company. I also had a yummy plate of penne alfredo with broccoli and garlic bread. Because some of the food was brought out late, one of the waitresses brought us some free cakes in compensation. By the time we all finished eating though, I realized it was pretty late. The problem was that True Blood episodes are 45 minutes long, I had about three episodes to watch, and I don’t live close to the ALT who was hosting the viewing party. We decided to do it another night and I went back home, going straight to bed.
Today, I’m at work, writing this and there’s no one inside the staff room but me and my vice principal. I don’t like it when it’s this quiet. I wish I could listen to music on my earphones to keep myself a little less bored. The other day, it was so quiet and no one was in the room, I just sang quietly to myself for a while. It’s hard to sing Defying Gravity as quietly as possible though. It’s a song that deserves to be belted from a rooftop. But I did what I could.
I’m a bit tired and I want to go back to sleep. But very content. I get my first paycheck on Friday, August 19th. Saturday, I intend to head back to Kobe! There’s a party at the Sannomiya Beer Garden for Hyogo ALTs. I don’t like beer but there’ll be a tabehoudai too. I’m loving the network of Hyogo ALTs, they’re all really fantastic people so far. Except one guy who I think is just a bit of an annoying hot mess. But we won’t go into that or name any names! XD
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Change of plans again! Just when I thought it’d be another day in the staff room, I overheard my vice principal talking with my elementary schools and arranging for me to meet them. Around 2:00, my vice principal, my JTE and I first went to Takeno Minami Elementary School. It’s right up the street. I was told that I had to do the self-introduction well in advance, so I was ready! They were all impressed and clapped for me. When I was explaining where Maryland was (pretty much nobody in Japan knows where it is – I don’t blame them), I watched one of the teachers pointing it out on a map and making this, “Oooh!” face. She made me smile. After my introduction and a happy reception, we were lead to a small room where we had tea with the teachers I’ll be working with, the principal and vice principal of the elementary school. They were all quite funny and outgoing. Some things went over my head but it was really amusing to sit in a room with them and listen to them. One of the teachers actually lives down to the street from me. It quickly became a running joke that we’d have drinking parties together - she was the “leader” of drinking. I look forward to working there on Thursdays. We left after a bit and went over to Naka Takeno Elementary. They were a bit less lively, but welcoming all the same. One of the staff was very smiley and somehow reminded me of how someone would react to seeing me at church. Yes, that’s very specific, but that’s how it was. It was comforting.
At these elementary schools, there aren’t any JTEs, so no guarantee of people speaking English (one of the teachers at Naka Takeno did study abroad in Canada though). I think this will be the almost complete immersion I didn’t get from Aoyama Gakuin. This may sound strange, but I felt like I didn’t need to depend on my Japanese as much while studying there. Many of my friends, including Japanese ones, spoke a lot of English. I even took some classes in English. But this will be much different. While I do spend time with other ALTs and we largely speak English with Japanese thrown in (Japanglish forever), the only way to communicate with my co-workers is using Japanese. I may have my moments when I’ll teach them a word or phrase in English to get some understanding going on, but it’s Japanese-a-go-go from here on out. I’m okay with that. It’s a bit frustrating, confusing and makes me feel like I’m dumb sometimes, but it’s also often amusing and enlightening.
*Side note: Even during the summer, the kids come to school for a part of the day to do their club activities. I hear some of the students practicing some sort of horn instrument. They keep playing something familiar but not quite getting it right. Finally, they hit the notes perfectly. What are they playing? “Hey Jude.” Awesome sauce.
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Well, here we are again. It’s always such a pleasure. Remember when…
I said I would get internet soon? I don’t, I was just wondering if I did. Anyway, I won’t be, it turns out. Let me set this up. Today’s Tuesday, August 23. I put in my application on the 18th and I got a message saying I’d get a notice of the date of installation by August 27th. What I got instead was a wordy Japanese message, all to say that they can’t install it. Well, that’s lame sauce isn’t it? I got in touch with the guy who helps foreigners like me who find the application process in Japanese a bit daunting by creating an English language one and sending in those applications to the Japanese companies. Hopefully, they’ll have something sorted out….eventually.
In the mean time, if you haven’t noticed by now, I’ve been just documenting my life in real time. I hope this isn’t too confusing whenever I get around to uploading this block of information.
Anyway, let’s talk about last weekend!
Friday was payday! I went around Toyooka with Ashley. Yeah, that’s about it. Saturday was my day of adventure! I decided to sleep in (woohoo! 10:00 a.m.!) and get ready for my second trip to Kobe. There was a welcome party for the Hyogo JETs in Kobe at the Sogo Beer Garden. I was debating with myself whether to stay in Kobe that night or leave early to get back home. I decided that leaving early would be impossible because I knew I’d be having too much fun. So I got myself a backpack, smaller than the one I traveled here with to use as a one overnight bag. It has amusing Engrish on it, so I just had to get it. (Sorry, we have to break this news report to tell you that my vice principal has the funniest giggle ever. He sounds a bit like a woman.That is all - back to the original story). I left Toyooka at about 2:30 and got to Kobe by 4:45. Not a bad ride! For part of it, I finally got around to beating the Elite Four in Pokémon White. I would have probably went on to finish the game but the woman next to me started to chat with me. You see, instead of getting reserved seats, which cost more money, I decided to go for the cheaper unreserved seats. I looked throughout the train car, trying to think who would be the least offended by me sitting next to them and I decided on this middle-aged woman near the back. I asked whether it was alright if I sat there and she quickly said yes, apologizing for all her baggage and moving it so I could sit down. She asked me where I was coming from and where I was going. Our conversation ended after I told her and I went on to play my game and she went on to read her magazine.
A while later, she started talking to me again and I put down my game so I wouldn’t seem rude. We talked about me being an English teacher. I found out that she was from Yokohama and I told her I lived there for a year, going to Aoyama Gakuin as a student. We happily talked about how nice Yokohama is and how different it is from Toyooka. I informed her though that Toyooka was still nice and we agreed that if I wanted something similar to Yokohama, I could always and easily go to Kobe. She commented on how young and pretty I was – how sweet! XD We talked about how my parents (speculatively) will be coming in March. She asked me where I was when the March 11th earthquake and tsunami hit and I told her I was in America. She was relieved to hear that I and I told her how worried I was for my friends in Japan, especially the ones in Tokyo and Yokohama. We continued to talk about earthquakes and I think she was trying to tell me about Fukushima Daiinichi and the radiation issues, but I’m not too good on the Japanese vocabulary of that subject so I just nodded my way through that part. Eventually, she was getting ready to leave and we mutually wished each other safe journey. She told me to do my best teaching the kids English and I said I would.
I soon afterward arrived in Kobe and that’s when I realized – I didn’t want to be at Kobe Station, I wanted to be at Sannomiya! Fortunately, it’s only two stations over. I got off the limited express train even though I probably could have stayed on it – but to be safe, I just got off. I asked someone on the platform whether the next semi-express (I guess) train would stop at Sannomiya and it did! Splendid. I took that train, got to Sannomiya, and again realized I’d have to explain myself – I was afraid my tickets would not go through the wickets because technically, I was at the wrong station. I explained to the train station employee who deals with tickets that I got the tickets to Kobe Station, but that was a mistake; I really wanted to be at Sannomiya…how much would that cost? He said something unintelligible to me and politely waved me through. Awesome sauce. I wormed my way through the throngs of people to find the other JETs by an odd statue near the station. It was raining and there was debate whether the Beer Garden would work out. For some reason, they don’t have tents in the event of rain and it was almost cancelled. Fortunately, the rain stopped just in time and we got to go!
For 3,000 yen, it was all you can eat and drink from six to nine. We got up there, all happy that we’d still get to go and then maybe 20 minutes in, it started to POUR. Many of us had umbrellas, so we sat huddled together, laughing at the whole situation. It stopped eventually and we were all good and wet by then. We were all still having a great time, meeting more people and reconnecting with people we met before who are spread out all over Hyogo. Once the event was finished, we went our separate ways and after much dillydallying, I ended up going home with my friends from Tamba and Sasayama. Initially, I had this idea to stay in Kobe in an internet café on my own for the night and head back to Toyooka the next day. But everyone I told was like, “You’re going to stay alone? In Kobe? By yourself? In an internet café? With no one else?” The emphasis on the alone finally got to me and I decided I wanted to go home with some XD. Fortunately, my lovely Tamba friends were happy to have me and I spent the night at one of their apartments. This turned out to be even more of a bonus for me because when Matilda (the friend who I stayed with) and I got up, we went out for kaiten zushi! Kaiten zushi is the sushi that comes by on a conveyor belt for cheap prices. They not only have a wide variety of sushi (that’s not just fish but meat too!) but they desserts also! I didn’t have any, though they did look delicious. I’ll have to go there again or at least find one in Toyooka because it was so incredible. My mouth couldn’t have been happier.
I got back to Toyooka around 3:00 pm on Sunday. I didn’t think I would be that tired, considering I did get sleep even though I got to bed late. But man, was I exhausted again! I literally did nothing except eventually throw something together for dinner and in the mean time, sit in my reclining chair. Pretty sure I went to bed at 9:00 pm.
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WOOOHOO! Did you read all of that in one sitting? I'm honored if you did. I don't blame you if you don't, haha. Until next time! It'll be shorter, I promise.
