Just kidding. Seriously, though. It's been forever since I've updated this.
So Thanksgiving was fantastic. Mr. Oogushi invited Marisa and I over to his house for a feast. We spent the evening eating turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and other traditional Thanksgiving foods with his friends and family, and you know what? It actually felt really homey and comforting. I started to realize something that I'll talk about a little bit later because I just realized it fully today and want to share the good news with everyone. Moving on....
Over the long weekend, Marisa and I went to Mt. Takao, just west of Tokyo to see the leaves changing color. It was my first real experience hiking up a mountain, and the pain in my legs the next day stood as an testament to that. On the way up, I was just fine. On the way down, we said to ourselves, "Well, let's take the ropeway", but by that time of day the ropeway was full and we had no choice but to hobble all the way down. Marisa was a lot better at it than I. At any rate, the mountain was absolutely gorgeous, awash of gold, red, and brown.
This is only tangentially related, but I'm pretty sure that Ginko trees sport the most impressive fall colors. They turn this brilliant, golden yellow, and when the leaves fall they make the ground this sea of gold. I just love it.
Okay, so December. A month of frigidity. There's very little insulation in Japan, so seeing your breath in your own house is a regular occurrence. The kotatsu has become my holy sanctuary, and I dare not leave it lest I become Popsicle-sensei. For the unaware, a kotatsu is a coffee table with a heater built in to the bottom. You cover the table with a blanket, put your feet inside, and voila! Comfort!
Last weekend (was it only last weekend?!?), Mr. Oogushi surprised me and Marisa with an early Christmas gift. He bought us tickets to a helicopter ride over Tokyo. I was stunned by his generosity. I mean, really? A helicopter ride over Tokyo? Needless to say, it was amazing. Marisa is uploading the video now, so you'll see it shortly.
This weekend, I visited my host family again. I got to see the extended family too, this time. Ryou is still so cute. We played New Super Mario Bros. Wii together and it was a blast. Stayed up with my family chatting and watched the Nodame Cantabile season finale. Just a great time.
(You might want to skip with next part. Just nerdy stuff.)
I saw the One Piece: Strong World movie today and my mind was blown. Amazingly fun, amazing animation. I've been a fan of One Piece since the beginning of high school, and I'll continue to be a One Piece fan for the next 10 years that I expect it'll be around. It's become one of the most epic adventure stories ever written. *gushing*
This week Joseph and Randy arrive along with a slew of year-end parties. Karaoke Monday, enkai Tuesday, Festivus Wednesday, rest on Thursday, two Christmas parties on Friday, die on Saturday, and wake up at the crack of dawn to find out how mochi is made on Sunday.
Which brings me to the point: I'm finally starting to feel really settled. I have new friends now--Akiko, my Japanese teacher, Mr. Oogushi, Mr. Endo from the cooking class, my host family. I speak Japanese most of the day. I have to eat weird food all the time. But all of this has stopped feeling incongruent with me. Like somehow it fits together in a comforting way. I don't want to suggest that I'm not coming back. I miss the U.S. very much. It's just that I have roots now. I feel comfortable. It's nice.
It's real nice.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=215044665377
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Lucky Curry
Now where was I?
Right. The weekend before last, I went with my the staff of my junior high school on their trip. The first destination on our trip was a theatre. "Oh! A theatre!" I hear you cry. "Something classy and cultural, am I right?" No. You're most certainly wrong about that. We went to see 'Muscle Musical', a circus-like variety show featuring a bevy of shirtless men. I mean, it had broader appeal than just that (some of the stunts were genuinely impressive), but I couldn't help but feel that I was just watching a trashy version of a Cirque show. Speaking of Cirque, 'Muscle Musical' is actually playing in Las Vegas at the Imperial Palace under the name 'Matsuri', I think. Anyway, the most exciting part of the show was when they broke the record for the most jumps on a jump rope in 60 seconds. They did it live and had it verified and everything.
Sorry about my English tonight. I sometimes feel like it's becoming my second language.
After that, we went over to Ebisu and made a quick stop at the Beer Museum before heading off to dinner. Drinking and dining with your co-workers is a cultural embedded activity in which the professionalism of the workplace is thrown out the window... on the condition that it is never spoke of again after that night. Summarily, my vice-principal got quite drunk. We went out to karaoke afterwards, and at one point he started singing a song by Kinki Kids, and he turned to me and said in English, "Kinky. Get it?" He also bought a bicycle horn beforehand which he honked whenever someone said something inappropriate.
I had canceled my hotel reservation earlier that week because of my cold, so after karaoke, I made the long trek home. Probably about an hour and a half of trains.
Flashing forward to Tuesday: We had the first day of our Saitama JET mid-year conference. One of my junior high teachers, Mr. Takeuchi went with me. During the first day, I discovered that the way my junior high classes are run is not necessarily 'normal', and if I think they suck (which they do), I should really try harder to do something about it. So now I am. It's a slow process, but I'm just going to be a persistent little mosquito buzzing in the ears of my English teachers. On day two, the guest speaker in the morning was fantastic (gave me a lot of great ideas for class), but the afternoon workshops were a bore because they were mostly pertinent only to high school ALTs.
Moving on to the weekend now:
Right. The weekend before last, I went with my the staff of my junior high school on their trip. The first destination on our trip was a theatre. "Oh! A theatre!" I hear you cry. "Something classy and cultural, am I right?" No. You're most certainly wrong about that. We went to see 'Muscle Musical', a circus-like variety show featuring a bevy of shirtless men. I mean, it had broader appeal than just that (some of the stunts were genuinely impressive), but I couldn't help but feel that I was just watching a trashy version of a Cirque show. Speaking of Cirque, 'Muscle Musical' is actually playing in Las Vegas at the Imperial Palace under the name 'Matsuri', I think. Anyway, the most exciting part of the show was when they broke the record for the most jumps on a jump rope in 60 seconds. They did it live and had it verified and everything.
Sorry about my English tonight. I sometimes feel like it's becoming my second language.
After that, we went over to Ebisu and made a quick stop at the Beer Museum before heading off to dinner. Drinking and dining with your co-workers is a cultural embedded activity in which the professionalism of the workplace is thrown out the window... on the condition that it is never spoke of again after that night. Summarily, my vice-principal got quite drunk. We went out to karaoke afterwards, and at one point he started singing a song by Kinki Kids, and he turned to me and said in English, "Kinky. Get it?" He also bought a bicycle horn beforehand which he honked whenever someone said something inappropriate.
I had canceled my hotel reservation earlier that week because of my cold, so after karaoke, I made the long trek home. Probably about an hour and a half of trains.
Flashing forward to Tuesday: We had the first day of our Saitama JET mid-year conference. One of my junior high teachers, Mr. Takeuchi went with me. During the first day, I discovered that the way my junior high classes are run is not necessarily 'normal', and if I think they suck (which they do), I should really try harder to do something about it. So now I am. It's a slow process, but I'm just going to be a persistent little mosquito buzzing in the ears of my English teachers. On day two, the guest speaker in the morning was fantastic (gave me a lot of great ideas for class), but the afternoon workshops were a bore because they were mostly pertinent only to high school ALTs.
Moving on to the weekend now:
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Pall is Lifted
Two weeks ago, I went with Marisa to far away Waseda University to see an amazing concert. Three acts were playing: Eiko Ishibashi & (some other guy), mama!Milk, and the performer who we'd really come to see, Shugo Tokumaru. The concert took place in a campus hall that doubles as a Christian church on Sundays. The spectators sat in rows of chairs arranged like pews facing a small stage with a giant organ behind it. In front of the organ, a painting of a desolate beach dune; to the right, a bunch of twigs propped up to invoke a tree; and to the right, a number of glass vessels filled with water, illuminated by a strategically placed spotlight.
The first act was basically some guy using delay pedals and an electric violin to layer a sound that was mirrored in the desolate picture behind him. As he did this, Ishibashi blew into a flute to make the sound of the wind, played piano a little, and sang.
Tokumaru was on next. His 30 minute set was painfully short considering how mind-blowingly fantabulous the performance was. I was already a huge fan of his after last year's 'Exit', but now he's pretty much been elevated to the pinnacle of awesome. We were treated with compositions consisting of a percussion part played on overturned ashtrays, buckets, and wood blocks, and accompanied by one of those cans that when you shake it, bird noises come out. It was pretty much everything I like about music on display. Most mind-blowing part? When I learned that the intro to 'Parachute' is not played on multiple guitars, but just played by him. On guitar. By himself. It looked like his fingers were going to fall off.
Mama!milk, on the other hand, was just about the sexiest contra-bass and accordion duo I'd ever seen. In fact, I'm almost sure it's the only contra-bass and accordion duo I'd ever seen, but even still... The way the man kept smacking the bass and the way the woman would breath so heavily before arching her back to open up the red folds of her accordion... It was really bizarre.
After that amazing Sunday concert day, came Halloween week. I say "week" because I wore my costume 3 out of the 5 days. I was permitted to teach my classes dressed as Spiderman, and, of course, I couldn't resist. Here's a picture.
On Saturday, I attended two Halloween party. The first was at the house of the head of the PTA at my junior high school, Mr. Oogushi. Marisa came with me (dressed as Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction) expecting that it would probably be an adult costume party sort of situation, analogous to what you might see in the U.S. Not so. People don't really celebrate Halloween in Japan, so I guess I should have seen this coming, but it was actually a party thrown for the neighborhood kids, mostly my students from Gongendo Elementary. There was a costume contest, bingo, and Mr. Oogushi even set up the chance for kids to trick or treat at one of the other parent's houses. It was adorable.
From there, Marisa and I biked across town in the dead of night to our friend Lauren's party. Long story incredibly short: I fell asleep on one of her extra futons.
I rode home through the brisk morning air and later that day, by 7pm, my throat felt like sandpaper. Sandpaper lined with hot coals. I was sick through the rest of the week (luckily Tuesday was a holiday; Culture Day! You remember, right?). On Wednesday, they sent me home from work so that I could go to the hospital for a fever. Everyone's so H1N1 crazy that they can't take any chances, so the hospital it is. It was an educational experience. When the nurse moves to put a tiny q-tip like object up your nose and says, "This is going to hurt", you can bet that it's going to hurt. Luckily, I didn't have the flu. I use the past tense here to emphasize that I'm nearly cured! Huzzah!
Stay tuned for another update soon. (P.S. I embeded a video of 'Parachute' just in case anyone was curious about that intro I mentioned)
The first act was basically some guy using delay pedals and an electric violin to layer a sound that was mirrored in the desolate picture behind him. As he did this, Ishibashi blew into a flute to make the sound of the wind, played piano a little, and sang.
Tokumaru was on next. His 30 minute set was painfully short considering how mind-blowingly fantabulous the performance was. I was already a huge fan of his after last year's 'Exit', but now he's pretty much been elevated to the pinnacle of awesome. We were treated with compositions consisting of a percussion part played on overturned ashtrays, buckets, and wood blocks, and accompanied by one of those cans that when you shake it, bird noises come out. It was pretty much everything I like about music on display. Most mind-blowing part? When I learned that the intro to 'Parachute' is not played on multiple guitars, but just played by him. On guitar. By himself. It looked like his fingers were going to fall off.
Mama!milk, on the other hand, was just about the sexiest contra-bass and accordion duo I'd ever seen. In fact, I'm almost sure it's the only contra-bass and accordion duo I'd ever seen, but even still... The way the man kept smacking the bass and the way the woman would breath so heavily before arching her back to open up the red folds of her accordion... It was really bizarre.
After that amazing Sunday concert day, came Halloween week. I say "week" because I wore my costume 3 out of the 5 days. I was permitted to teach my classes dressed as Spiderman, and, of course, I couldn't resist. Here's a picture.
On Saturday, I attended two Halloween party. The first was at the house of the head of the PTA at my junior high school, Mr. Oogushi. Marisa came with me (dressed as Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction) expecting that it would probably be an adult costume party sort of situation, analogous to what you might see in the U.S. Not so. People don't really celebrate Halloween in Japan, so I guess I should have seen this coming, but it was actually a party thrown for the neighborhood kids, mostly my students from Gongendo Elementary. There was a costume contest, bingo, and Mr. Oogushi even set up the chance for kids to trick or treat at one of the other parent's houses. It was adorable.
From there, Marisa and I biked across town in the dead of night to our friend Lauren's party. Long story incredibly short: I fell asleep on one of her extra futons.
I rode home through the brisk morning air and later that day, by 7pm, my throat felt like sandpaper. Sandpaper lined with hot coals. I was sick through the rest of the week (luckily Tuesday was a holiday; Culture Day! You remember, right?). On Wednesday, they sent me home from work so that I could go to the hospital for a fever. Everyone's so H1N1 crazy that they can't take any chances, so the hospital it is. It was an educational experience. When the nurse moves to put a tiny q-tip like object up your nose and says, "This is going to hurt", you can bet that it's going to hurt. Luckily, I didn't have the flu. I use the past tense here to emphasize that I'm nearly cured! Huzzah!
Stay tuned for another update soon. (P.S. I embeded a video of 'Parachute' just in case anyone was curious about that intro I mentioned)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Participations
This weekend, I had one of the greatest moments since I've been here.
Our school had its road race and bazaar on Saturday. This meant that I had to work on Saturday. Unfortunate, but I got Monday off, so I guess it works out. I arrived at 8:30, like usual, dressed in my typical school attire. As I enter the office, one of the first things the secretary says to me is, "Are you going to run in the race today?" I just replied, "I didn't even know I was allowed to particiapte!" I quickly threw off my sweater and collared shirt, put on my track jacket, and ran outside with my dress pants still on. I confirmed with the teachers that I was in fact allowed to participate, chatted with the students for a while, and prepared for the moment when the starter would fire and off I'd go.
I'd never run that sort of distance before (what sort of distance that was, I'm not really sure). In all honesty, I didn't have a whole lot of faith that I'd complete it. But there I was, jogging next to one of my favorite students while he raises his arms triumphantly saying, "umaku iku!" (not sure how to translate this; literally, "going well", but maybe "git 'r done" is more fitting, given the circumstances), ironically quoting the back of my track jacket. So I responded, "umaku iku!" in the same fashion, and eventually we had this rhythm going:
"Umkau iku!"
"Umaku iku!"
They didn't place me, because I'm not a student, but I estimate that I was around 25th place. Plenty of others behind me!
At the bazaar afterwards, I ate a lot of carny food, chatted with a bunch of students who wanted to know if Manaka-sensei or Masshu-sensei was my type, and then bought salt and pepper shakers in the shape of a tiny duck and a tiny frog (they're actually the same characters featured in Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4 for those of you who might give a damn).
Saturday, I went to a festival in downtown Satte. It was mostly like a flea market with some performance art. Donald McDonald was there! Also, a monkey on a leash!
After that, I went with Marisa to Gongendo park. We sat, snacked, painted, read, talked. She's really one of my favorite people. As for Gongendo, you'll be seeing plenty of pictures of it in the spring when it explodes with pink cherry blossoms.
Today, I had no work. And nothing to report.
Our school had its road race and bazaar on Saturday. This meant that I had to work on Saturday. Unfortunate, but I got Monday off, so I guess it works out. I arrived at 8:30, like usual, dressed in my typical school attire. As I enter the office, one of the first things the secretary says to me is, "Are you going to run in the race today?" I just replied, "I didn't even know I was allowed to particiapte!" I quickly threw off my sweater and collared shirt, put on my track jacket, and ran outside with my dress pants still on. I confirmed with the teachers that I was in fact allowed to participate, chatted with the students for a while, and prepared for the moment when the starter would fire and off I'd go.
I'd never run that sort of distance before (what sort of distance that was, I'm not really sure). In all honesty, I didn't have a whole lot of faith that I'd complete it. But there I was, jogging next to one of my favorite students while he raises his arms triumphantly saying, "umaku iku!" (not sure how to translate this; literally, "going well", but maybe "git 'r done" is more fitting, given the circumstances), ironically quoting the back of my track jacket. So I responded, "umaku iku!" in the same fashion, and eventually we had this rhythm going:
"Umkau iku!"
"Umaku iku!"
They didn't place me, because I'm not a student, but I estimate that I was around 25th place. Plenty of others behind me!
At the bazaar afterwards, I ate a lot of carny food, chatted with a bunch of students who wanted to know if Manaka-sensei or Masshu-sensei was my type, and then bought salt and pepper shakers in the shape of a tiny duck and a tiny frog (they're actually the same characters featured in Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4 for those of you who might give a damn).
Saturday, I went to a festival in downtown Satte. It was mostly like a flea market with some performance art. Donald McDonald was there! Also, a monkey on a leash!
After that, I went with Marisa to Gongendo park. We sat, snacked, painted, read, talked. She's really one of my favorite people. As for Gongendo, you'll be seeing plenty of pictures of it in the spring when it explodes with pink cherry blossoms.
Today, I had no work. And nothing to report.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Surreal Sabatical
Last weekend was insane.
Friday night after my college Japanese class (which I just realized I haven't mentioned before now), I went out for dinner with my friends, as we sometimes do. The class is taught by Japanese students of Bunkyo University who want to be Japanese language teachers in the future. Thus, the class is very cheap and a lot of ALTs around Northeast Saitama do it. Due to the sheer amount of people going to dinner with us that night, I ended up sitting with the Japanese student-teachers and having a long, and very strange conversation that covered topics as simple as conversational English, and as weird as Katahira-san's interest in The Klaxons. It was a blast.
You'd think the weekend would stop there, but then if that's the case, you haven't properly learned the order of the days in a week. Saturday, I attended a 4-person combined birthday bash in Tokyo. The location was (and here's the best part) a Texas-themed bar, complete with live country music, line dancing, and chili fries that are topped with CheezWhiz, as if it were some kind of delicacy. Listen: You haven't lived till you've been taught to line dance by a Japanese woman to the soothing strings of a Japanese man singing "All My Exes Live in Texas". His Southern accent was perfect! I mean, perfect! And don't get me started on the roughly 8 dollar price for a bottle of their "imported beer"--Coors Light!
By the way, Sunday comes after Saturday. We had Monday off for Health and Sports Day (despite what you may think, the Japanese love holidays), so once again, we were off to have fun. We ended up doing Karaoke in a town a few stops away called Kasukabe. Not so fun fact: A famous comic book author living in Kasukabe was found dead in Gunma prefecture recently when he went hiking and fell off a cliff while trying to take a picture. Going to Kasukabe to have fun just seemed sort of wrong to me at the time, but that didn't stop me from having a great time. We sang, drank, and we were merry. You'd think that at the end of this, I'd be too tired to do anything, but Marisa and I were in such high spirits that we decided to watch a pirated copy of Zombieland (look, I miss American movies).
And Monday I slept.
Friday night after my college Japanese class (which I just realized I haven't mentioned before now), I went out for dinner with my friends, as we sometimes do. The class is taught by Japanese students of Bunkyo University who want to be Japanese language teachers in the future. Thus, the class is very cheap and a lot of ALTs around Northeast Saitama do it. Due to the sheer amount of people going to dinner with us that night, I ended up sitting with the Japanese student-teachers and having a long, and very strange conversation that covered topics as simple as conversational English, and as weird as Katahira-san's interest in The Klaxons. It was a blast.
You'd think the weekend would stop there, but then if that's the case, you haven't properly learned the order of the days in a week. Saturday, I attended a 4-person combined birthday bash in Tokyo. The location was (and here's the best part) a Texas-themed bar, complete with live country music, line dancing, and chili fries that are topped with CheezWhiz, as if it were some kind of delicacy. Listen: You haven't lived till you've been taught to line dance by a Japanese woman to the soothing strings of a Japanese man singing "All My Exes Live in Texas". His Southern accent was perfect! I mean, perfect! And don't get me started on the roughly 8 dollar price for a bottle of their "imported beer"--Coors Light!
By the way, Sunday comes after Saturday. We had Monday off for Health and Sports Day (despite what you may think, the Japanese love holidays), so once again, we were off to have fun. We ended up doing Karaoke in a town a few stops away called Kasukabe. Not so fun fact: A famous comic book author living in Kasukabe was found dead in Gunma prefecture recently when he went hiking and fell off a cliff while trying to take a picture. Going to Kasukabe to have fun just seemed sort of wrong to me at the time, but that didn't stop me from having a great time. We sang, drank, and we were merry. You'd think that at the end of this, I'd be too tired to do anything, but Marisa and I were in such high spirits that we decided to watch a pirated copy of Zombieland (look, I miss American movies).
And Monday I slept.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A few of my favorite Silver Week pictures
I'm having trouble uploading these to facebook for some reason. Anyhow, here's a few of my favorites.
Here's the bullet train I rode (I think). It's so fast that when trees pass the windows, it causes the light to strobe so fast that I think a epilepsy warning should be written on the back of every passenger's ticket. It's much, much more comfortable than an airplane though.
This is a pachinko parlor in Osaka. That strip on the front is some sort of elevator that takes you to a platform dangling in the middle, or something.
There we are.
And now so that you can actually see what that wonderful building in the background is. That's Todaiji, the largest wooden structure in the world. Inside, there's a Buddha statue that makes the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial look tiny.
There's that bad motha'.
A Taiko rock band in the middle of Osaka Castle park.
Osaka Castle!
A famous spot along Dotonbori in Osaka-- just look at those lights.
I couldn't resist posting at least one more deer picture. Honestly, could you?
Here's the bullet train I rode (I think). It's so fast that when trees pass the windows, it causes the light to strobe so fast that I think a epilepsy warning should be written on the back of every passenger's ticket. It's much, much more comfortable than an airplane though.
This is a pachinko parlor in Osaka. That strip on the front is some sort of elevator that takes you to a platform dangling in the middle, or something.
There we are.
And now so that you can actually see what that wonderful building in the background is. That's Todaiji, the largest wooden structure in the world. Inside, there's a Buddha statue that makes the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial look tiny.
There's that bad motha'.
A Taiko rock band in the middle of Osaka Castle park.
Osaka Castle!
A famous spot along Dotonbori in Osaka-- just look at those lights.
I couldn't resist posting at least one more deer picture. Honestly, could you?
Monday, October 5, 2009
A Month in the Life
As you may expect, I've got a lot to say.
I just bought a new keyboard today. Now I can continue, but its a little hard to decide exactly where to begin. Well, in the words of Lewis Carrol, "begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
I've started teaching. I teach 14 classes a week in about 20 sessions. Granted, I like some classes better than others, but at the end of the day, I love my job. I mean, L-O-V-E it. Here's a metaphorical snapshot of my day:
I've started something at school which I call "Mr. Clark's English Box". Original, I know. Basically, I provide the students with a non-mandatory writing prompt every month, usually pertaining to the month in some way. There are also other fun little writing activities like filling in speech bubbles in a comic strip, and whatnot. I've made it clear to the kids that if they don't want to write about the prompt, they don't have to. Anything's fine as long as they're studying English.
I received my first entry today. Last week, the girl lamented to me that she couldn't write one for me, but that she'd do it next time. When I came in today, it was in the box on my desk. She hadn't written about the topic, but that didn't matter to me. The fact that someone submitted something at all had me all antsy. Her essay was titled "My Dream", and was about how she has dreams of being a famous actress, so she's taking classes with a local theatre company and working really hard to get the roles she wants. That sort of thing. It made me think, though. The idea of self-motivation is a lot different in Japan, but I'm sure that when I was her age, to some extent I felt the same way. I wasn't constantly thinking about my future the way this girl does, but I can't deny that I had that same dream at some point.
I was very moved by the way she had bared herself like that. I corrected it quickly, left her a note on the bottom, and handed it back just before lunch. When I came in to her class, she quickly stood up and just started repeating over and over again, "thank you, thank you" (in English, thankfully) and reaching out to shake my hand.
I was going to make some sort of judgment at this point, but now I'm not sure to think, so just decide for yourself what that means.
I really failed at starting at the beginning, eh?
So I go to work 5 days a week. Lately, by bicycle through the rain. I get along with most of my teachers really well. In fact, the vice principal of one of my elementary schools took me and my predecessor out to dinner this past Saturday. I had 'red clam' sashimi for the first time.
Last month, we had a five day vacation. A series of holidays just happened to line up in the perfect configuration, the kind of thing that happens once every 9 years. As a sort of joke, people called it Silver Week, a play off of Golden Week, another 5 day holiday week that happens every May.
For Silver Week, I went down to Southern Japan and visited my friend Lauren and Mr. Joseph Carter, the one and only. I was constantly moving that weekend, all around the area, so I bet it'll just be easier to let the pictures do the talking.
In Nara, there are wild dear that wander the temple grounds. They are considered sacred animals, and you are encouraged to feed them. Yes, the picture below actually did happen.
I just bought a new keyboard today. Now I can continue, but its a little hard to decide exactly where to begin. Well, in the words of Lewis Carrol, "begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
I've started teaching. I teach 14 classes a week in about 20 sessions. Granted, I like some classes better than others, but at the end of the day, I love my job. I mean, L-O-V-E it. Here's a metaphorical snapshot of my day:
I've started something at school which I call "Mr. Clark's English Box". Original, I know. Basically, I provide the students with a non-mandatory writing prompt every month, usually pertaining to the month in some way. There are also other fun little writing activities like filling in speech bubbles in a comic strip, and whatnot. I've made it clear to the kids that if they don't want to write about the prompt, they don't have to. Anything's fine as long as they're studying English.
I received my first entry today. Last week, the girl lamented to me that she couldn't write one for me, but that she'd do it next time. When I came in today, it was in the box on my desk. She hadn't written about the topic, but that didn't matter to me. The fact that someone submitted something at all had me all antsy. Her essay was titled "My Dream", and was about how she has dreams of being a famous actress, so she's taking classes with a local theatre company and working really hard to get the roles she wants. That sort of thing. It made me think, though. The idea of self-motivation is a lot different in Japan, but I'm sure that when I was her age, to some extent I felt the same way. I wasn't constantly thinking about my future the way this girl does, but I can't deny that I had that same dream at some point.
I was very moved by the way she had bared herself like that. I corrected it quickly, left her a note on the bottom, and handed it back just before lunch. When I came in to her class, she quickly stood up and just started repeating over and over again, "thank you, thank you" (in English, thankfully) and reaching out to shake my hand.
I was going to make some sort of judgment at this point, but now I'm not sure to think, so just decide for yourself what that means.
I really failed at starting at the beginning, eh?
So I go to work 5 days a week. Lately, by bicycle through the rain. I get along with most of my teachers really well. In fact, the vice principal of one of my elementary schools took me and my predecessor out to dinner this past Saturday. I had 'red clam' sashimi for the first time.
Last month, we had a five day vacation. A series of holidays just happened to line up in the perfect configuration, the kind of thing that happens once every 9 years. As a sort of joke, people called it Silver Week, a play off of Golden Week, another 5 day holiday week that happens every May.
For Silver Week, I went down to Southern Japan and visited my friend Lauren and Mr. Joseph Carter, the one and only. I was constantly moving that weekend, all around the area, so I bet it'll just be easier to let the pictures do the talking.
In Nara, there are wild dear that wander the temple grounds. They are considered sacred animals, and you are encouraged to feed them. Yes, the picture below actually did happen.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Is one of my feet bigger than the other?
Last week, I finally got to meet the last of the teacher's I'll be working with, and I also got to spend a little time at my Junior High School where I'll be spending most of my time starting this week. Mostly, I spent the time working with our Junior High speech contest entrants. It was a lot of fun, and once again, I felt like I was doing work. Which in this case is a very good thing. After weeks of enduring the Board of Education version of 'The Breakfast Club', I was more than pleased to do something.
On Friday, the BoE threw us a welcome party. This was my first experience with the cultural phenomenon of nomikai/enkai（飲み会/宴会）, or the company drinking party. It's a time when you can relax and get to know your co-workers. Everyone is permitted to cut loose--B-U-T only on the condition that you never speak of it again. There's a strong separation of work and personal life in Japan, and that's reflected in the nomikai.
At any rate, it was a blast. I laughed so hard I cried. Multiple times. There was also a great part in the conversation where we discovered that our boss is a big fan of reading. When Marisa and I told him that we're Murakami Haruki fans, he asked us if we'd read his new novel, 1Q84. Of course we hadn't, because it had only just come out in Japan. We had talked about it previously and concluded that neither of us had the confidence to even try it. Our boss on the other hand, kept encouraging us to read it, and really enthusiastically at that. He told us how easy it is to read, and how there are only 5 or 6 characters, and that their names are... etc. He started to tell us about all sorts of novels that he likes. Turns out that he's a big fan of Stephen King.
The next day, Team Satte met up with good ol' Stephanie from Kurihashi in Akihabara. Akihabara is the electronics/nerd mecca of Tokyo, but that day, I only had one objective. To get a dangly charm for my cellphone. It's so naked without one. Somehow or other, I succeeded. Along the way, I helped Marisa get an electronic dictionary (one much better than mine), and had my picture taken with a Solid Snake statue inside Super Potato, a retro video game store. I'll post that once Stephanie sends me the picture.
From Akihabara, we moved on to Shibuya, hungry for American food. Yes, we were on a mission. A mission for burgers. There's a small, gourmet burger shop called Pakutchi in the middle of Shibuya which, in order to get around the portion constraints of Japanese buns and patties, stacks the burgers a foot high. Even for 980 yen though, it's not quite filling. Incredibly delicious though.
After that, we wandered around Shibuya for a little bit. I was a little disappointed to find that love hotels don't really look all that crazy from the outside. It's really only the rooms that are themed, and you can't see them from the street. A little later, I struggled to buy some shoes measured in "centimeters", whatever those are. After estimating my size and trying on a few pairs, I thought I had the right ones. I think I'm going to go back next weekend and return them for a size larger.
Soon after, we bid farewell to Joe and hit the karaoke. Great fun. The lights were synched to the music and when they dimmed, the walls lit up with images of some sort of amazon woman surrounded by dolphins. There might be a picture of that somewhere too. I'll get back to you.
On Friday, the BoE threw us a welcome party. This was my first experience with the cultural phenomenon of nomikai/enkai（飲み会/宴会）, or the company drinking party. It's a time when you can relax and get to know your co-workers. Everyone is permitted to cut loose--B-U-T only on the condition that you never speak of it again. There's a strong separation of work and personal life in Japan, and that's reflected in the nomikai.
At any rate, it was a blast. I laughed so hard I cried. Multiple times. There was also a great part in the conversation where we discovered that our boss is a big fan of reading. When Marisa and I told him that we're Murakami Haruki fans, he asked us if we'd read his new novel, 1Q84. Of course we hadn't, because it had only just come out in Japan. We had talked about it previously and concluded that neither of us had the confidence to even try it. Our boss on the other hand, kept encouraging us to read it, and really enthusiastically at that. He told us how easy it is to read, and how there are only 5 or 6 characters, and that their names are... etc. He started to tell us about all sorts of novels that he likes. Turns out that he's a big fan of Stephen King.
The next day, Team Satte met up with good ol' Stephanie from Kurihashi in Akihabara. Akihabara is the electronics/nerd mecca of Tokyo, but that day, I only had one objective. To get a dangly charm for my cellphone. It's so naked without one. Somehow or other, I succeeded. Along the way, I helped Marisa get an electronic dictionary (one much better than mine), and had my picture taken with a Solid Snake statue inside Super Potato, a retro video game store. I'll post that once Stephanie sends me the picture.
From Akihabara, we moved on to Shibuya, hungry for American food. Yes, we were on a mission. A mission for burgers. There's a small, gourmet burger shop called Pakutchi in the middle of Shibuya which, in order to get around the portion constraints of Japanese buns and patties, stacks the burgers a foot high. Even for 980 yen though, it's not quite filling. Incredibly delicious though.
After that, we wandered around Shibuya for a little bit. I was a little disappointed to find that love hotels don't really look all that crazy from the outside. It's really only the rooms that are themed, and you can't see them from the street. A little later, I struggled to buy some shoes measured in "centimeters", whatever those are. After estimating my size and trying on a few pairs, I thought I had the right ones. I think I'm going to go back next weekend and return them for a size larger.
Soon after, we bid farewell to Joe and hit the karaoke. Great fun. The lights were synched to the music and when they dimmed, the walls lit up with images of some sort of amazon woman surrounded by dolphins. There might be a picture of that somewhere too. I'll get back to you.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Busy Business
Saturday, Marisa and I met up with other JETs for a barbecue in Omiya, one of the biggest cities in the prefecture. Crossing over a bridge in front of the huge Omiya shrine (maybe a big redundant to say, as Omiya (大宮) means 'big shrine'), I tripped and fell, cutting up my knees pretty bad. I got over that pretty quickly and had a great time for the rest of the time I was there.
Around 5, I had to leave to go to see my host family. The plan was that I would sleep over in Tokorozawa, and then we would all go together to Odaiba the next day. Unfortunately, it meant cutting the picnic short for me. Regardless, I had a great time visiting with my host family. Pretty much nothing has changed. Within a half hour, we were all laughing it up just like last summer.
The next day at Odaiba turned out to be a little crazy. Every year, the Fuji Television station in Odaiba (where my host father works) has a huge event. Last year was the Odaiba Daiboken (a pun meaning 'Odaiba Big Adventure') , and this year its called Odaiba Gasshukoku, or 'The United States of Odaiba'. At any rate, due to my host father's connections, we all got to participate. And, oh, did I participate.
When we got there, we were quickly shuffled in to a room where we sat down in groups of three and they handed each of us a script. At this point, I realized that everyone knew what was going on except for me. It turns out that we were participating in an event where you do a faux broadcast of the Fuji Television morning show, Mezamashi TV. The American equivalent would be going to the Good Morning America studios and reading from Diane Sawyer's teleprompter while they film you. Did I mention it was all in Japanese? So here I am, stumbling along as I try to read the Japanese as quickly as possible in order to fit into the 45 seconds or so that they allot you. Afterwards, you get pictures and a complementary DVD of the experience. We watched it in the car on the way back, and it's pretty funny.
I also saw the giant Gundam which was erected in Odaiba for the 30th anniversary of the series. If you never heard of Gundam, it's an internationally popular animated series and comic book about giant robots. When people joking talk about Japan and its giant robots, they're usually referring to Gundam. In conjunction with some environmental awareness agency (not really sure how that fits in), the company behind Gundam had a 1:1 scale model of the original Gundam built. Its head moves, and I hear it lights up at night.
At night, it lights up and shoots smoke out of its nipples.
We also got a backstage tour of some popular Japanese television shows. If anyone knows or cares: Otomen, Ninkyou Helper, Buzzer Beater, and some hospital show. I felt like the tour was a little bit wasted on me, when my friend Stephanie from Kurihashi, who watches J-Dramas religiously, would have gotten a whole lot more out of it. As we left the building, this red haired woman with huge glasses, draped in some shawl started walking towards us. All of the Japanese people around me got quiet. I knew that this person had to be some sort of celebrity. She shook hands with everybody, and when she'd disappeared I asked the neighbor girl who came with us exactly who she is. "Kano Mika," she said. "Do you know her?" I definitely didn't, but I do now. She's one of those celebrities who are famous for not really anything, just sitting there and looking pretty. In Kano Mika's case, she's famous for having a large bust line.
Around 5, I had to leave to go to see my host family. The plan was that I would sleep over in Tokorozawa, and then we would all go together to Odaiba the next day. Unfortunately, it meant cutting the picnic short for me. Regardless, I had a great time visiting with my host family. Pretty much nothing has changed. Within a half hour, we were all laughing it up just like last summer.
The next day at Odaiba turned out to be a little crazy. Every year, the Fuji Television station in Odaiba (where my host father works) has a huge event. Last year was the Odaiba Daiboken (a pun meaning 'Odaiba Big Adventure') , and this year its called Odaiba Gasshukoku, or 'The United States of Odaiba'. At any rate, due to my host father's connections, we all got to participate. And, oh, did I participate.
When we got there, we were quickly shuffled in to a room where we sat down in groups of three and they handed each of us a script. At this point, I realized that everyone knew what was going on except for me. It turns out that we were participating in an event where you do a faux broadcast of the Fuji Television morning show, Mezamashi TV. The American equivalent would be going to the Good Morning America studios and reading from Diane Sawyer's teleprompter while they film you. Did I mention it was all in Japanese? So here I am, stumbling along as I try to read the Japanese as quickly as possible in order to fit into the 45 seconds or so that they allot you. Afterwards, you get pictures and a complementary DVD of the experience. We watched it in the car on the way back, and it's pretty funny.
I also saw the giant Gundam which was erected in Odaiba for the 30th anniversary of the series. If you never heard of Gundam, it's an internationally popular animated series and comic book about giant robots. When people joking talk about Japan and its giant robots, they're usually referring to Gundam. In conjunction with some environmental awareness agency (not really sure how that fits in), the company behind Gundam had a 1:1 scale model of the original Gundam built. Its head moves, and I hear it lights up at night.
At night, it lights up and shoots smoke out of its nipples.Friday, August 21, 2009
Payday
I got paid today. This one paycheck is officially the largest sum of money ever in my possession at one time (excluding a loan I had to take out). I mean, it's not really a big deal or anything....
No, just kidding. It is a big deal. A real big deal. I'm ecstatic.
I also learned how to use the ATM today. In short, you stick your bank statement book in the hole, throw a bunch of money in another hole, and then take out your newly-printed-on statement book and salivate over your balance.
Then, Marisa and I did the next logical thing. Shopping! I bought some new clothes, a new wallet, a hand towel, and a DS game.
We took a night-time bike ride, too. Also a lot of fun.
Let me rewind a little: I actually did a little bit of work today. I met with two of my elementary school teachers from Gongendogawa Elementary School to discuss lesson plans. Elementary school teaching is going to be a blast. Singing, playing games, etc. I'm down for that.
And now, I leave you with something that made me laugh and laugh and laugh, but that you probably won't think is very funny. At one of the stores we visited today, there was a make-up case that had a picture of a fat, ugly man with long hair, lying on his side with a roll in his mouth with text next to him that said "NEET: I do not move". 'NEET' is a British acronym which stands for "No Employment, Education, or Training" and has become very popular with a Japanese as a way to refer to their growing population of 'hikikomori', social shut-ins who, if you get right down to it, 'do not move'. The juxtaposition of image and text... I couldn't help myself. I lol'd hard.
No, just kidding. It is a big deal. A real big deal. I'm ecstatic.
I also learned how to use the ATM today. In short, you stick your bank statement book in the hole, throw a bunch of money in another hole, and then take out your newly-printed-on statement book and salivate over your balance.
Then, Marisa and I did the next logical thing. Shopping! I bought some new clothes, a new wallet, a hand towel, and a DS game.
We took a night-time bike ride, too. Also a lot of fun.
Let me rewind a little: I actually did a little bit of work today. I met with two of my elementary school teachers from Gongendogawa Elementary School to discuss lesson plans. Elementary school teaching is going to be a blast. Singing, playing games, etc. I'm down for that.
And now, I leave you with something that made me laugh and laugh and laugh, but that you probably won't think is very funny. At one of the stores we visited today, there was a make-up case that had a picture of a fat, ugly man with long hair, lying on his side with a roll in his mouth with text next to him that said "NEET: I do not move". 'NEET' is a British acronym which stands for "No Employment, Education, or Training" and has become very popular with a Japanese as a way to refer to their growing population of 'hikikomori', social shut-ins who, if you get right down to it, 'do not move'. The juxtaposition of image and text... I couldn't help myself. I lol'd hard.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Actual Work?!?
I actually did some work today! I mean, like real work. An hour's worth!
For the remaining hours of the morning, after we'd done yet another self-introduction for some important people, Joe, Marisa and I helped out at Lina's school, West Junior High, with speech contest preparations. I worked with a student one-on-one for an hour before she had to go to cram school, but even in that short time, it managed to revive me. Here I was, actually helping someone study English!
So brief as it was, I enjoyed it thoroughly. However, after lunch it was back to the same old self-study. I'm at the part in The Little Prince with the Fox, by the way (tame is kainarasu in Japanese).
After work, I met Joe for dinner at a small ramen shop. The little couple who runs the place were so nice to us which, as a foreigner, is always appreciated. They messed up our order just a little bit, and instead of charging Joe the amount he actually owed, they charged him for the smaller size. Now that's service. Too bad you can't tip in Japan.
From the ramen shop, we headed over to the community center to see if there Japanese conversation classes had started yet. They hadn't because--surprise, surprise--everyone was gone on vacation.
The rest of the night was spent getting a light for my bike so that I could legally ride at night. We made it to Joyful Honda 5 minutes before they closed, bought the light, but couldn't mount it without a screwdriver. I sloughed it off and headed home saying that I'd put it on later. We stopped briefly at an arcade on the way home and then, as we were passing a discount homestuffs store, I thought, well, maybe they have screwdrivers. I ran in the door 7 minutes before they closed and awkwardly asked about screwdrivers. This may surprise you, but I don't know what the word for screwdriver is in Japanese. So I made a lot of hand gestures and they thought I was asking for a scooter (cranking the gas). Finally, we came to an understanding, and once again, the foreigners were shown kindness; they lent me the screwdriver, no charge.
For the remaining hours of the morning, after we'd done yet another self-introduction for some important people, Joe, Marisa and I helped out at Lina's school, West Junior High, with speech contest preparations. I worked with a student one-on-one for an hour before she had to go to cram school, but even in that short time, it managed to revive me. Here I was, actually helping someone study English!
So brief as it was, I enjoyed it thoroughly. However, after lunch it was back to the same old self-study. I'm at the part in The Little Prince with the Fox, by the way (tame is kainarasu in Japanese).
After work, I met Joe for dinner at a small ramen shop. The little couple who runs the place were so nice to us which, as a foreigner, is always appreciated. They messed up our order just a little bit, and instead of charging Joe the amount he actually owed, they charged him for the smaller size. Now that's service. Too bad you can't tip in Japan.
From the ramen shop, we headed over to the community center to see if there Japanese conversation classes had started yet. They hadn't because--surprise, surprise--everyone was gone on vacation.
The rest of the night was spent getting a light for my bike so that I could legally ride at night. We made it to Joyful Honda 5 minutes before they closed, bought the light, but couldn't mount it without a screwdriver. I sloughed it off and headed home saying that I'd put it on later. We stopped briefly at an arcade on the way home and then, as we were passing a discount homestuffs store, I thought, well, maybe they have screwdrivers. I ran in the door 7 minutes before they closed and awkwardly asked about screwdrivers. This may surprise you, but I don't know what the word for screwdriver is in Japanese. So I made a lot of hand gestures and they thought I was asking for a scooter (cranking the gas). Finally, we came to an understanding, and once again, the foreigners were shown kindness; they lent me the screwdriver, no charge.
Four Day Weekend: Part 2 "Nikkou and the Rest"
Saturday ended up being a cleaning/laundry sort of day with nothing much happening.
But Sunday, oh Sunday! Lina, Marisa, and I went up to Nikkou in Tochigi prefecture. It's a beautiful little city up in the mountains with a ton of shrines and an awesome Buddhist temple. Taking the cheap trains, it takes about 2 hours to get there from Satte. Here's some links for the curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikk%C5%8D_T%C5%8Dsh%C5%8D-g%C5%AB
Needless to say, there's a lot of history there. Also, a lot of good photo-ops:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2858972&id=2039525&ref=nf
For lunch, I paid 630 yen for a quiche (or more accurately, something that the menu referred to as a quiche) that had about a 4-inch diameter. Was it delicious? You bet, but I wasn't sated at all. So what do I do? I order a 420 yen apricot tart. Also delicious, but seriously? You know 2-bite brownies? Well, this was a 3-bite tart.
After getting ripped off, we bought souvenirs for our co-workers and took the train home.
During the final day of our summer break, I had a mission. I was going to go out and find my schools. I grabbed the route-marked map that Clayton had left me, got on my bike, and took off with Marisa on what turned out to be a whirlwind adventure all over Satte. Some of my schools are really out in the middle of nowhere, so I got to see the Tokyoite's version of the countryside. In my honest opinion, it's beautiful out in the Satte countryside. Biking along the rice paddies, sun beating on my face, cranes in flight, bike tires squeaking almost inaudibly--I had a great time. BUT--I failed in my mission. I only found 3 of my 5 schools before heading home for snacks.
Here are the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2858971&id=2039525&ref=mf
Returning to the apartment, Marisa and I were joined by Joe, the three of us talking over snacks and drinks. Eventually, we took off to see if we could find an arcade, and we did! Right next to the movie theater. I played a little Taiko no Tatsujin, a Taiko drum simulator/rhythm game. Then, it was a little light shopping before returning home.
But Sunday, oh Sunday! Lina, Marisa, and I went up to Nikkou in Tochigi prefecture. It's a beautiful little city up in the mountains with a ton of shrines and an awesome Buddhist temple. Taking the cheap trains, it takes about 2 hours to get there from Satte. Here's some links for the curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikk%C5%8D_T%C5%8Dsh%C5%8D-g%C5%AB
Needless to say, there's a lot of history there. Also, a lot of good photo-ops:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2858972&id=2039525&ref=nf
For lunch, I paid 630 yen for a quiche (or more accurately, something that the menu referred to as a quiche) that had about a 4-inch diameter. Was it delicious? You bet, but I wasn't sated at all. So what do I do? I order a 420 yen apricot tart. Also delicious, but seriously? You know 2-bite brownies? Well, this was a 3-bite tart.
After getting ripped off, we bought souvenirs for our co-workers and took the train home.
During the final day of our summer break, I had a mission. I was going to go out and find my schools. I grabbed the route-marked map that Clayton had left me, got on my bike, and took off with Marisa on what turned out to be a whirlwind adventure all over Satte. Some of my schools are really out in the middle of nowhere, so I got to see the Tokyoite's version of the countryside. In my honest opinion, it's beautiful out in the Satte countryside. Biking along the rice paddies, sun beating on my face, cranes in flight, bike tires squeaking almost inaudibly--I had a great time. BUT--I failed in my mission. I only found 3 of my 5 schools before heading home for snacks.
Here are the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2858971&id=2039525&ref=mf
Returning to the apartment, Marisa and I were joined by Joe, the three of us talking over snacks and drinks. Eventually, we took off to see if we could find an arcade, and we did! Right next to the movie theater. I played a little Taiko no Tatsujin, a Taiko drum simulator/rhythm game. Then, it was a little light shopping before returning home.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Four Day Weekend: Part 1 "Ikebukuro!"
Thursday during work, our supervisor said to Marisa, "You know, you have 3 days of vacation time during the summer break." That's Japanese for, "Why don't you take some time off?" so the three of us did. Friday was the first day of our summer break, and what better way to spend it than applying for your multiple re-entry permit for your VISA?
That whole ordeal took about 3 hours and 60 dollars, but after that, our vacation really began. We were already pretty far out from Satte at that point, so we figured we'd go down to Tokyo, specifically Ikebukuro. I'm not really sure how to describe Ikebukuro: it's cool, but not 'youth culture' cool like Shibuya; it's a nice place to go out on the town, but it's not trashy like Kabuki-cho. At any rate, we were famished by the time we arrived, so Joe took us to a ramen shop he'd been introduced to by his friends when he studied in Saitama last year.
I have never had ramen as good as the ramen I ate yesterday.
It wasn't like some fast food joint that you stop in at just to get a few quick noodles, oh no. It's a hole in the wall restaurant on the corner, with a line that stretches out the door. It was ramen gourmet. Really fantastic.
From there, Joe parted ways while Marisa and I met up with our friends from Kurihashi again, Lauren and Stephanie. We fully explored the Tokyuu Hands department store and the Sunshine 60 Building (where I got some fabulous green tea ice cream, by the way), and then headed home to crash.
That whole ordeal took about 3 hours and 60 dollars, but after that, our vacation really began. We were already pretty far out from Satte at that point, so we figured we'd go down to Tokyo, specifically Ikebukuro. I'm not really sure how to describe Ikebukuro: it's cool, but not 'youth culture' cool like Shibuya; it's a nice place to go out on the town, but it's not trashy like Kabuki-cho. At any rate, we were famished by the time we arrived, so Joe took us to a ramen shop he'd been introduced to by his friends when he studied in Saitama last year.
I have never had ramen as good as the ramen I ate yesterday.
It wasn't like some fast food joint that you stop in at just to get a few quick noodles, oh no. It's a hole in the wall restaurant on the corner, with a line that stretches out the door. It was ramen gourmet. Really fantastic.
From there, Joe parted ways while Marisa and I met up with our friends from Kurihashi again, Lauren and Stephanie. We fully explored the Tokyuu Hands department store and the Sunshine 60 Building (where I got some fabulous green tea ice cream, by the way), and then headed home to crash.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Another Orientation?!? and a Ride Through the City
Yesterday, I had yet another orientation. This one was for all the JETs in Saitama prefecture, so it managed to be a great opportunity to hang out with all of the friends that I'd made at Tokyo orientation. The orienation itself was at least a little informative, but it mostly dealt with topics like 'understanding your contract'. Y'know, the REALLY interesting stuff.
I did have a really great time after the orientation. Most of the Saitama JETs got together and went down to a yakiniku restaurant/izakaya (essentially, a Japanese pub)-like place and had some food and a few drinks. Afterwards, Marisa and I stumbled down to the station with some folks from Kurihashi, a town just a few stops away from Satte, and stopped off at a town called Omiya on our way back. In other words, we were having a little too much fun to just go back home. So where else do the inebriated wander off to? Book-Off, of course! If for some reason you haven't heard me gush about Book-Off before, prepare yourself. Book-Off is a chain of used book stores. In addition to books, they also have CDs, DVDs, electronics, and other printed materials. It's a bargain wonderland. Last summer, I found 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' hardcover for approximately $1 US. Also, a DS lite for about $100 US. And 'The Little Prince' color hardcover for $7 US. And! And! And you get the idea.
Marisa and I had a plan to find a specific book in Japanese and read it together, sort of like a mini book club. We could help each other out with the parts we don't understand, and hopefully make it through a novel. Exhausting other options, we decided on a light novel called 'Train Main'. It's about a nerd who seeks advice from the internet on how to woo a woman who he meets on the train one night. The whole novel is written in the style of posts on the popular Japanese message board, 2ch.
After that, our group of four went to the arcade across the street and took some purikura pictures on the best purikura machine I have ever seen. I seriously need to try and get some of these on the internet, because they're amazing.
The next day at work, I happened to ask my supervisor some seemingly innocuous question about our contract which had the unexpected effect of starting the entire office on a typo witch-hunt. Since none of the Japanese employees have any real English skills, Joe, Marisa, and I were charged with going through the entire contract in Japanese and English, making sure that they accurately correspond to each other. That ended up eating up most of the time during the day.
After work, I went for an exploratory bike trip around town. Riding through the rice paddies at sunset is... beautiful. I'll be making another trip soon to take some pictures of it. I also rode my bike downtown at rush hour, so I'm sure most of the city folk got a good look at me. I figure that's a good first step towards cultural exchange. Just be visible.
I came home and played my first full game of Shogi with Joe while we waited for our internet to get fixed. Shogi is basically the Japanese version of chess with a lot of bizarre rules that would make anyone familiar with chess raise one, if not two, eyebrows. For instance, when you capture the other players piece, you can then place in on the board in any open space during your next turn. Also, when pieces get far enough into the opposing players region, they become promoted, often tripling in effectiveness. Suffice it to say, it's challenging, and about as fun as chess (see what I did there?)
I did have a really great time after the orientation. Most of the Saitama JETs got together and went down to a yakiniku restaurant/izakaya (essentially, a Japanese pub)-like place and had some food and a few drinks. Afterwards, Marisa and I stumbled down to the station with some folks from Kurihashi, a town just a few stops away from Satte, and stopped off at a town called Omiya on our way back. In other words, we were having a little too much fun to just go back home. So where else do the inebriated wander off to? Book-Off, of course! If for some reason you haven't heard me gush about Book-Off before, prepare yourself. Book-Off is a chain of used book stores. In addition to books, they also have CDs, DVDs, electronics, and other printed materials. It's a bargain wonderland. Last summer, I found 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' hardcover for approximately $1 US. Also, a DS lite for about $100 US. And 'The Little Prince' color hardcover for $7 US. And! And! And you get the idea.
Marisa and I had a plan to find a specific book in Japanese and read it together, sort of like a mini book club. We could help each other out with the parts we don't understand, and hopefully make it through a novel. Exhausting other options, we decided on a light novel called 'Train Main'. It's about a nerd who seeks advice from the internet on how to woo a woman who he meets on the train one night. The whole novel is written in the style of posts on the popular Japanese message board, 2ch.
After that, our group of four went to the arcade across the street and took some purikura pictures on the best purikura machine I have ever seen. I seriously need to try and get some of these on the internet, because they're amazing.
The next day at work, I happened to ask my supervisor some seemingly innocuous question about our contract which had the unexpected effect of starting the entire office on a typo witch-hunt. Since none of the Japanese employees have any real English skills, Joe, Marisa, and I were charged with going through the entire contract in Japanese and English, making sure that they accurately correspond to each other. That ended up eating up most of the time during the day.
After work, I went for an exploratory bike trip around town. Riding through the rice paddies at sunset is... beautiful. I'll be making another trip soon to take some pictures of it. I also rode my bike downtown at rush hour, so I'm sure most of the city folk got a good look at me. I figure that's a good first step towards cultural exchange. Just be visible.
I came home and played my first full game of Shogi with Joe while we waited for our internet to get fixed. Shogi is basically the Japanese version of chess with a lot of bizarre rules that would make anyone familiar with chess raise one, if not two, eyebrows. For instance, when you capture the other players piece, you can then place in on the board in any open space during your next turn. Also, when pieces get far enough into the opposing players region, they become promoted, often tripling in effectiveness. Suffice it to say, it's challenging, and about as fun as chess (see what I did there?)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Welcome to Happy Hands City!
Hello, everyone.
To all of you out there in the United States, welcome to Happy Hands City! Some of you might be wondering about the strange title of this blog, and I'll get to that eventually. First, allow me to set the stage a little bit and tell you about how I ended up here in lovely Satte City, Saitama, Japan.
Right now, I'm working as an assistant language teacher (ALT), teaching English in the land of sakura. I got this job through a little thing called the "JET Program(me)" that some of you out there may have heard of. At any rate, I left on the 1st of August for Japan. The flight was appropriately long (about 2 hours to NY followed by 14 hours to Tokyo) and I arrived jet-lagged and downright delirious. On the bright side, I finally got to see Star Trek XI, and the part where someone's decapitated head destroys a nuclear cooling tower at the end of X-Men Origins!
...
Luckily for crazy-out-of-my-mind me, the Tokyo orientation assistants ushered me and my fellow JETs along from place to place, acting as human signposts essentially. Thus, we made it to the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku with no problems except for (and I speak for myself) empty stomachs.
The next two days were a blur of workshops, speeches and seminars. They shoved so much information down my throat I could barely bend my neck to nod in agreement. I met other ALTs going to my prefecture, had a lot of laughs and made a lot of friends. We did some purikura pictures together (for the uninitiated, purikura is essentially a photobooth with clip art) that turned out fantastic. I'll try to get them posted on the internet someday. Oh, and as a side note: for those who watched the informational DVD with me, I got to meet a lot of the people featured on it. That tool from the opening?--actually a really cool, hilarious guy as it turns out.
After that, it was off to meet the people who hired me. At the welcome meet in Saitama City, the prefectural capital, I finally met three of the Satte City Board of Education employees who I'll be working with over the next year. I also met Joe, fellow Satte City ALT and next door neighbor. Then, whoosh! Into the car and once again whisked away. After a brief eel lunch, we were off to the quiet burg of Satte.
The kanji for Satte (幸手） literally means "Happy Hands" and the city has spared no expense in taking this to heart. Every year the citizens vote on "the happiest person in Japan" and have the winner come to Satte to put their hand print on a monument just outside of the city office I work in. Is this weird? A little. What really makes it weird is that this literal translation is found on all sorts of city publications. The town map says "Happy Hands City", and who are we to argue with that?
Satte is a mid-sized, quiet city in the northeast of Saitama prefecture. It's probably most famous for gongendogawa (権現堂川）, a river with a 1km long track of cherry trees along its bank. It's a hot spot for cherry blossom viewing in the spring, and I hear it can get pretty crowded.
I arrived and met the rest of my co-workers. I won't go into detail, because no one likes being blogged about, but suffice it to say, they're very nice and helpful. Almost no one speaks any English though, which means I'll have plenty of opportunities for speaking Japanese. As for the other two ALTs, Marisa and Lina, we all get along well. They're good people.
After filling out forms for my alien registration card and getting my cellphone (actually not that cool for a Japanese cellphone), I finally got to see my new apartment. In short, I love it. It's so much bigger than I expected. Pictures below:
On the second day, the new arrivals (Joe, Marisa, and I) were taken along with a bunch of other teachers on a shinai meguri (市内巡り） a sort of tour of Satte's cultural blessings. Among the sights: a pile of rocks used to mark a point from when Taira no Masakado's head was moved from Kyoto to Ibaraki, a statue detailing a Buddhist depiction of the virgin mary created by secret Christians during the early Edo period, and a famous Go player's grave.
Since then, I've been "working" (and I use that term loosely) at the Board of Education. What this really amounts to is that I sit in a room and do self-study. All of the teachers are on summer break, so there's not really anything for me to do. I actually look forward to the calisthenics in the morning, not only because the town song is so damn catchy, but because it means that I get to move and do something in the office.
Once the weekend rolled around, I took a trip up to Ueno with Marisa, Lina, and Marisa's friend Stephanie from a few towns over. We had a great time checking out the science museum and shopping around. On Sunday evening, we were hit by an earthquake. Not like the wimpy one that I felt from the Gulf of Mexico last year. This was a real earthquake. Powerful enough to knock out my cable at least. Certainly an experience.
And now the week begins anew. Here's a few random things that I didn't really fit into the chronology, but somehow happened:
-I bought a trash can that says "Feed me, please" on the side
-I watched Jerry Maguire on VHS
-I accidentally left a window open during a storm, and my tatami got wet. This caused me to panic. I called up one of my co-workers, and she lent me some towels and said that everything was probably going to be fine.
-When the cable came back, Alf was on.
-Lina tried to teach us some Russian
-I cooked some weird eggplant... thing
-I listened to Bombadil roughly 5,000 times. Their new album is so good.
-Marisa inherited a goldfish from her predecessor. It's now named Takkun.
-Joe taught me to play Shogi. It's way different from Chess.
-I learned that chap stick in Japan is called "lip cream".
It's an impossible task to sum up everything that's happened this past week, but this at least gives you an idea. From now on, I'll hopefully update more regularly. I'll be able to share my experiences with all of you out there, and you'll come to know this "Happy Hands City" as I do.
To all of you out there in the United States, welcome to Happy Hands City! Some of you might be wondering about the strange title of this blog, and I'll get to that eventually. First, allow me to set the stage a little bit and tell you about how I ended up here in lovely Satte City, Saitama, Japan.
Right now, I'm working as an assistant language teacher (ALT), teaching English in the land of sakura. I got this job through a little thing called the "JET Program(me)" that some of you out there may have heard of. At any rate, I left on the 1st of August for Japan. The flight was appropriately long (about 2 hours to NY followed by 14 hours to Tokyo) and I arrived jet-lagged and downright delirious. On the bright side, I finally got to see Star Trek XI, and the part where someone's decapitated head destroys a nuclear cooling tower at the end of X-Men Origins!
...
Luckily for crazy-out-of-my-mind me, the Tokyo orientation assistants ushered me and my fellow JETs along from place to place, acting as human signposts essentially. Thus, we made it to the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku with no problems except for (and I speak for myself) empty stomachs.
The next two days were a blur of workshops, speeches and seminars. They shoved so much information down my throat I could barely bend my neck to nod in agreement. I met other ALTs going to my prefecture, had a lot of laughs and made a lot of friends. We did some purikura pictures together (for the uninitiated, purikura is essentially a photobooth with clip art) that turned out fantastic. I'll try to get them posted on the internet someday. Oh, and as a side note: for those who watched the informational DVD with me, I got to meet a lot of the people featured on it. That tool from the opening?--actually a really cool, hilarious guy as it turns out.
After that, it was off to meet the people who hired me. At the welcome meet in Saitama City, the prefectural capital, I finally met three of the Satte City Board of Education employees who I'll be working with over the next year. I also met Joe, fellow Satte City ALT and next door neighbor. Then, whoosh! Into the car and once again whisked away. After a brief eel lunch, we were off to the quiet burg of Satte.
The kanji for Satte (幸手） literally means "Happy Hands" and the city has spared no expense in taking this to heart. Every year the citizens vote on "the happiest person in Japan" and have the winner come to Satte to put their hand print on a monument just outside of the city office I work in. Is this weird? A little. What really makes it weird is that this literal translation is found on all sorts of city publications. The town map says "Happy Hands City", and who are we to argue with that?
Satte is a mid-sized, quiet city in the northeast of Saitama prefecture. It's probably most famous for gongendogawa (権現堂川）, a river with a 1km long track of cherry trees along its bank. It's a hot spot for cherry blossom viewing in the spring, and I hear it can get pretty crowded.
I arrived and met the rest of my co-workers. I won't go into detail, because no one likes being blogged about, but suffice it to say, they're very nice and helpful. Almost no one speaks any English though, which means I'll have plenty of opportunities for speaking Japanese. As for the other two ALTs, Marisa and Lina, we all get along well. They're good people.
After filling out forms for my alien registration card and getting my cellphone (actually not that cool for a Japanese cellphone), I finally got to see my new apartment. In short, I love it. It's so much bigger than I expected. Pictures below:
On the second day, the new arrivals (Joe, Marisa, and I) were taken along with a bunch of other teachers on a shinai meguri (市内巡り） a sort of tour of Satte's cultural blessings. Among the sights: a pile of rocks used to mark a point from when Taira no Masakado's head was moved from Kyoto to Ibaraki, a statue detailing a Buddhist depiction of the virgin mary created by secret Christians during the early Edo period, and a famous Go player's grave.
Since then, I've been "working" (and I use that term loosely) at the Board of Education. What this really amounts to is that I sit in a room and do self-study. All of the teachers are on summer break, so there's not really anything for me to do. I actually look forward to the calisthenics in the morning, not only because the town song is so damn catchy, but because it means that I get to move and do something in the office.
Once the weekend rolled around, I took a trip up to Ueno with Marisa, Lina, and Marisa's friend Stephanie from a few towns over. We had a great time checking out the science museum and shopping around. On Sunday evening, we were hit by an earthquake. Not like the wimpy one that I felt from the Gulf of Mexico last year. This was a real earthquake. Powerful enough to knock out my cable at least. Certainly an experience.
And now the week begins anew. Here's a few random things that I didn't really fit into the chronology, but somehow happened:
-I bought a trash can that says "Feed me, please" on the side
-I watched Jerry Maguire on VHS
-I accidentally left a window open during a storm, and my tatami got wet. This caused me to panic. I called up one of my co-workers, and she lent me some towels and said that everything was probably going to be fine.
-When the cable came back, Alf was on.
-Lina tried to teach us some Russian
-I cooked some weird eggplant... thing
-I listened to Bombadil roughly 5,000 times. Their new album is so good.
-Marisa inherited a goldfish from her predecessor. It's now named Takkun.
-Joe taught me to play Shogi. It's way different from Chess.
-I learned that chap stick in Japan is called "lip cream".
It's an impossible task to sum up everything that's happened this past week, but this at least gives you an idea. From now on, I'll hopefully update more regularly. I'll be able to share my experiences with all of you out there, and you'll come to know this "Happy Hands City" as I do.
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