Julia in Japan

hiatus

2009-08-19T09:51:00.005+09:00

Sorry there haven't been any blogs here.

As you might know, I've been writing this blog for a very long time wondering why exactly I am writing it. Entries have felt forced and unnatural to write.

So, I decided to put this blog on hiatus for the time being. I apologize to some of you who I know really enjoyed reading it.

I'll probably try to blog a little more on my regular blog and see if I can get back into blogs in general. Let me know if you want to know the link to my regular blog.

Thanks for reading and sorry about this.

For the rest of July

2009-07-15T15:36:00.003+09:00

I realize this entry is almost an entire week late, so I suppose at this point- it will be the entry for both last week and this week.

I don't have a lot to say, but I'll just list a few things. Sorry it's not very interesting-

-Last week, I finally passed my driving test and got my Japanese drivers license. It's a relief to know I can continue to drive after my International Permit expires in August.

-This week is my last week teaching until school starts up again from summer vacation in September.

-Today, I thought the temperature was bearable, but lately it's been very hot. Compared to other places, it's not VERY hot, but the humidity makes it sticky and gross.

-Next Sunday, I will be on a plane flying to California. I'll be there for two weeks, so naturally, I'll have nothing Japan life related to post. If reverse culture shock hits me hard enough, I suppose I might post here about it, but chances are, there won't be any entries during that time.

The Leavers Party

2009-07-05T13:15:00.004+09:00

It's July 5th here now, but still July 4th back in the US.

Last night I was at a Kagoshima JETs party put on to bid farewell to the people who are leaving this summer. It was a lot of fun. Outside of my city, I didn't really know entirely who was leaving and who was staying, so it was nice to find out and talk to those people at least one more time.

There were people that I really enjoyed talking to in the past and I suddenly realized I should have hung out with them more. It was a very event.

Afterward, the big group split in two- some went to Me Gusta (a Mexican restaurant) and the rest went to karaoke. I was in the karaoke group. We had to split up into 3 rooms because there were so many of us. I ended up in a room with almost all JETs from the Osumi side (the other side of the prefecture.) They were really fun and I realized that I missed out times where there were events there and I decided it was too far.

All in all, it was a good evening out. No fireworks for the 4th of July, but you have to remember that ALTs come from all over the place- so the folks from the UK, Australia, New Zealand (etc...) don't really care to celebrate the US holiday. :)

I'm really looking forward to the new JETs coming next month.

And I am looking forward to visiting my family and friends in California later this month.

Kinders

2009-06-30T20:21:00.002+09:00

This blog is very, very late. It's about half a week late this time.

I was aware of it, but I've just been way too tired lately to even consider blogging. Anyway, I just got out of the shower a little while ago and that woke me up a little, so I thought I would get to it. I kind of wanted to write last week's blog by today so that it would end up being categorized under the same month. (Although I know it doesn't really matter... haha)

In my apartment, there's a bookshelf filled with books left behind by former ALTs. I've been somewhat making my way through them (whenever I can get myself torn away from re-re-re-re-reading the Ender series book.) Anyway, this evening I started reading a autobiography about a Japanese man who was born with no arms or legs, Hirotada Ototake.

I haven't gotten very far, but the overall optimism of the book is pretty impressive.

Yes, I do intend to tie this into something about last week.

I already finished the part in the book about his experience being in kindergarten. Apparently, the kids all gathered around him and asked him why he had no arms and legs. He gave a very simple explanation, which the kids accepted and his difference was no longer an issue.

My job schedules me to go to kindergartens every few months or so. I may have all of my limbs, but I am still one of the strangest looking people they've ever come across. But thinking about my experience with these kids, I can perfectly see the scenario in the book in my head.

These kindergarten students are not afraid of things that are different, but rather they are intrigued by them. It makes me think that fearing differences between people is something that is learned rather than something that really comes naturally to people.

I recall being different from that, though, when I was that age. There was a kid in my class who had silver teeth and, in kindergarten, he sat across from me. I was very disturbed by them and I was scared to drink milk because I thought one of his silver teeth could've gotten in there somehow. Looking back, I don't see myself as a kindergarten student going up to somebody unlike anyone I've ever seen before and boldly asking questions.

Is this a cultural difference or am I just making generalizations based off of the very limited things I have experienced?

sunburned

2009-06-23T14:26:00.003+09:00

The appeal of blogging doesn't seem to exist within me these days.

I know this blog is very late, but I've just been running very short on energy these past few days.

I've been in the process of trying to get my Japanese drivers license. I went to the course during a weekend and practiced once, then I tried the test the following Wednesday and ended up failing. I'm going to try again next week or so. I don't want to go into details about it at this point, but the driving test is on a course, rather than public roads. It's got insane turns, specifics times to look in different directions, and a lot of switching from pushing the gas pedal to slamming the breaks. It doesn't relate a lot to real everyday driving, but I'm sure I'll pass next time or the time after.

Another thing that happened of interest was that I caught fish for the first time. I went to an event at the beach. I thought that we would have poles and what-not, but it ended up being all of us pulling a big net onto the shore. The event started at 6:30, so I had to get up really early to go to it. It was a pretty interesting/fun experience, Along with the fish, we caught a few rays. Sadly, they didn't let them go although I was hoping they would. We also played volleyball, which I didn't suck at too badly. Then some people went surfing (using that term very lightly...) and we had an awesome BBQ. It was a good day, but it was tiring and the sun drained me and burned my skin.

On the topic of work- same old. I am really starting to enjoy it more and more, though. This past week or so, it feels more like actual school time is taking up more of my work hours- which is great.

I suppose that's it. Sorry my blogger bug seems to have stepped out.

The weather and the months

2009-06-14T12:29:00.004+09:00

(Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with this blog.....)

I got my plane ticket and it's official- I am visiting California for the last two weeks of next month.

It'll be nice to get a break from the hot and humid Japanese weather.

The rainy season started. I guess this happens every year, but there was a big storm here on the first day.

It was INSANE. The wind was blowing so hard that I decided to walk the back way around my building after getting home from work so that the building could block the wind for me. The second I got around the corner, the wind hit and I had to close my umbrella so it wouldn't break.

My umbrella collapsed, my face was suddenly splashed with rain water. I ran the last few remaining steps to the door to my building. The wind tried to knock me off my feet but I regained my balance.

It was rather fun, actually.

Since then, however, the weather has been very clear and nice.

It's funny to think that I've been here almost a full year.

And, because the Chuo summer program from two years ago took place this month and my former trips took place in July, I can say that I've experienced every month in this country now. Still another year to go, too.

This year has been pretty incredible in terms of personal growth- I feel a lot tougher emotionally, secure about who I am, and I actually have a very clear and awesome idea of what I want to do in the future. I managed to save some money, have a good job, and have fun at the same time too.

It's June and August will mark one year, so maybe I am speaking too soon in terms of reflecting.

English club and tea ceremony lesson

2009-06-07T09:38:00.003+09:00

So one of my elementary school teachers invited me to go to her English club meeting and tea ceremony lesson yesterday.

The English club meeting was held at her parent house- which was AMAZING. It was a really big and nice place (really fancy) and it had a great view of Sakurajima. They even have a Japanese style tea room and garden!

Anyway, the meeting itself was really fun because the members were all very interesting and animated people. There was an American guy there who had lived in Japan for quite some time now and I talked to him quite a bit. Coincidentally, one of the woman in the club is doing a big college (graduate school?) project on Salinas' sister city relationship with Kushikino. She was delighted to find out that I am -from- Salinas and I have been involved in the sister city association. We had a lot of good conversation and had a very delicious lunch.

After that, the teacher that I work with and I went to the tea lesson. The tea ceremony teacher is/was an English teacher, so she spoke very good English. She was really fun to talk to and I really enjoyed meeting her. It turned out that she is a big fan of Steinbeck and has even visited Salinas and Monterey! She was also very delighted to hear that I am from Salinas. (Two in one day- crazy!) I had three cups of delicious tea and dragged myself around the floor on my knees (Japanese tea ceremony style) and they hurt like crazy. All and in all, I was a pretty awesome experience.

I guess some aspect of the tea room changes each month along with the seasons and such- so I think it would be cool to go each month.

I hope to participate in the English club and visit the tea ceremony teacher again.

Anyway, here's a picture-

By the way, I finally updated my photo album. Check them out.

Broken glass and running more than I ever have before

2009-06-01T09:05:00.002+09:00

Again, this entry is very late. I was about to write this on Saturday night, but I had sort of a rough week and I wanted to lighten up a little so that the entry doesn't end up too negative.

On Thursday, a student at the elementary school I was at on that day threw a rock at a tree and accidentally broke my car windshield. The whole situation was really overwhelming because I had to watch the upset 5th grader be questioned about what happened by 3 adults (while I sat there trying to look as patient as possible) and I later met the child's mother. Anyway, my car was taken to a repair place and I was lent a car to use in the meantime. I didn't care much for the borrowed car and I looked forward to getting my car back. I finally got it back on Sunday morning and this morning I found a letter from the student inside of it. To my surprise, the letter was written entirely in English. He must've had help from someone, but the letters were written painstakingly well and I didn't see any of the common errors that I see is middle school student papers all of the time, so I was touched by how much effort was obviously put into it.

I suppose that this should really be part of the next entry (...uhh... -this- week's), but on Sunday I took part in a Kagoshima city wide scavenger hunt! I don't believe I've physically exerted myself that much in my entire life, but it was really, REALLY a lot of fun. If the event happens next year, I am definitely participating again! I'll (probably) go into more detail on this one in the next entry.

Sorry again that this is late.

Folllow up

2009-05-24T22:14:00.002+09:00

Sorry that this blog entry is late... once again! It's coming a Sunday night tradition, I guess. :)

Last week was rather busy. I had elementary school all 5 days and 4 classes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday (3 classes on Monday). It was pretty exhausting. On top of that, I taught a little 1 hour Japanese lesson after work with the other Hioki city ALTs on Wednesday. Needless to say, I was exhausted.

So I just realized that all of my blogs have been about separate isolated events/ideas and I've provided little follow up on anything. So, I'll go through old entries and tie up loose ends. Starting with most recent entries--

The broadcasting vehicles are finally silent! I overheard the result of the elections announced over the loudspeakers at work and I was immediately relieved to know that this nonsense was finally over.

SWINE FLU! Ok, so that finally reached Japan recently. I guess the spread of swine flu all began with some sort of volleyball tournament in Osaka. It's kind of interesting that this is common knowledge. Anyway, there have been cases of it in the Osaka area and in Tokyo- not down here yet.

Here's a map of known swine flu cases in the world.

People around here are considering it to be only a matter of time. I heard another ALT in this prefecture was told to go to the hospital for what he was certain was just a cold.

The weather has become hot and humid at times, I've been leaving my window open just about all day. At the same time, we've been getting more and more rain because the "rainy season" of Japan, or "tsuyu" is just beginning.

Hmm... I was thinking about going farther than the real recent entries, but now I really feel no need.

Noise pollution

2009-05-16T23:00:00.002+09:00

So, there are city elections going on now. I can't say I know for what office(s) in city government, but I can say that Japanese elections cause a lot of noise.

I probably mentioned the broadcasting vehicles here in Japan before, right? They drive around saying pretty much whatever they want- advertising, etc. I kind of enjoyed the novelty of it even though it kind of worried me at first. I thought it was worrisome because I can't immediately tell the difference between a broadcasting vehicle advertising a pachinko parlor and one notifying everyone of an actual danger.

I kind of let it slide and decided to enjoy the novelty because it doesn't do me any good to make a fuss over something that isn't going away.

But now, with the election going on, it's definitely annoying.

Imagine not just one, but many broadcasting vehicles ALL. DAY. LONG. Sometimes they're in the same area, so the two loud voices are practically competing. Sometimes one practically parks in front of my apartment building and sits there for a good 10-20 minutes broadcasting "vote for so and so" very very loudly. Sometimes I can't think with all of the noise.

It turns out Japanese people are very irritated by it, too. Then why do they do it?

My Japanese teacher told me I can yell "URUSAI!" (Be quiet!) to the cars. I decided I would only do it from my apartment so that they can't see me. I ALMOST did it today, but a woman in the car looked up, saw me, and waved before I could open my mouth.

Man, what a nuisance these politicians are.

I told myself that I wouldn't criticize Japanese government because it's not really my place, but certain I can at least complain about -this-.

All of that aside, all has been well lately. :)

Sand, rummage, and shoes

2009-05-10T21:12:00.003+09:00

Sorry this blog entry is late again.

Last week was Golden Week here in Japan, so I had a five day weekend due to many national holidays that were bunched up together. Many (and by "many", I mean "most") ALTs traveled, but (as I mentioned in the last entry) I pretty much stayed home.

I was kind of glad I made no particular plans because I was sick for about half of it. I got better in time to drive down South a bit to see the ocean and go to the Sand and Flower festival. The flower aspect of the festival wasn't that impressive in my opinion, but the sand sculptures were pretty amazing.

I'll update my album with pictures from that. Sorry, I've been kind of slacking when it comes to uploading pictures lately. I'll force myself to catch up... uhh... soon!

Today I went to a rummage sale in Kagoshima city. It was a lot bigger of an event than I expected. There were maybe 100 booths or so. I was hoping to buy a full length mirror, but sadly all of the ones there weren't for sale (not that I asked every single booth that had one). Anyway, I was pretty excited about this rummage sale because I hadn't been to (or seen) one since I moved to Japan.

So one thing about lately is what aspects of my Japan life I plan to keep up after returning back to the US. An example of this being taking off my shoes when I enter my apartment.

A couple times semi-recently when people have decided that one or two steps into the apartment wearing shoes shouldn't make a difference, I found later that I could see EXACTLY where the shoes touched the floor. I realized then that it really DOES make a huge difference in how much dirt is brought into the house.

The thing is, though, people who ask folks to take off their shoes in the US are sort of considered to be (for a lack of a better word) anal. I don't want to be viewed quite like that, but I also feel like a "no shoes" rule makes lots of sense.

I think I'm going feel torn on quite a few things when I move back to the US.

Oink

2009-05-02T18:37:00.003+09:00

It's kind of strange to obviously be a foreigner in a country that is worried about a foreign illness. Of course, I am talking about swine flu.

It kind of makes me wonder what it's like for Mexicans in the US now. Are they looked at by people as being likely carriers? That would suck- some people back home don't need MORE reason to be racist. *sigh*

I think it's kind of similar here now, although no one's been super obvious about it. It seems like people seeing me and other foreigners around might wonder if we just arrived in Japan the other day or if we've had any recent visitors.

I got a flash of a GLARE a little while ago at the grocery store checkout line when I sneezed. Whether it was in relation to that, I don't know.

I guess it doesn't help that I have a cold or something right now.

IS it swine flu? I really doubt it. Although my last interaction with someone newly arrived to this country WAS about a week ago at a party I went to, I think the chances that I got swine flu from that short interaction are very small. Have there been any cases of swine flu in Italy? There have been absolutely no known cases of it in Japan. But I guess it's not -great- to be a foreigner with a cold right now.

In other swine flu chaos related news-

It's Golden Week now (5 day weekend) and a lot of JETs are taking trips right now. Many of them are traveling overseas, even. Last week, I got an email TWICE instructing us to be careful traveling and warning that it might be difficult to get back into the country. It also recommended that ALTs have travel itineraries to our offices. One day, I found the exact same notice printed out on my desk as well. I realized immediately that my office was trying to tell me that they want an itinerary. BUT- since I have no plans, I just threw it away. I assumed that they would figure I have no plans because they didn't get any info from me.

However, yesterday, on Friday, one of the bosses of the office came up to me and began asking me if I was going anywhere. He seemed very surprised to hear that I really DID not have any plans.

I told him that I kind of plan to go to the US in the end of July and he warned me about the swine flu (...he thought I never heard of it *sigh*). We have no way of knowing what the situation will be like in July, so I see no reason not to plan for it now.

Portraits and windshield wiper fluid

2009-04-25T21:47:00.004+09:00

YES! I remembered to blog this week! Just barely- but I did!

I am not really sure what to blog about this time, once again.

Last week, I had only elementary school and kindergarten classes. The outcome- lots of energy drained and my Japanese language brain hardly functioned on Friday.

A few 1st graders took a "draw whatever you want" opportunity to draw me!

Here's my favorite of the ones I managed to take home.

Not bad, huh? :)

It's a sweet feeling when kids decide they want to draw you.

The weather has been AWESOME lately. Did I mention that before in an earlier blog? Well, it's true! I love sweater weather more than I can easily say.

Last weekend, I purchased wind shield wiper fluid for the first time in Japan (and second time in my entire life.)

I don't really know what to call the store that I went to- but it had things like auto supplies, insecticides, gardening things, and the like. I guess I can compare it best with Home Depot or Orchard Supply.

Anyway, I've never been to one of those kinds of stores before in Japan. Traveling people and people living somewhere short term don't go to those stores, right?

So walking around that store I felt oddly happy because I felt that for the first time in a very long time that no one would assume that I am a tourist and that I don't know what I am doing (well, anymore than -anyone- would). It sounds weird, but I can't wait until I have another excuse to go there. (haha)

Pretty grand

2009-04-19T21:15:00.003+09:00

Yikes! I totally forgot about this blog last week.

Well, here we go then-

I don't really feel up to doing the Kagoshima touristy places blog right now because I'm trying to get this entry out quickly because I'm pretty tired and distracted by about a million other things.

(Actually, I am having a hard time getting myself into the idea of writing it in the first place.)

This week was my first week teaching again in the new school year. It's been fun with the new middle school 1st years. I really enjoy being part of the beginning of the school year far more than I enjoyed jumping in during the middle of one. The students seem to see me more as a familiar face and I feel like they're a lot more comfortable with me now than they were last term. I think I am a lot more comfortable with them, too.

The weather has been very nice lately- bordering on HOT (at least to Central Coast Californian standards.) I've walked around wearing jeans and a t-shirt and still thought it was pretty hot. Anyway, since I am such a wimp when it comes to cold, I am really enjoying this heat.

I suppose I don't have a lot to say right now, besides the fact that I am really, truly enjoying my life here right now. My apartment feels clean, my job is fun, my bank account has money, the weather is nice, and my overall mood is pretty grand.

Ashes, Ashes

2009-04-11T23:33:00.000+09:00

OK- so first of all... a little bit of blog housekeeping-

1) I just realized that the picture links on the top of this page expired, so I updated them. Please please PLEASE inform me in the future if you notice that they expired. I have -no idea- how long those links had been like that. *sigh*

2) I was told that my blog doesn't allow comments? I don't know. At first I thought that maybe the problem was that I accidentally made it so anonymous posters couldn't post comments. I checked and I already had it correctly. If you -still- can't comment here on this site, maybe it's because a pop up blocker is not allowing for the comment box to come up. :S If you have trouble commenting LET. ME. KNOW. If it's broken, I am NOT doing that on purpose.

3) Sorry this is rather late this week. I had a topic but then I got distracted by another topic. I STILL don't know exactly what this blog will be about.

OK, let's move on with the blog entry itself...

The new school year started here in Japan and I have to say that I like it so far. There is a real fresh new feel to it. I think I would've felt a lot better about last year if I were there from the beginning. This time, it really feels like my year- maybe last years left a little bit too much like it still belonged to my predecessor?

The weather had improved A LOT. I went to the city today wearing a shirt, jeans, and a light sweater and was actually feeling overheated. It was rather nice.

Sakurajima, the volcano, erupted the other day. Ashes traveled all the way to Ijuin town. I just walked to the store and I felt ashes getting into my eyes and my lungs even began to hurt.

Naturally, this didn't stop me from walking to the other side of the building and drawing in the ashes that had landed on my car at that point. You can KIND of see it.

And here is Ijuin with ash-y air.

The next morning, I had ashes all over my windshield. So, I used my windshield wipers and windshield wiper fluid (I can't remember what it's called now- haha) to be able to see better.

Yeah, I know it doesn't really look much different from much of California during the big fires last summer, but just knowing that it's from a volcano is pretty neat!

The volcano ash-y air even smells different! (Yes, I know that explains why my lungs started to hurt so quickly, because I was standing there SMELLING the air for so long.)

Anyway, I do plan to write a blog about neat touristy places in the area. Just... meh... why talk about that when you can talk about your air being polluted with volcanic ashes instead?

The Guide

2009-03-26T14:49:00.002+09:00

I didn't have time to post a blog last week. I had my dad and his wife over at my place and I was trying not to get too absorbed in the internet with them around. I will probably be doing much the same thing around the same time next week due to the fact my mother will be around then.

Having company has helped me realize how many things around me that I once thought of as unusual or different have become common and normal to me.

For example, drink vending machines in places where they seem entirely pointless. I got very used to seeing them, so I no longer realized how silly it was that they were placed there.

Something else that was unusual about having company was my role as a translator. My level of Japanese certainly didn't rise when they came to Kagoshima, but being in the position of "translator", Japanese people seemed to be more confident in my ability to communicate with them. Maybe because instead of being annoyed that I didn't bring someone better at Japanese, they are grateful that my father did. When I think about it, it really makes sense.

This was a really great chance to check out some really awesome things in the area. I'll be uploading pictures on my facebook album sometime soon (but not right now because I am at work.) I am looking forward to doing more discovering of my host prefecture when my mom gets here.

I am truly impressed by the extent to which this prefecture has both beautiful places to see and a very interesting history. (Although I imagine most places do if you bother to find out.)

One of the highlights for me was when we went up to a park not too far of a drive from my apartment building and was surprised and delighted to have a view of the volcano, Sakurajima.

I know this is supposed to be a blog to make up for three weeks, but I really honestly don't know what else more to say.

Graduations and transfers

2009-03-13T15:00:00.003+09:00

So, it's March. Students are graduating and ending their school years.

I heard the high schoolers graduated maybe a week or so ago, middle school students graduate tomorrow, and the elementary school graduations are coming up. College graduations somewhere in there, but I am not sure exactly where.

In April, everything starts over new. College graduates start their jobs they got while they were still students and other students move up into the next year of school.

I was kind of upset yesterday because I didn't get to go to a graduation ceremony. My schedule was written in a way that I was scheduled to be at an elementary school yesterday. I didn't want to cause people trouble by switching it because I wasn't directly invited to either of the Junior High graduation ceremonies, so I missed them entirely.

It's sad for me because when I had my last classes with the 3rd year students, I wasn't aware of that it was the last. Then, I wasn't able to go to their graduation. I might see them around town sometime, but it makes me sad that I might not see some of them again.

On the other hand, I am excited to have my 6th grade elementary school students become my new junior high 1st year students.

It's kind of amazing to have this happen, in a way.

But it's not just students. Teachers and other people who work for the city also are transferred in April.

Up North, I heard, it is not such a big deal to be transferred across the prefecture. However, Kagoshima is a very different story. Kagoshima is a relatively big prefecture itself, but considering the outlying islands transferring someone in Kagoshima is NOT a small thing at all. Some islands are so far that people would have to take a place to get to the mainland!

Yet they do it. I guess it just goes to show that the same policy does not work everywhere.

The crazy thing about all of this is that the teachers themselves don't even know for sure if they are moving and where to until just a few weeks or so beforehand.

I spoke to some teachers about it today and they are somewhat secretive about it. There are teachers that have a pretty good idea that they will be moved, but they have no way of knowing for sure.

This -really- puts my whole stressful JET application process in perspective. Yes, that was insane, but nowhere NEAR as insane as not knowing when you will live in just a few weeks.

It must be really, really hard.

It makes me wonder why anyone would -want- to be a teacher in Kagoshima knowing they could be moved from a pretty good place to an isolated island.

I am a sad that some really good people I know are being transferred, but I am also excited about the new school year. My feelings are definitely mixed.

Born yesterday?

2009-03-07T22:25:00.002+09:00

It is so funny how so many people here are so quick to assume that I don't know what I am doing at all.

Take, for example, last weekend at the coin laundry.

It was a particularly busy day and, unfortunately, I brought a blanket and some sheets to wash as well as my usual clothes. All of the high capacity washers were being used. So, I was standing there, wondering what to do when I realized after looking at some charts that I my blanket and sheets could probably be put in the smallest machine and be just fine.

I stood there pondering whether I could be right. I don't really know kilograms well enough to know just from a number. (To be honest, I don't know pounds well enough, either. :) )

So a guy walked into the laundry place and I simply asked him if he thought that my blanket and sheets would be too heavy or not. He thought it would be ok.

But then after that he proceeded to try to show me how to use the machine.

This machine, being the same as the ones I've been using every weekend except just a little smaller.

And also being remarkably similar to machines in my home country.

(haha)

Really, though, I get things like that a lot.

It's always a little annoying at first, but it's not so bad when you think of the real reason why it's happening. What it comes down to is that the person doesn't think that foreigners are stupid, they actually just don't know enough about foreign countries. They know that a lot of things are different, but as far as they know, washing machines in the US are completely different from those in Japan.

So really, no wonder some people seem very surprised that I can function here at all.

You're welcome

2009-02-24T20:43:00.004+09:00

So I am walking around grocery store looking for something to make for dinner when I hear a small child whining to her parents.

When I am in the child's vision, all of the sudden, she goes quiet and stares.

Because, of course, I am probably one of the most unusual looking people she's seen in her life.

So she stares. Silently.

Of course, this is nothing even remotely unusual for me now, so I smile and wave to the child as I pass.

But this time I realized that my mere existence stopped the little girl from whining. Could anything the parents said or done have achieved that so completely?

I must be doing some people a favor by just walking around and not being Japanese.

So, you're welcome.

It's funny how I am an oddity around here whether I am actually doing something unusual or not.

:)

(Sorry about the lack of a second blog last week, I have a cold and it's sort of blocking the creative juices.)

Spring?

2009-02-16T09:29:00.002+09:00

Sorry, I forgot to blog last week. My mood has been doing funny things lately (ok, so not "funny"), but I feel like I am doing a lot better now. I'll try to blog here twice this week.

Spring has come early this year, it seems.

The cold generally has a bad effect on my body and mood.

Cherry trees are now blooming. Usually they're blooming late March, early April as far as I understand it.

It's kind of funny how, although I've seen cherry blossoms before, the colors really impress me. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they're a real sign that winter is over.

My first Japanese winter is OVER. Although I suppose I should feel cheated by global warming making it end quicker or upset that the effects of global warming is -this- apparent.

I am -NOT- happy about global warming, but I can't help it if my body says "ewww" to cold and "hurray" to warm.

I hope the cherry blossoms stick around for a while, but I don't really know how these things work to begin with.

I suppose I hadn't really said a terrible lot in this entry, but I'll try to post again later this week.

Glasses and influenza

2009-02-06T16:11:00.003+09:00

Who else thinks that my blog title should be the name of a rock song?

No? No takers?

Then I'll just skip to the blog then.

I got new glasses a few weeks ago. Perhaps the most amusing part of the process was how obsessive compulsive the man was about cleaning my glasses. He cleaned my old pair when I purchased the new glasses and then he cleaned the old pair AND the new pair when I went to go pick up the new glasses later.

I haven't even worn the old glasses since getting these new ones.

But I suppose I know that they're clean at least.

Today I was sitting in the teacher's room at an elementary school when suddenly someone was standing behind me and offering to clean my glasses for me. I was really startled, confused, and baffled by the situation. Finally, I realized that she worked for a glasses shop here in town. Apparently, it is normal for workers from glasses shops to go around to different work places, talking to people about glasses and cleaning people's glasses for them

By the way, the glasses store to shoe store ratio in this town is 6:1. There is only one shoe store. However, there probably are more glasses stores that I can think to count at the moment.

Isn't that weird???

The flu has been going around these days. 2 ALTs in this city have caught it already. I haven't yet and I don't feel the signs of my body fighting it off, so I guess I'm in pretty good shape so far. I think it is kind of funny that the Japanese use the word "influenza" for flu. For me, I've always heard the word "influenza" in places such as history books. People feeling sick these days have the "flu" and someone who died hundreds of years ago had "influenza." I know that they are the same thing, but I can't help but think that "influenza" is worse than "the flu".

People are constantly telling people to take care not to catch the flu these days. It's nice to see people have so much concern for one another.

Famous?

2009-01-30T14:46:00.002+09:00

Today I had only two class periods at one of my elementary schools.

I had three second grade classes in the second period and the other two classes in the third.

I was walking with one of the teachers to the building where we were going to have the first lesson. Two of the three classes were standing outside waiting for the door to open. When they saw me walking up, they began cheering, yelling "hello!", waving, and jumping around. I walked through the crowd to the door waving, smiling, and saying "hello" back.

This is what it is like to be famous.

It's funny how elementary school students can make you feel like you're their favorite person in the world. ;)

Life in general

2009-01-23T21:20:00.003+09:00

What happened last week? I can't say I quite know the answer for you. Part of it was the fact that nothing really popped out at me as being especially blog worthy and the other part being that whenever I found myself in front of a computer with sufficint time, all that came to my head was "blah."

Ok, so I'll admit it hasn't been helping that I've been watching television shows on the internet. Those can be time consuming.

I honestly watch a lot more TV than I have for years back in the US. Of course, my actual TV hasn't been turned on for a month (possibly two months.)

Since I still don't feel like there is a horrible lot to talk about, I'll talk about my life in general, like how I am eating, what I am doing with my living space, and a little about my students.

It's funny how things change.

For a while, I felt like I found the grand solution to feeding myself by raiding the frozen food aisle. Now, that idea doesn't appeal to me at ALL. These days, I find myself buying some kind of easy dish that requires me to also buy meat and vegetables, cooking it on the stove and eating it out of my big bowl over rice.

Is it weird that I eat maybe 85% of my dinners from this same big bowl?

I haven't been cooking anything super sophisticated, but I think I am doing rather well considering that I am cooking only for myself.

Another thing that really changed is how I view my apartment. When I first moved in here, I looked around and I just kind of decided it was satisfactory because it was how my predecessor left it and I just kind of assumed she would have known better than me. Since then, however, I've changed little things (I put a table cloth on my table, for example) and I've realized that there are a lot of things I can do to like my living space even more than I already do.

I also want to start cleaning a lot more.

Of course, these things (cooking and cleaning) require a lot of initiative.

I went to one of my middle schools Monday, Tuesday, and Friday this week and the other middle school Wednesday and Thursday. This was an unusually great middle school week. At this time, a Friday evening, I can really say that I feel good about my middle school students.

Yes, there are rude kids who laugh when I try to strike conversation during lunchtime. However, there is also a 3rd year student who visited California, a class of 2nd years that totally crack me up, three 1st year boys that I have funny English nicknames for and a special needs class filled with students that seem to really appreciate me at one school. At the other school, there is a group of girls that like to visit me in the teacher's room during the afternoon break, stare over my shoulder, comment on my typing speed, and talk to me about random things. Not to mention lots of other good students at both schools.

This week, I did little interviews with some third year students at the middle school that I had previously believed to me a black hole for students with genuine interest in English. However, quite a few of these students really REALLY surprised me. One boy sat very straight and made great eye contact and only required me to repeat something again when I had purposely gone for a difficult question. One girl answered everything I asked quickly and accurately. There was absolutely no way she could have known the questions I was going to ask beforehand. With her, I started having an almost regular conversation, putting aside my list of questions I had prepared. It was really impressive. When their classmates are around, these kids can be so shy and so I never knew how good at English they could be. I know now that I have many, many more good students than I could've possibly ever guessed.

I suppose that's it. Hope this makes up for the lack of a post last week.

Something called a spring rider

2009-01-10T23:34:00.003+09:00

It's 11:35 pm Saturday night. I have 25 minutes to write this week's entry.

It's been a week now since I've been back from Tokyo and I work this week. Monday was a meeting with other Hioki city ALTs; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all office days; and Friday was my first day at a school in this new year.

Unfortunately, the school didn't have any classes for me that day and asked me only to grade students' winter vacation English homework.

Not so unfortunately, there was a lot of it, so I actually busy at work for the entire day doing this.

Part of what the second year students' homework was that they had to talk about their town and what's in it. Most students drew maps.

My mind was officially boggled when a student wrote that a park nearby her house has many "animal chair."

I wondered what animals chairs could possibly be and looked at her illustration and realized that she was referring this sort of thing.

I thought to myself: What IS the word for those?

I pulled up an internet browser and looked up playground on wikipedia. It turns out it's called a "spring rider"

I can't remember ever hearing those called ANYTHING much less "spring rider".

I was conflicted- I could see no way around correcting this student's paper with something that probably no one really knows. BUT- if you're talking about a parks, "animal spring riders" is probably a bit more helpful than "animals chairs", so I went with it.

It's so funny when students throw things at you that you really don't know what to do with.

Another 2nd year student wrote that the past tense of "teach" was "peach." I am fairly certain this person was trying to see what they could get away with rather than really thinking they had the correct answer.

In the homework of a 1st year student, she introduced a friend of hers. She wrote: "She likes piano. She is piano." I thought that was amusing. :) Anyway, I crossed out "is" and put "plays" figuring that was a pretty safe guess.

Good to be back to work after 2 weeks of much needed vacation.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T09:51:00.001+09:00

Happy New Year in Japan!
I won’t be able to post this until tomorrow morning, though, but it still won’t be 2009 in California yet.
My New Years Eve was pretty unevenful. I spent my last few hours of 2008 on my computer downstairs plugged into the Internet while the older of the two of my host brothers (now 8 years old) watched pokemon episodes recorded before.
My host mother pretty much pried the remote from his hands so that I could watch the New Year programming at around 11:50 pm.
They showed footage of various shrines around Japan and people out there already to do their first temple visits of the year.
The clock in the living room said that it was 12, but it was early. Something within me (probably something very American) completely refused to accept it until the correct time became 12. (haha) Then, my cell phone, the TV, and the website I was looking at for the time all said 12. It was a quiet evening, but I still felt really happy about it being midnight New Years day like I always do. It’s silly because I am awake at midnight ALL of the time, but it was nice.
Then, I watched the 8-year-old roll around on the ground in a sort of a hyper, sleep deprived stupor and then went up stairs to plug in my phone, put away my laptop, and start getting ready for bed. Just as I was about to start charging the phone, the Japanese word for New Years just randomly showed up in the blue light display on the outside of my phone. I wasn’t expecting that at all. My phone is really just too sweet. (Actually, it gave me a special greeting on my birthday, too. :) ). I sat down on the bed to start writing this blog and I realized I could hear a temple bell (gong???) ringing. The same sort of sounds I heard from the television were happening all about the same time all around this country.
Anyway, these were small things, of course. But now I really feel like it’s the start of a pretty good year.
Happy New Year, everyone.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

On vacation

2008-12-26T18:45:00.002+09:00

Those are beautiful, beautiful words.

I like my job a lot, but I really felt that I had to get away for a bit to try to recollect strength and think of different ways to approach all that is my Japanese life.

I've been staying with my former host family from the Chuo summer program last year. My host mother asked me to teach English to the older of the two sons, who is now 8.

It is REALLY nice to be able to teach someone what I want and how I want. For example, I really like to use computers as a teaching aid, but classrooms simply don't have that kind of nifty technology. Not to mention I can teach English correctly as I know it instead of having to change things due to what the teacher is working with.

It's nice.

I have to test him again on this later, but the 8 year old memorized a pretty good length self introduction a little while ago.

"My name is Ryou. I am 8 years old. I like hamster. Do you like hamster?"

And yes, he does know what each part means. :D

Tokyo is nice. It's been good to just hang around and meet up with people. I've been taking it easy.

At the same time, I found that I really do like Kagoshima. I've found myself talking about different aspects of Kagoshima life with people and found that I really, truly enjoy it.

I also know that deciding to go to Tokyo was an awesomely good idea.

Christmas was uneventful except for a party I went to later on in the day. Uneventful Christmases are pretty standard for me, so it was no big deal.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. :)

Winter clothes and packing

2008-12-17T15:52:00.004+09:00

I realized recently that I really like buying winter clothes. Especially buying warm socks and sweaters. It makes me wonder just what I am going to do with myself once the weather starts to warm up again.

I suppose that's the only real good part about cold weather- keeping warm.

I'm headed up to Tokyo on Sunday. It won't snow there, but it is colder there than here. Being bad at really knowing temperatures just from hearing the numbers, I don't really know what to expect.

So, I am thinking in my head how to pack my bag. I won't be really able to pack until Saturday because I have to do laundry first. I also need to buy souvenirs to give to people in Tokyo. I need to study the domestic flight baggage policy better, too.

I'm definitely worrying too much.

As you might've been able to tell from the last entry, I kind of have a strange perception of time these days. The days seem to be moving slower (probably because I am looking forward to Tokyo so much) and I am used to them moving so fast. I thought when I wrote the last entry that it would be the last one before going to Tokyo.

But I have a feeling I am going to feel much better once I get on the plane.

Hopefully, I'll feel much more present for my next entry.

Not much to say

2008-12-13T23:42:00.006+09:00

It's Saturday here, a little more than 15 minutes before it's Sunday.

I haven't posted anything yet this week. Not because I haven't wanted to, but rather I was unsure of what exactly to say.

Life has been pretty uneventful.

I'm going to Tokyo on the 21st and I will be there until January 3rd. I am glad I made a decision about what to do for Christmas and New Years. As the days roll by and the holidays get closer, I realize more how difficult it will be for me to be away from California.

I didn't really expect to feel like that. I thought that at most I would miss my family's tacky gift exchange. I learned otherwise when I was standing in line to mail Christmas packages to people back in California and I found myself getting a little upset.

What was kind of funny (in a not so funny way) was yesterday while I was at one of my middle schools, one of the English teachers came up to me and started talking to me about how Christmas is such a family holiday overseas, like in the US and England. He kept talking about how it is so important for people overseas to be with their families and I wished he'd realize that I -am- a person from overseas away from my family and that he would just stop talking about it.

But- feeling weird and a little bit upset on and off about being away from the holidays, doesn't mean that I am not ok or that I wish that I wasn't here. I won't regret being here in Japan instead of the US, either.

I am glad that even though I thought my first Christmas away from home wouldn't be too big of a deal, I still arranged for myself to go somewhere so that I can distract myself with meeting people and moving around. I guess it turns out I'm pretty good at watching out for myself even when I am not 100% sure what's going on in my head.

So, if anyone wanted a psychoanalysis about how I feel about having this first Christmas away, here it is. I don't really want to say anymore because I don't really want to think about it more. There's no point to that besides getting upset because that won't change things. I want to stay in and enjoy the present.

This is rather mushy and probably something that should rather go on my other blog.

Something relating to this blog, however, is that since I will be out of town for about 2 weeks starting the 21st (Sunday), there might not be weekly updates here. I know I'm not very reliable about them yet, anyway.

2 minutes until Sunday. I'm posting this.

伊集院ラーメン Ijuin Ramen

2008-12-03T19:27:00.004+09:00

This is a story about ramen.

Sorry if this blog isn't written so well. I wrote it rather quickly.

As some might know, I've had a vicious cough lately and my nose has been rather stuffy. During these times, I tend to prefer spicy food, hoping that it will clear up my sinuses.

Yesterday, when the end of my work day was approaching, the idea of having spicy ramen popped into my head and really appealed to me. I thought about it even more and decided that I wanted to try to get the ramen to go and eat it at home. Not feeling well and barely having a voice, I didn't really feel up to sitting in a restaurant.

There's two places for ramen here in Ijuin and one of them I knew for certain had spicy ramen. So, on the way driving home from work, I looked at the sign in front of the shop and was able to read in that short time that the shop opens that 5 for the evening.

So, I walked to the place at 5 and then was able to read the sign even better. The opening time was not 5, but rather 5:30. Further, the shop doesn't even open at all on Tuesdays.

I decided to go to the super market and buy things to try to make my own spicy ramen, but as I was walking around the store, I realized that I was really really hungry and tired. I ended up just buying premade food for dinner and gave up on ramen for the day.

Today, as the work day was wrapping up, I decided to go by the ramen place at 5:30 and ask if I could do take out as I had planned the day before.

I got there and asked, but they couldn't sell ramen to go.

I decided to try the other ramen place, Ijuin Ramen. I went into the shop and asked about taking ramen to go. The two guys in the shop said I could. It turned out they gave me a regular bowl from the shop and asked me to return it when I can. They covered the bowl with plastic wrap in hopes that it would stop the broth from spilling. They put that, along with chopsticks and a spoon on a tray for me. When I was still uncertain about how it would hold up in the car, they got out another case for me.

I was so surprised that they did that for me.

I think some readers would probably say that this kind of hospitality is "typical Japan", but I honestly don't think that's true. Sure, people here are very kind and helpful a lot of the time, but, like in any other country, an experience like that is very rare and awesome to have.

I drove home, careful of the ramen in the back, hoping that no matter what I do with my life, I go about it thinking outside of the box and going out of my way to make something work for someone the way they have their heart set like those guys did for me.

Oh, and the ramen was delicious.

More little fish and something about a tree

2008-11-28T14:43:00.002+09:00

Today I went to one of my elementary schools that I hadn't been to in a while. I got out of my car and realized this was my first time being there since the hot weather died down and the cold weather began.

As I was walking up to the school, I thought about the desktop picture on the computer that I usually sit at. It is a picture of a tree in the schoolyard. The leaves in the picture were yellow because the picture was taken in fall/winter. I thought it was funny that the picture was on the desktop because it was the exact angle and view of that part of the schoolyard that someone using the computer could see if they just looked over the screen and out the door. So, as I changed into my indoor shoes, I was thinking that because the leaves had probably changed colors again, the image on my screen and the real life one would be really similar.

What I didn't realize is that because it is no longer hot out and it is actually becoming very cold each day, they don't leave the door open anymore. So, they can't see the real life tree from the computer at all except for glances when people go in and out.

Is that why that picture was used for the desktop???????

:)

It turns out that I am okay with eating small fish whole with school lunch if it's served on rice. I figure that's because if it's on rice, it's easier to pretend it is something else I eat on rice. Plus, these small fish taste better than the other small fish.

I shot hoops (basketball) with some elementary school students today. It was fun.

Japanese study, the lack of travel bugs, rain...etc.

2008-11-24T11:51:00.006+09:00

Ew, so much for forcing myself to update weekly, right? I am not entirely sure what happened last week because I had time to post and I knew I hadn't yet, I just didn't. Maybe I didn't feel like I was quite in the right state of mind. Anyway, this will be last weeks very tardy entry.

People are often asking me where in this island, Kyushu, I have traveled to since moving here. Seeing as how I've been only to Kanoya for a week with the other new ALTs and to Kagoshima for shopping trips and parties, I don't really have an awful lot to tell people. I look at the experience of other JETs and I realize that they are really traveling around- not just in Kyushu, but other places in Japan, too.

For me, though, at least at the moment I don't feel myself being particularly bit by the travel bug. I kind of think just living here is enough adventure for now. I've done the touristy thing in Japan a few times and now I just want to experience living here. I am, of course, not saying that I won't travel- I have every intention to, but I don't and probably won't as much as other people do.

If anything, I feel like I -should- be wanting to travel because everyone else does.

Either way, I am going to Tokyo next month for Christmas and New Years. I am way more excited though, about going to see people like my friends in Tokyo and my former host family than doing any sort of sightseeing. I guess what I really prefer at the moment is to be places where I have connections.

By the way, I started private Japanese lessons about two weeks ago. The teacher is really nice. I always forget when I am not taking Japanese lessons that I really truly do enjoy them. Of course, we're reviewing right now, so I get to feel really smart. (haha) Of course, since I started learning Japanese over 5 years ago, there are a lot of really basic things that I have forgotten, so really it's great to be reviewing.

Winter came. This morning it was raining really hard. Here's something I don't understand. Apparently around June-July is the rainy season, July-August is typhoon season. Okay, so, with that established, what IS all of this extra rain? Does it ever stop raining here?

I found a dead bird yesterday. I thought immediately of how in the US one should report dead birds immediately because of the threat of West Nile Virus, so I told someone in Japanese. They told someone else, who called the building owners, who had the bird removed. No idea what came of it because I don't know what the standard procedures are around here, but I feel like I did the right thing.

Samurai and Ijuin Town

2008-11-11T08:50:00.003+09:00

About a month or so ago, I was in the teacher`s room of one of my middle schools. Throughout the day, there was an ongoing discussion about a poster that a couple of the students made to put up in the halls.

I could tell that the teachers were trying to figure out whether it was appropriate, but I could not figure out exactly what was so controversial about it.

The poster had a man who appeared to be a samurai on it and I heard the word samurai used a lot. So, I figured that maybe the problem with the poster was that it was disrespectful to the samurai in the local history.

It made sense when I thought about it. There is a big statue of a samurai warrior in front of the train station, a giant samurai statue-type-thing that you pass to get to the train platform, the sewer covers here have samurai helmet designs on them, many of my schools have some sort of samurai suit of armor or something on display, and part of the town`s biggest festival is a procession of people in samurai armor who walk to this town from Kagoshima city.

It would make sense that the people in this town might get offended if there was something insulting samurai posted.

I asked and BOY was my thinking wrong.

The Japanese teacher of English I asked, Mr. Matsumoto, told me that many students who go to the school`s ancestors were the poor peasants back in the samurai era, and to them the samurai poster would be offensive because it refers to the old class system where their families were at the bottom and warlords were at the top.

It makes sense that descendants of people who were at the unfortunate end of social hierarchy to think a little less of samurai symbolism. However, I was surprised that the town seems to still really hang onto it`s samurai history while there are such negative sentiments and concerns about that going around town.

In the end, the students were allowed to use their poster after the word "samurai" was erased.

Clearly there are so many things that I do not understand.

Colds, stoves, ringshaped lightbulbs, and videos!

2008-11-06T21:14:00.005+09:00

So I'm recovering now from a fairly vicious cold. It was vicious because usually I don't really get sick, instead I just feel miserable in the "fighting off a cold" stage for a freakishly long time.

I mentioned the fact I had a cold to the leader of the English Conversation class for adults and he started sending me several emails asking me if I am okay, if need to go to the hospital, if I have been eating, if I was sick in bed, if I needed one of the female members of the class to come see me. It was really... umm... overwhelming.

It's not unusual in this country to go to the hospital just for a cold. By this, it doesn't mean being admitted to the hospital, but getting medicines from the doctor. Still, to my foreign ears "do you need to go to the hospital?" is still a bit shocking to hear.

My stove in my apartment has been broken for about two weeks or so now. I have a free used stove lined up for me which I have to pay the installation fee for, but I am still kind of waiting for something to happen there. No one has even come by to see if there's anything easy to fix on there. I couldn't be more unfamiliar with this kind of stove, so if I accidentally jiggled it in a way that made the gas pipe loose, I wouldn't know. It would be kind of embarrassing if some installation guy came and found something simple like that with my old stove. Of course, in my situation, it looks like if that's the problem, there's no way around finding out that way.

Today I went out and bought a new lightbulb for the lamp in my room. I suppose it's not appropriate to call it a lightbulb because technically it's a ring shaped lightbulb. At first when I saw these lamps that have them in my apartment, I didn't think to consider that they were very different from lamps I had in the US. On top of that, I noticed those light... rings in the store when buying a regular lightbulb before, but for some reason it didn't dawn on me that I would end up buying one. Nothing struck me as odd until the moment I realized I had to go buy a light...ring.

Holding the burned out one in my hand, I almost wanted to throw it like a frisbee because of it's shape and size. I took pictures of the lightbulb... ring... thing and I'll post them sometime.

There's a lightning storm going on outside. I don't really know what the "what not to do during lightning storm" rules are given where I am from, but I remember hearing YEARS ago that it is unsafe to be on the computer when there is lightning. I don't know if this is still true, but I do intend to get off of this computer if I hear it coming closer.

I don't have a terrible lot more to say right now anyway, either, I think.

I missed a big festival on Monday because of my cold.

Here are some videos I've taken--

Here's a broadcasting van. Source of lots of noise pollution in this country. I have no idea what this one is saying, but they do everything from advertise to telling citizens to clear the path (emergency vehicles.) There are A LOT of vehicles that have much to say around here.

This next video is a procession of performers going from one part of the festival I mentioned in the last blog, to another part which is across the street from my house. I filmed this from my balcony (as I did the last video).

Yes, I did wander down to the festival eventually. Here are some more performers-

This is proof that you can be a Japanese major and take Japanese culture classes, but still find aspects of Japan's culture that you find, well, REALLY hard to comprehend and several shades of hilarious. Watching men stand in line to hit a bunch of sticks with another stick while screaming their heads off taught me this. A faaaar more informed person commented this video saying that this is called "Yakumaru Jigen Ryu".

Last video-
I never thought I'd see people performing taiko drumming dressed as samurai warriors. Now, I know I was truly a person limited in imagination. :D

Actually, to make matters worse, for some reason I think of the ninja turtles whenever I watch this video. I actually thought of that while I was filming too. I imagined the ninja turtles doing taiko. (haha) I dare you to tell me you didn't!

Myoenji festival

2008-10-27T08:47:00.003+09:00

Last weekend, there was a festival here in Ijuin. Part of the festival took place just across the street from my apartment building. It was fun to have so many people and so many things happening around where I live.

On the first day, I wandered down to see the festivities a few times, but mostly spent my time sitting in my living room area on the computer with my window open so that I could hear if something interesting was going on outside. Near the end of the day, some other JETs came along and I found myself on a quest to find a place to eat cake (I am not sure how this happened.) Anyway, it was good to hang out with people.

Yesterday, the festival had a lot more going on and there were a lot more people around. It was really exciting. My students were just about everywhere. There were also a lot of other JETs around, so I didn`t end up returning to my apartment out of slight boredom as I had the previous day.

Anyway, I uploaded some new pictures. To see them, click on the "Photos" tab at the top of the page.
I also took videos of various things, which I will share in some form sometime soon.
I have a lot going on this week (parties and work). That`s probably why I wrote this blog now even though I am rather tired.
I`m sure that I will be EXHAUSTED by the end of this week.

The meat smell, the tents, and lack of waves

2008-10-22T09:09:00.003+09:00

Now that the humidity outside has died down, I`ve been hanging clothes to dry outside rather than inside. At first, I didn`t like the smell the clothes carry after being hung outside, but I am getting used to it.

It`s kind of like smoky, meat-like smell. I don`t know why but since I moved here, I`ve thought that this town carries a strange scent that makes me think of meat (but -not- in an appetizing way, though.)

There`s a festival coming up in my town. I guess it`s this weekend, but tents have been up for it nearby my apartment building since last weekend.

What`s kind of neat about the tents being up is that the pictures my predecessor sent of the view of the apartment balcony had tents in the same place. It wasn`t like I was really expecting to see the tents when I first physically looked off the balcony myself, but seeing the bare area kind of made me... well, not "sad", really, but a little disappointed. (lol) But now the tents are back!

I finally got to go to the beach last weekend. It wasn`t at all as pretty as Monterey. The water looked gross and there was a wave breaker for people who want to swim (my Monterey raised mind says "HA!") in the ocean. Still, though, it was good to finally see ocean more than just a 2 second or so view from a car.

Little fish

2008-10-15T14:15:00.003+09:00

There are some things you simply can`t be prepared enough for.

A example of this is kyushoku- the school lunch provided in elementary and middle schools that you eat in the classroom.

Usually, I think they are fine. Not exactly my favorite foods, but I can deal with it.

Well, except for one thing.

Today was the second day I came across it.

Small fish fried whole.

I really want to be able to just suck it up and eat it, but I can never eat more than one or two of the bunch that I am given. First of all, eating something whole like that is really unfamiliar to me. Secondly, it doesn`t even really taste that good to me. As much as I want everyone to be impressed that this foreigner would eat anything, I keep having to draw the line with that and another food that I will not mention (I have mentioned it and I`ve learned my lesson).

Anyway, so I was in the teacher`s room today, just waiting for the time to go to a classroom to eat, and the principal and vice principal were already eating. I was attempting to psych myself up for eating the fish and failing horribly when one of them turned to me and asked perfectly seriously-

"Is rice okay?"

Today`s lunch was rice, miso soup, and those fried fish. And of all those things, he thought I`d have trouble with the rice!

I was actually asked if rice was okay one other time that day, too.

And I had to explain that I have, indeed, used chopsticks in the US.

More to do with music, etc.

2008-10-08T18:52:00.003+09:00

This week's update a little late this week. Of course, I haven't "officially" announced that updates are to come here on either Sunday or Monday of each week, but that's kind of what I was thinking I'd aim for.

Sort of continuing on the topic last time- last week the brass band from Kamimura Gakuen (Aya's old high school) came to one of my elementary schools. One of the songs that they played was the Atsuhime theme song that I talked about in my last blog. It sounded very awesome in person.

I am really starting to feel like I am enjoying working at the schools. Regardless of whether I am talking to a teacher who knows English or not, I've been having good conversations with them. And the students are getting more familiar with me, so they're a little less shy.

At one of my junior high schools, a new building opened up. This building is really nice and kind of fun to wander through during the afternoon break. Yesterday, I found the music room and the music teacher let me try to play the "koto". I think I might want to take lessons in that instrument now. That is pretty amazing for me, I think, because I hadn't really thought about taking up an instrument (except maybe taiko) since I was in elementary school.

Moving onto the next topic, I feel a little weird bringing it up, but I think it's kind of a unique cultural thing, so I will anyway. Sometime during the weekend, my supervisor's father passed away. Unlike in the US where a person would think it would be weird to go to a memorial for someone that they don't really know, in Japan it's commonplace to do so if you knew (worked with) someone in their immediate family. So, me and the other ALTs who I had a meeting with on Monday were told that we should either go that evening or we should send money for the grieving family with someone who was going. I agreed with our decision not to go because we don't really know what to do at the Japanese memorial service and it's not really the right situation to be fumbling around as we would other occasions that are new to us.

The next day, as we were told beforehand, the guy from my office brought back thank you gifts from my supervisor's family. It was a handkerchief and a box of packets of sugar. To me it still feels strange to have received a gift for that and I am not sure what to do with these things because of that.

I have the other ALTs bags still. They are in another office, so they weren't there to get theirs.

So basically I left work yesterday with three bags of... ummm thank-you-for-your-sympathy-and-donation gifts, my regular two bags I carry to work, and a pretty good sized package of instant ramen that was given one to each person in the office randomly right before I left.

Anyway, I suppose that's it.

Atsuhime (篤姫)

2008-09-28T20:40:00.002+09:00

Frequently on Japanese television, there are period dramas which tell the stories of people in Japanese history.

One of those programs that's been running since before I arrived here in Kagoshima is Atsuhime.

The show was playing in the background as I was engaged with something on the computer, but I realized then that I wanted to remember the Atsuhime drama because I consider it to be part of the times now for me.

The story of Atsuhime and the fact that her story is now being aired on national television is something very special to the people here in Kagoshima prefecture. That is because Atsuhime was originally from Satsuma (former name of Kagoshima).

During the time it takes place, the clan ruling the Satsuma area was very strong unlike other clans located closer to the shogunate that were kept weaker in order to keep the shogunate in power. Satsuma was too far away to control as much as other areas. Naturally, one would conclude that this was a proud time for Kagoshima.

I'm having trouble feeling like I can explain this further very well, so here's the wikipedia article on the show.

For me, personally, I find the show a little hard to follow because of how quickly the characters speak and the heavy dose of polite language (keigo) that they use. Not to mention the fact that I haven't really took the time to watch each and every episode as it airs.

But it is something that the people here seem to take pride in and I think that's great.

Sometimes, though, I watch just the theme song sequence at the beginning because not only is the song absolutely beautiful, but also the images they choose to go along with the song.

Here's a YouTube video.

When I went with Aya, Jenny, and Kathryn to a big fireworks show in Kagoshima city, they put off fireworks to this song. It was really, truly amazing.

While I can't call myself a fan, I wrote this blog because it is something I want to remember when I am thinking about when my time living here in Japan had just begun.

Almost 2 months

2008-09-24T09:21:00.002+09:00

September is almost over. The beginning of October will mark two months since I came to Japan this year. The longest amount of time I`ve previous spent in Japan is about to be doubled. And then after that, a lot more time to come.

Things are still going pretty well.

The typhoon I mentioned in my last post ended up being demoted to Severe Tropical storm, but the news still referred to it as a typhoon, so that was kind of confusing. Either way, the storm veered to the East as it was hitting Kyushu, so although the Eastern half of Kagoshima was hit -pretty- bad, the skies were pretty clear on the Western side where I am.

To tell the truth, it was kind of disappointing, because I wanted to have a fun story I could tell people about me waiting out the storm, all alone in my apartment.

But there will be other typhoons.

Last week on Tuesday, I began to have ear pain. I stopped ignoring it in favor of work on Friday and went to the hospital (regular doctor appointments take place in the hospital here) on Saturday. I thought it was an ear infection, but the Ears, Nose, and Throat Doctor I visited on Monday said it was a viral infection in my nose and throat. This made sense because my throat was bothering me as well.

The other night, I woke up in the middle of the night because my ear was really hurting, but actually that was the last I had of substantial pain from. The next day (yesterday), my ear rather felt like it was underwater. Today is just feels kind of funny.

I realized that I like going to the doctors in Japan. It`s a fun challenge to try to communicate health things in Japanese, especially since medical words are often so similar. I hope the doctors appreciated the challenge too. Maybe they wished I brought someone fluent to help translate.

For me, though, I don`t like to bring translators to places because that just means that they can talk super fast as though I am not there. And often, since I`ve gotten here, I`ve felt like my "translators" were not able to explain things much better and often they`d rather make decisions for me instead of trying to help me understand. I much prefer to put out the effort and go without a translator.

I should be getting internet in my apartment as soon as this weekend, so hopefully I can set a certain day of the week when I was post here and the posts will be more structured and thought out.

Sports Day and typhoons

2008-09-16T09:17:00.003+09:00

So I went to my first school Sports Festival at one of my middle schools on Sunday. Probably due to the timing of my first visit to the school, I didn`t get to participate. Actually, it turned out no one quite knew I was even attending.

It was still a lot of fun. Probably the event that was the most fun to watch was the relay races. One especially fast or slow person can change the outcome of the race so much. It was fun when two teams were neck to the neck during the whole duration. But, on the other hand, I felt sorry for the team that was lapped.

I definitely don`t consider myself to be very athletic, but I really do want to participate in a Sports Day event next year.

Although if the event occurs in the rain as it did this time, I might consider taking that back (although I probably won`t).

There`s a typhoon coming, so we`ve been getting A LOT of rain lately. I don`t really QUITE understand how big it is and what it could mean for me, but I`m looking into it whenever I have the chance. We did have a typhoon since I`ve arrived here and I`ve been in the edges of typhoons before, but something seems different this time. Anyway, it should be arriving around Wed/Thurs and everything should be fine. :)

Lately, I`ve been getting a little tired of eating rice and noodles so much. So, the other night, I bought bratwurst, hot dog buns, mustard, and beans and had a very not-Japanese dinner. It was nice and it felt really good to show myself that I really do have a lot of options of what to eat here even though sometimes it doesn`t seem like it.

I still have no internet at my apartment, but I`ll get to the bottom of it.

"First blog"

2008-09-06T18:00:00.002+09:00

Because I am using my own laptop at a computer lab, I can finally post the REAL first post that's been sitting, waiting patiently on my desktop in a word document for a month now.

Wow, I can believe it's been a month since I got here.

Before I paste the blog, some news-

-As you might have noticed, I finally was able to fix the template. Let me know how it looks on your respective browsers.
-I was also finally able to upload the pictures I've taken so far on my camera. If you look at the top of the new template, there is a "pictures" link that should take you to my facebook album. When that album fills, I will start a new one and give it the name "pictures 2"- no worries, it will be user friendly. ;)

So here's the first blog, it's not super great or anything, though---

Written first night in Hioki City, Kagoshima Prefecture- August 6th, 2008 at 8:54 pm.

So I’m sitting here in the living area of the apartment that I moved into today. It wasn’t quite what I had imagined from looking at pictures, but nonetheless, it’s a really great place.

The Tokyo Orientation days (we arrived on the 3rd) were very hectic and busy. Also, I didn’t find those particular days to be “Japanese” seeing as how we had very little time to physically leave the hotel.

I did, however, get chances to meet my host family on the first night and Tokyo friends on the second (Macha, Nori, Ai, Ryoichi, Yukihiro).

On the way to Kagoshima, I was very excited about living in this prefecture that I’ve liked so much for such a long time. All of the way to the office I was sooo happy.

At one point, I looked into a miror in a bathroom and realized I had a really, truly happy face.

Then we went to the apartment.

I stepped into the door with the two people from the office who were helping me and suddenly it sunk in that I am going to be living here. On top of all that, I am going to be living here alone. This thought really got me anxious and upset.

On top of that, I don’t internet here yet, so I felt very isolated from everyone that I once counted on.

I called Aya- that made me feel better, but she was busy with driving school at the moment.

I went out to dinner with one of the ALTs of the city who came with me (he’s British) and a CIR (she’s Korean.) I felt better after getting out and hanging out a little.

After I got back I began listening to some music on my iPod and realized that my entire taste in music changed in this transition. It seems that I’ve been unconciously collecting songs with “you can do it,” “count on others,” “be easy on yourself” etc. messages to them during the past few months. Then I started to view this apartment as a series of puzzles as I figured out other parts of settling down. I think my mood is quite a bit different now.

Anyway, I feel like I’m about to pass out, so I am going to start heading towards bed. I have to get to the office tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Eww… it’s going to be hot once I turn off the air cooler in this place.

-----------

Funny enough, my taste in music switched back to how it was before since then. :)

Cars, bugs, and phones

2008-09-02T08:25:00.002+09:00

I`ll make this quick because I have to leave to go to one of my schools, Ijuin Kita Elementary School, very soon. It`s my first day of the job I came here to do.

I`m excited, but also very nervous.

I did end up buying a car on that day and I have a cell phone now, too.

Things are finally coming together.

I can`t wait until I can finally get internet at my apartment, though.

In other news, I saw a really huge bug.

And, from the looks of it, I will see this huge bug when I go home today as well.

The reason for this is because it seems to be living happily in the elevator doorway.

The bug, including it`s huge wing span, is about as wide as my hand.

I took pictures, but sadly they`re on my regular camera. I won`t be able to share those pics for a while longer.

I could, however, try to get a cell picture of it.

I was really startled when I first saw it. And I`ve been taking the stairs a lot more.

In the meantime, here`s a cell pic of my car.

Gotta go!

KAPIC

2008-08-25T14:09:00.000+09:00

It`s been hard to want to blog these days due to the fact that I can only really use internet in the office. It seems that it will be at least 2 weeks before I can finally get internet set up in my apartment.

Last week, the new JETs in Kagoshima prefecture had our orientation in Kagoshima city in Monday, then on Tuesday most of us went to the cultural center in Kanoya known as KAPIC. It was rather fun to spend so much time with other JETs in the prefecture. The area where KAPIC was located was also very beautiful (pictures to come when I have internet at the apartment.) At the same time, I was also pretty tired the whole time.

On Saturday, I went with Aya (IchikiKushikino city, Kagoshima prefecture native/Japanese little sister), Jenny (Prefecture ALT who also lives in Ijuuin Town), and Kathryn (a couple hours up North of us) to a big fireworks festival. We all put on yukata at Jenny`s place, so we got a lot of attention walking around. It was far more crowded than I expected and it got pretty crazy (frightening even) in the crowd when it began to rain. It was nothing like people themselves were going crazy, but I felt nervous around so many people crowded together with umbrellas and children here and there.

The fireworks show itself was very nice, though. There were some breaks and I don`t really know why those were in there, but a fireworks lasted a long time.

Yesterday I went out shopping. Grocery was a good part of it, but I also bought a new chair and a new kitchen towel holders because both of those things were broken. I found a pretty neat store where things are not only cheap, but also (badly) translated into English. I decided that when I get things like cleaning supplies where it would be good to know directions, I`ll try to buy from that store so I have a much better chance of understanding correctly.

This morning, I was -not- ready to get up when I did. It`s Monday and I already feel like I could use another weekend.

Tomorrow, I believe, Aya`s relative who sells cars is going to be coming by the office to show me a car. I really hope that I don`t feel pressured to make a decision about it too soon...

It`s hot

2008-08-18T08:54:00.000+09:00

But maybe I just think it`s especially hot today because I had to drag one of my suitcases to the office today.

I`m going to an orientation in Kagoshima city until tomorrow, then going to a culture center in Kanoya for culture and language lessons until Friday. So, I have my packed suitcase right next to me.

We had a typhoon! I`ve experienced those before, I think it was moreso the edge rather than the stronger part of it. Being from the Monterey area, I`m not used to thunder and lightning storms that last longer than around 10~20 minutes. It`s pretty crazy.

My apartment is beginning look a lot more like a place where I live. I have pictures up and things like that. I took pictures and was going to use my friend/neighbor/fellow ALT`s internet to upload them, but she wasn`t at her house yesterday evening for some reason. Oh well...

I`ve been experiencing some frustration on the language end in that sometimes when I try to speak Japanese to people, I can understand what they are telling me but I can`t think of the suitable reply at the moment, so they think I don`t understand at all. For example, I decided to try to call the post office yesterday on my own instead of waiting until later and getting a native Japanese speaker to help me. I understood what she was saying I felt like we were getting done everything that we needed, but she still referred me to a English language line that charged a fee. That was kind of frustrating.

In other news, it looks like I`m buying a car. It was `strongly suggested` by my supervisor and, according to Charlie and some others, renting a car is better if you only plan to stay for one year, otherwise it`s better to buy. Aya has a relative in Kagoshima city who sells cars and I`ll probably get a good deal from him.

First blog

2008-08-11T08:36:00.001+09:00

This isn`t going to be as structured as I wanted my first entry here to be. Probably because I`m typing it in circumstances different than what I expected.

Technically, I typed my first entry on my first night and it is saved onto my laptop at my apartment.

But right now, I have no internet at my apartment and I`m using my work computer at the city education office.

Meaning that I can`t post my `first blog.` I was thinking I`d wait until I could use internet at my apartment to start, but I realized as time went by that so many days were passing and people would want to read my initial thoughts about things.

So I`ll post the real `first blog` later on.

Life in Japan has been treating me well so far. I`ve been going through the process of settling down in my apartment pretty smoothly and people have been very nice around here.

As I will mention in my `first blog,` I did experience some initial depression, but now I feel very cheerful and I`m really happy to be here.

There`s not an awful lot to do for work these days because school hasn`t started yet, so I basically just hang out at the office.

Last Friday was my first work related party. It started out at an Izakaya where you can drink and eat all you want. This was really a lot of fun because I got to see people who usually seem pretty serious be really friendly and relaxed. Afterward, we all went to karaoke where it was apparently very surprising that I already knew a number of Japanese songs. (haha)

Saturday, there was a gathering of Kagoshima JETs. We went to Kagoshima city, toured around a little bit and went bowling. I ended up leaving early because I didn`t feel very good and I just didn`t feel up to hanging out with so many people then.

Yesterday, Aya and I went to Kagoshima city. The plan was to go shopping and try out a Mexican restaurant called `Crazy Uncle` to lunch. It turned out that the Mexican place was closed. So we ate somewhere else for lunch, stopped by the foreign foods store, returned to my apartment, and we made Mexican food for dinner. It was really a lot of fun.

It was actually my first dinner I made at the apartment, so it was really great for that reason, too.

Aya also helped me figure out the waste disposal system around here. It`s actually EXTREMELY complicated. Regular garbage is called `Burnable` and there are separate bags needed for plastic, plastic bottles (strangely called `Pet Bottles` around here), plastic/Styrofoam containers, `dangerous things.` There are really more details about this whole thing than I can really think of right now to write, but I think I`ll do okay. I also have to write my name on each bag so that I`m accountable for how well I sort. Intimidating, right?

Post

2008-08-01T09:27:00.000+09:00

Just something to put here until I can actually do a real post.

Ugh... why does my template put all my titles in caps? I'll figure out how to fix that soon.