KB's Adventures in Japan

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2008-09-05T13:10:00.002-05:00

Alright, so just as an FYI: I am now back in BTown and am retiring this site - at least until my next Japanese adventure. Any recent info about trips and other shenanigans can be found on my *gasp* Facebook page. Yeah, I finally gave in and am using the damn thing. Go figure. Cheers for now! Matta ne,

KB

Guess This Is It

2008-07-20T10:33:00.001-05:00

It is now after midnight on my last night in my apartment. I’ve just cleaned and packed for eight hours straight and am only now finding a bit of down time while the last load of laundry dries.

A funny thing happened tonight. Strangely enough, the same thing had happened last week at about the same time: when I was driving back from dropping my wet clothes off at the mat. Passing by the neon signs that line the main road, and then the rice paddies that thrive behind our apartments, I had this big sense of HOME and, immediately following, how I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE!

Some folks may be surprised at this. Being an ALT for one year is a bit like dropping out of college, people tend to think of you as a failed cog in the system. I’d say more than 90% of the time I tell people I’m going home in August I get, “So you don’t like Japan, eh?” I know I need thicker skin, but still hearing that statement so frequently really tears me up. I love Japan! I love the culture, the people, the food, the history, and all the differences that sometimes aren’t so enjoyable. I don’t wanna go back!!

…but I know it also wouldn’t be fair of me to stay. I just don’t enjoy my job. I think the JET program is amazing. I think it gives you such an amazing opportunity for very little effort. Yeah, filling out all that paperwork was annoying and the interview was terrifying, but honestly, what is really required of us? We don’t have to have any previous knowledge of the language, we don’t have to have any teaching experience whatsoever, and we don’t have to pay for our transportation. As long as we are open-minded, responsible, and enjoy teaching we can thrive.

My problem is, I just don’t enjoy teaching that much. Please don’t misunderstand this: I ADORE my students. They are cute, funny, witty, and dedicated (well, most anyway, heh). We’ve had some amazing discussions in both English and Japanese, and I’ll admit I cried a little at every goodbye ceremony at my schools. My students are damn cool and I am so proud of them!!

Unfortunately, because of both the academic system here and my limited Japanese skills, I really don’t do much on a daily basis. If you want the full truth, I usually have to kill about 6 hours of every work day. Trying to look busy for 6 hours without the internet is challenging. Trying to look busy for 6 hours every day for an entire year is a psychological nightmare.

I knew that if I recontracted with the JET program it would only be to stay in Japan. I would be using the system to keep my visa, but I would have little interest in my position…and that’s not fair to either the program or my BoE (who pay painful amounts of money to participate in the program). Far better to allow someone with actual interest in teaching to take my place while I get off my lazy butt and get my own visa. :P

Still don’t want to leave, though. It’s rare to find people as genuine and hospitable as those in this town. My coworkers are crazy and fun. My cozy apartment is wonderful and my car rocks. The food is amazing and always fresh. My foreign language skills (as limited as they are) will never be better than they are now, I’m sure. I want to stay!! Bah.

Some physics professor needs to read this and adopt me. Onegaishimasu! I can do second order differentials!! :D

p.s. while this is my last night in my apartment, i don’t actually fly home until August 11th. long story very short: i'll be touring around Osaka for a few, then up to Naeba for the Fuji Rock Festival, then couch hopping with friends until the Sasa Matsuri back here in Uchiko. i won’t have my computer for at least a week. if i decide to not dash back to fetch it, i won’t have it at all until i fly home. my CELL PHONE can READ EMAIL though, so please keep in touch via…

kbeezer_uchiko@ezweb.ne.jp

ja matte, ne?

Lost In Translation

2008-06-30T05:09:00.005-05:00

So I had a very surreal day: I've just come back from recording my voice at a television studio for them to use in a new commercial.

A young entrepreneur has opened a wine, cheese, and sake shop in Ozu, the next town over. He tasked one of the local newsmen (there are three) with creating an advertisement for his shop. It just so happens that the newsman he hired is friends with some of my coworkers at the Yakuba and he ended up meeting me at the Ikazaki Kite Festival. I didn't know it at the time, but as soon as he saw me - he explained today - he got the idea for his commercial.

To those of you living under a rock for the past...oh...50 years or so, you have to understand that English = Cool in Japan. You see 'Engrish' T-shirts everywhere (some you can tell they really haven't a clue, thank god), and for most businesses having English in their advertisements is something of a status quo. So, I agreed to help.

Hiroko and I translated the owner's Japanese phrases as best we could (if we translated them directly, it sounded ridiculous, so Hiroko gave me the basic theme or feeling and I sort of winged it from there). Then, I went to the recording studio today to record my voice with the video.

I couldn't stop laughing! Honestly, I just kept thinking about that scene from Lost In Translation. My "director" (friendly newsman, really nice guy) kept giving directions in Japanese that I couldn't understand and my friend/coworker Hiroko would try to translate. All I understood was "like Madonna" which - as any of you who have spent any time with me would know - is a very hard imitation for me to pull off!

I believe it was Gus who said, "Kirsten, you are the least flirtatious person I know." Well, it's true!! I can't be seductive if my life depended on it! So, they had to settle for my naturally low octave and slow reading.

That was just the beginning though. When we got past the "Madonna voice" I was supposed to use for the English part, I was also supposed to finish with the store's name in Japanese. I was really looking forward to this. I'll be the first to admit my vocabulary retention sucks, BUT I've always prided myself on pronunciation. My UVM professor told me it was great back then and many times folks have commented that they thought I could speak more fluently than I do because the things I can say I say pretty well.

Anyway, so we get to the end and I finish smoothly, no problem: "Sake no Sawada". See? Rolls off the tongue pretty easily. No problem...but they didn't look happy. Ok, take two: "Sake no Sawada". Still no smiles. I was starting to feel kind of ashamed. After the same response with take three, I was about to ask Hiroko what the problem was when the director explained a bit in Japanese.

Hiroko turned to me, "He says the commercial is cool with a native English speaker."

Uuuuum, "I AM a native English speaker."

She looked amused, "But you don't sound like it. You sound Japanese."

"Oh." Well then.

I was feeling smug, I'll confess, when the director said something more.

"He says to please speak like you don't know Japanese. Like you just came to Japan."

I had to think a few seconds.

"Please speak with an English accent."

Ok, let's stop right there for a moment and I'm going to put this into perspective for you all...

The entire time I've been here, I'd say as much as 80% of all conversations are about me an my Japanese. I usually get the "ganbatte" (keep at it, persevere), some say I'm sounding good, and more then a few have said that I shouldn't have even come in the first place if I can't speak the language (guy at the bokken shop in the city, student's mom at an Enkai...). I don't think the Japanese are as bad as the French when it comes to language tolerance - as in how much abuse of their native tongue they will accept from foreigners brave enough to attempt to speak it - but they have their moments. Now, as I am being recorded for a TELEVISION COMMERCIAL, I am being asked to "please speak Japanese with an English accent".

To tell the truth, if the camera guy wasn't so nice, I would have been genuinely insulted. As it is, I understand where he's coming from. Japanese doesn't sell. Faltering Japanese with a heavy English accent does: it suggests the advertisement was done by a cool foreigner, fresh off the boat (erm, plane?) from America. How spiffy.

So, I ganbatte'd and said the damn line like an isolated suburban housewife without her glasses: "SA-ke NO sa-wa-DA".

"Perfect!"

Yeah. Woot. Go me. I'm American.

Hopeline

2008-06-29T22:41:00.002-05:00

I'm not one for endorsement, but this - in my opinion - is exceptional. Please take a look:

No, I am not suicidal. I support help for those who are. :)

MoNkEYs!!

2008-05-19T00:36:00.003-05:00

For my birthday, I used the last of my nenkyuu (technically I have about 12 days left, but saving that for the end of the year, so I don't have to go to the office after school gets out) to visit Miyajima: a small island off of the coast of Hiroshima.

It was a Wednesday, so not the best time for a day trip - and a long day trip at that - but I really wanted to go. Hiroko was her usual amazing self and booked everything for me. She found a great package that included a bus ride to the Matsuyama Port (a bus that, ironically, is having its last run this month) and ferries to the island. The best present, though, was her company. I didn't especially want to travel alone, but figured I would have to and was prepared. Hiroko decided to tag along, though, and took the day off as well - yay!

In the end, it was 4 hours there, 4 hours on the island, and 4 hours back. It's been forever and a day since I was on a boat though, so I loved it, and we managed to fit everything we wanted to do into those 4 hours: check out the Flickr pictures (link on lower right)! The best part by far, in my opinion, was the monkeys. :)

Road Trip!!

2008-04-25T01:16:00.006-05:00

So excited, but so nervous! I am going to the Fuji Rock Festival in July with some of my friends, but decided to stop and see a few things along the way.

The Game Plan:

1. Bus from Uchiko to Kyoto
- tour around Kyoto for a few days

2. Catch train to Osaka
- tour around Osaka for a day

3. Take Fuji Rock tour bus from Osaka to Naeba
- camping at the festival for 3 days

4. Take tour bus back to Osaka
- tour around a bit more and/or recover from festival

5. Bus home from Osaka to Uchiko

View Larger Map

I'm looking into hostels in the area now (after ending up in a top-of-the-line castle-like hotel last time I let the travel agency book me a "budget room", I'm doing this one on my own). Here's hoping I can actually pull this off!!

here are some pictures of last year's festival on the Japanese site:

http://www.fujirockfestival.com/history/photos.asp

Videos

2008-04-10T00:48:00.002-05:00

A Visitor!!

2008-04-09T23:49:00.002-05:00

I was so happy last week cause my old school VT friend from way back flew up from Okinawa to visit! I’ve known Rachel since we were seven years old and took my bro Alex with me last year when I went to visit her.

The first couple days, we strolled around my neighborhood and got the VIP treatment from a few of my Eikaiwa students (who gave us the tour then took us home and fed us a very delicious, multi-course, homemade lunch).

On Friday, we decided to be ambitious and took a road trip to Kochi City…without a map…or guide book…or an plan of any kind, haha. It turned out to be a very successful trip: the first parking lot we found just happened to be the one for the city park and castle, which just so happened to be hosting free musical performances that evening. We parked, took a tour of the castle, ate lunch at an amazing bagel café (which had a very amusing sign), killed time at an arcade, then returned to the castle for the performances. On our way home, we wanted to see the ocean and, after driving down many one-way streets and across several bridges, we found it! By this time, it was pitch black and Katsurahama park was abandoned, but it was still the first time I had set foot on a beach since moving, so I was giddy.

Saturday was our pilgrimage. In Japan, there is a group of seven gods called Shichi Fukujin. These seven “Luck Gods” or “Gods of Fortune” are made up of gods from Shinto, Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu tradition and apparently provide better protection and luck when prayed to as a group. The Iyo shichi fukujin mairi is the ‘tour’ of these seven sites – made up of both temples and shrines – in and around the Iyo area. There’s quite a system in place now to entice the superstitious or acquisitive: wherever you choose start, you can purchase small golden charms of the gods – one for each respective site – and, at the end of the tour, receive a omamori fukuro or tiny silk bag in which to carry your gods. By keeping the omamori fukuro close by (in a purse or desk) you can receive their blessings.

My friend and supervisor, Hiroko, her husband, and I thought that Rachel’s visit would be a good time to try the Iyo shichi fukujin mairi. At the start of our tour, we looked at the map and thought, meh – four hours tops. Ha! Matsuyama is a big city with even bigger suburbs. Throw unmarked streets, countless small bridges, common landmarks, and numerous other temples and shrines into the mix and you begin to feel less like a pilgrim and more like a mouse in a maze. It took us nearly four hours to find the first four temples. We took a much needed break for Okonomiyaki (and quick games of Othello) and set out again.

By the time we had completed the tour and visited all seven sites (one shrine we visited twice because there was no one there to give us our charm the first time around) the sun was setting and we were sick to death of the car. None of us believed we would actually find all seven sites or finish with our omamori fukuro, but we have proof! If just being in the vicinity of a holy site grants luck, then the four of us should have an amazing year. We passed so many neighborhood temples and shrines in our search for The Seven that I am probably more blessed now than I ever was in my Sunday school days…

…Gus and Gimp: we’re going to Vegas. Eden and Mike: let’s try El Cap. :D

Photos are Up

2008-03-26T02:06:00.003-05:00

March has been a very busy month, it seems. I'll admit, I'm really not in the mood to type out a description of all the events I've gone to, but still self-centered enough to post a link to my new photos, hehe. Check 'em out: www.flickr.com/photos/terss

(there's always the link in the lower right, too)

Busy Time

2008-03-10T01:12:00.002-05:00

Things have really been getting busy now.

First, I was able to finally go on my first real trip off the island (one that required a plane flight)!! Two of my friends and I spent 2 days in Hokkaido - the northernmost island of Japan. We timed out trip to catch the Yuki Matsuri or Snow Festival. Although we weren't able to go into the surrounding countryside (our hotel was in the middle of Sapporo), we did take a cable car to the top of a nearby mountain; and there was plenty of snow!! In fact, on our first day walking around the city, we found ourselves in a small snowstorm while in the University park. Not only were Ryan and I excited to see "real snow" again, but we were also very entertained watching Briohny's first experience of it.

I'm also being kept busy by the end of the school year. The last classes for the san nensei's were last week and we had a blast. They are taking and retaking their high school entrance exams these last few weeks, so everyone is exhausted and stressed. I wanted to try to help them relax and so I planned classes filled with racing games (competition always wakes them up a bit) and PB&J rewards. It was quite a challenge to make enough mini PB&J sandwiches for over 100 students, but the looks on their faces when they tried it made it all worthwhile. The majority of the students actually liked it! I was expecting the girls to, but was thrilled when the boys did too. There were only a few students who pulled faces or tried to pass it off to their neighbor.

My goal was to beg and plead to have my last English class be uniform-free. I knew it would make the teachers - and students, too, for that matter - uncomfortable, but heck, that's what I'm here for, haha. I thought it would be interesting to have an "American-style" class (the class structure itself is very similar, so no big difference there). Unfortunately, I failed to convince the powers-that-be that a uniform-free classroom was part of my "internationalizing". I came up with a good substitute, though, I think: Hat Day! I'm not sure this tradition is truly an American one, or one localized to schools in Chittenden County, Vermont, but I explained it as an American tradition and ordered my students to bring a hat of their choice to the final class.

You wouldn't think it would be difficult to get a bunch of 14 year olds to wear hats in school - especially since it's a rare opportunity to do something normally prohibited - but I nearly had to staple the hats to their heads! As soon as they had to put them on, they looked painfully uncomfortable and kept slipping them off. A few of the boys acted very American: bringing huge fuzzy animal hats. The majority of the students, though, looked like I had asked them to come to class naked.

In the end, we all had a blast. Some students who I thought hated me came up after class to shake my hand, look me in the eye (gasp!), and tell me they had fun. In fact, many students who didn't seem to like talking to me throughout the year practically chatted my ear off (in a mix of broken English and colloquial Japanese slang). I guess now that the year is over, the pressure is off and it's no longer "uncool" to talk to the ALT. *wink*

Ooops, another meeting. I gotta bounce. Hugs to all...

On the Bright Side

2008-02-10T20:53:00.000-05:00

So, after looking over my blog, I realized that – being the lazy person that I am – I rarely get the motivation to write a post unless something frustrates me to the point where I have to vent about it. This alone isn’t a problem, but it means that the few of you who actually read my posts are only seeing my frustrations. I’m going to try to make more of an effort to write about the little things that happen, throughout my week, that keep me going. J

First, it actually snowed a couple weeks ago!! Big, soft chunks of snow started down around lunchtime while I was at Ohse Sho (one of the many elementary schools I visit periodically throughout the year). The kids couldn’t wait to get outside, but I still think no one was as excited as I was, haha. We downed our kyuushoku (prepared lunch) as fast as our chopsticks would allow, rinsed and hung our milk cartons at top speed, and then bolted out the front hall.

The snowball fight that began shortly after was epic. EPIC. I will never forget it. The snow melted soon after touching the ground, but we scraped enough off of leaves, window sills, and cars to make impressive projectiles. At first, the boys were a bit nervous about pelting a teacher; but, after I nailed a few, they didn’t hold back. I had to chase some of them across the school grounds (vaulting over the “indoor shoes only” sections of the walkway was tricky, hahaha) and give them a good white-washing as punishment for aiming for the face.

In the end, I got walloped! Haha. The majority of these boys play baseball after school every day - their throwing arms are painful! In the last few minutes of the fight, I saw myself surrounded by a gang of six or so, all posed and waiting for their leader’s command. I didn't try to run, I didn’t try to fight back. I did what any intelligent person would have done: I crouched and covered my head with both arms before half a dozen baseball-sized snowballs landed square on my back.

My hair and sweater were dripping wet for the rest of the work day, but it was definitely worth it.

Bad. Morning.

2008-02-04T00:36:00.000-05:00

*WARNING: for those of you who click that “sensor text” box, the following post contains a few choice words. Considering the circumstance, I think I restrained myself well. Just FYI *

I knew it would happen. It’s bound to happen to any computer owner at some point. Although I’m not the most responsible bookkeeper, I had allowed myself a small bit of pride with the fact that I had – up until 20 minutes ago – never lost a large amount of important data. Ever. Sure, I had forgotten to save the random document and found myself cursing like a sailor when my application “unexpectedly quit”. Overall, though, my greatest loss was no larger than a single directory.

Then, this morning at the office, I click on my Document’s alias to print out that morning’s worksheet. The icon did its usual cheerful hop on my bar for a few seconds, but then stopped. It didn’t open, and a giant grey ? appeared over the folder. Whaaa? I tried again: same result. Ok, something is wrong with the alias, I thought. I’ll just go the long way: Macintosh HD/Users/kbonson/Documents….

Nothing. There was nothing in the folder.

In order to fully appreciate this, non-mac users need to understand that the Documents folder – at least for me – is the second largest domain after the Applications folder. Where the Applications directory holds nearly all my programs, the Documents directory held all work (literary, programming, and otherwise) that I had ever done since high school.

I’m not sure what I am most upset about: the loss of all my worksheets, spreadsheets, powerpoints, and games that I have made during my 7 months teaching in Japan; or the loss of 8 years of school work, which included my codes from my summer spent as a programming assistant, my data and research paper (which never did get published after the initial rejection), and epic 20+ page papers (some entirely in German from when I was actually intelligent).

Now, I’m not completely hopeless. I DID backup my Documents folder. Once. On a DVD that is now lying somewhere, with the dust-bunnies, in my basement room back in Vermont. Yeah.

On the plus side: I haven’t cried, screamed, or thrown my computer out the window. On the other hand, the only thing that’s keeping me from doing so is the fact that I’m sitting in the middle of a teacher’s lounge which is always so politely quiet I feel disruptive when I sneeze.

How did this happen? I have no fucking idea. I made the worksheet last night. Saved it in Documents/Japan/SanNensei. Everything was as it should be. I shut down my computer (properly) and went to bed. This morning, I start up my computer at my desk – no error messages, nothing – and click on the alias…you know the rest.

And for all you “it’s a mac stupid!” people out there, hear this: in all the macs that I have ever owned and used, 90% of data loss such as this was user error. I had a memory leak near the end of my iMac’s life and it turned out to be a user error there, too. I’m sure I did something stupid at some point, that set me up for this (Karma would say it’s the fact that I didn’t back up my data well in the first place). At least it happened cleanly and without an assault of “helpful” messages spamming my screen so much the computer lags itself. I’m also running on a partitioned system and use Parallels frequently. Considering I deliberately made my computer schizophrenic and often run a program that calls for it to think with both minds at that same time, I’m truly surprised I haven’t made a mess of things sooner.

Goddamnitalltohell

Updates

2007-12-28T02:22:00.001-05:00

Hey Everyone. Couple new things worth mentioning. First: while uploading pics of Uchiko's Christmas Festival, I stumbled across two folders of photos that I had completely forgotten about (one from my road trip to Kochi City in November and the other from the Moon-Viewing Festival way back in September). So, I have a slew of recent posts. Another reminder: if you'd like to see photos of my students or other random adorable children, you need to sign up for Flickr. It's completely free, but I restrict access to photos of children for safety reasons. I need to add you to my contacts if you'd like to see them all (and believe me, these kids are the cutest things ever; you should see them).

Also, Paul had the idea of starting an Uchiko English site where our teachers (or anyone else who's interested) can ask questions, find useful links, etc. I was thinking it would be a cool way for folks back home (*cough* Mom *cough*) to ask questions of our teachers here. They really want to practice their English skills and need more contacts willing to chat with them. American teachers would obviously make wonderful pen pals, but if any of you have a question, my JT's would love to hear them. The new site is:

www.uchikoenglishcorner.blogspot.com

That's about it for now. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that I'll get a chance to chat with ya soon. :)

What is a JET?

2007-12-17T23:14:00.000-05:00

Winter break in one week! I can’t wait!!

I still work full time, haha. Only the schools have holiday time (teachers do not), but I get to spend my workdays at the Yakuba (~office) where I have internet access, a printer, fax, and everything else necessary to feel like I am actually being productive.

This subject of Yakuba time actually became the center of a rather heated debate between me and some of my JT’s recently. Without going into detail (but believe me, it isn’t for my lack of wanting to share – if I was allowed to vent freely I could probably fill pages…), I had my first major speed-bump in my job as a JET; one which made me want to go home for the first time in the six months I’ve been here and had me thinking long and hard about what, exactly, a JET’s duties are.

The issue was resolved, for the most part. I’m not going home…yet….and my teachers have nothing to hold against me, other than their own personal feelings on the matter. However, it took an hour long conversation with my climbing bud, and fellow JET, to calm me down and I have to admit that I’m not all gung-ho about recontracting – as I was before. I love this country as a whole. I love the people that I’ve met. I love my dojos. I adore my senseis. I love the food, my students, and the adventure of living so far from my “norm”. That said: I abhore the system. I hate how everything is sacrificed, not for harmony (as they claim), but for the appearance of it. It’s difficult to explain abstractly, so I guess I’ll just leave it up to Skype if you’d like to hear more. Just trust me: it sucks.

So, as I said before, I started really thinking about what a “JET” is or, more specifically, what “ALTs” are, and what my duties really were. Sure, my job description seems simple: “Assistant Language Teacher”. Anyone in this program will tell you, though, that signing onto the JET program lines you up for a lot more than an assistant teaching position. As an ALT especially – but as a JET in general – your full-time job is really only a fraction of the duties the JET Program hires for. You’re true “purpose”, if you’d like to call it that, is to be an international barrier-breaker. You are set up with plenty of support systems (supervisors, regional advisors, prefectural advisors, list serves, and hotlines) to back you as you try to balance “being yourself” with “embracing other cultures”.

If you really want to simplify it, you can think of us as intentional disrupters: we are paid to be different and to take the heat for when we are. It’s part of the job. While we do our best to be respectful and courteous (at least, most of us do), we are not supposed to become Japanese. In my opinion, if an ALT integrates fully into the Japanese system and - almost assuredly - pleases their employers, they are not fulfilling their duties no matter how productive they are. We are not here to be teachers. If they needed more, they could hire from the backwash of countless Japanese that could not find teaching positions (I know of many). We are here to rock the boat, which - in Japan - is a very daring thing to do.

I know of at least three other JETs who will read this and say, “I told you so!” Yeah, yeah. Everyone tried to explain it, but even with a few miscommunications early on, I didn’t appreciate the full extent of the culture difference until now. It also greatly varies from region to region, school to school, and JT to JT.

Ah well. It’s part of the process. I think it’s just especially difficult for me because even at home, with fellow Americans, I had a hard time dismissing others’ opinions of me. I’ve gotten better over the years, but my skin isn’t as thick as it should be even now. The conflicts here are good for me, then. Even if they're tough to handle.
This post is now long enough, I think *wink*. I’ve taken some new photos and they should be up soon. Cheers for now!!

I RUV YOU!

2007-11-19T00:52:00.000-05:00

Sup guys!
I haven’t heard from most of you in a long time. I know I shouldn’t be one to talk – just checked my email for the first time in a week and a half yesterday – but reading an email from an old Uncommon Grounds pal made me realize just how much I miss VT cynicism, hahaha. Humor really is different here (those of you who’ve seen Most Extreme Elimination Challenge know this) and while Aussie sarcasm comes close, it just isn’t the same.

I should say, though, that while Japanese humor is culturally different as a whole, some things are universal. My students sometimes amaze me with their surprising bursts of wit. For example, last week I had just begun my last class of the day. It was a drizzly afternoon and no one was in a good mood. I can’t speak for all of Japan, but at least at my schools every class begins with a greeting. The students stand up and say hello (in English) and I respond with a “Hello. How are you?” Now, the students are supposed to answer and return the question (90% of the time I get a monotonous chorus of “I’m fine and you?”), but this time all I got were a few incoherent mumbles.

I tried again, “How are you?” Still, I heard more coughs than answers.

My JT jumped in and scolded the class – in Japanese – for their lack of participation. She finished by saying that communication is important, that’s why we have ALT’s, and to please make an effort.

“Ok,” she said, “Now please communicate!”

Silence.

…*cough*….*sniff*…

My JT was just about to launch into another lecture when, suddenly,

“KEYRUSTEN I RUV YOUUUUUU!!” came from the back of the room.

I couldn’t help it, I laughed so hard I cried. The class erupted in giggles and my JT – try as she might – couldn’t keep a straight face. She attempted to scold the student, but he countered with, “What?! You said ‘communicate’! I communicate!!”

After that, the class went much smoother. While I’ve silently cursed this one student in the past for being disruptive, it’s moments like that which make our jobs as ALT’s fun.

Nothing else terribly exciting has happened, really. I did get to see a Kabuki play, which was nice. Their costumes are amazing and even if I didn’t understand a word of their singing, it was a good experience. Don’t think I’ll go again anytime soon, though. For 6,000 Yen (about $60), I got a seat that was so far off to the side I could only see stage left.

Guess that does it for now. Hope you are all are enjoying the holiday season...and have the bees returned yet?? Let me know,

KB

New Site

2007-10-19T00:22:00.001-05:00

Just FYI: I created a new site to serve as a sort of archive of my past Pictures of the Month. Nothing terribly important, but on a Friday afternoon with hours to kill at the office, one tends to get a tad bored...

Fun Times and Evil Sunlight

2007-10-18T03:07:00.000-05:00

I’ve decided the temperature in Japan is based solely on sunlight saturation.

I know what you’re thinking: “My God! That’s BRILLIANT! You mean that ball of fire actually influences our planet??”

Yeah, yeah. Hear me out. See, Japan – at least Shikoku – is like Vermont x10. Where you can get a snowstorm in April like that *snap*, I woke up to a 50 degree F morning yesterday, and walked home from school in 83 degree heat. It didn’t happen all that gradually, either. The day was overcast and was the first in which I could see my breath. It remained chilly throughout the afternoon…until I walked home, however, when the clouds parted and sunlight came beaming down like death rays from above. By the time I got back to my apartment I was a sweaty mess, and looked at the thermometer in disbelief. I can’t remember ever experiencing a 30 degree jump in temperature like that. Now I know what an ant must feel like when you scorch them with a magnifying glass.

I had taken up the habit of using an umbrella to escape the summer sun shortly after I arrived in Uchiko (Whoever says parasols are for wimps has never felt this sunlight. I DARE you to sunbathe in this stuff. Your skin will sublimate before your eyes. I promise). I thought, though, that the Sun’s intensity would die down a bit as the seasons progressed. Wow, was I wrong. Bloody thing just gets hidden behind clouds a bit more often.

Later, when my supervisor commented about the weather (as almost every conversation in Japan begins with this topic – polite since it affects both the speak and the listener), I told her my observations. She agreed that sunlight in Japan is very powerful, but said that it wasn’t always this way. Gradually, year after year, the sunlight in Japan has become increasingly harsh. Yay for global warming *wince*.

Moving on to a nicer topic, but also one about the weather: I created my most successful game thus far! Now, I can’t take full credit since the game itself I didn’t invent. That said, my JT approached me one morning a couple of weeks ago and told me she hadn’t had time to prepare a lesson for our first class. Could I please make a game about the weather?….Ah, also – very sorry – but I had 4 minutes before the period began, so could I please hurry?

Yup. I had few moments of panic before I snapped into action. Man, was I lucky. I personally had no supplies on me, but I found large flashcards hidden behind stacks of paper in the copy room. There was also a small set of markers in my desk along with some colored chalk. Only 4 of the marker colors worked, but I drew eight pictures depicting the students’ new vocab and – this is the best part – pulled off the magnets that were attached to Matthew’s old flashcards (my apologies Matt if you’re reading this) to tape them to the back of mine. Presto: a set of 8 colored weather cards that were magnetized!! Damn, I’m good. :D

Anyway, using said cards of genius, we played a sort of janken-race game. The cards were lined up across the blackboard and the class was split into two teams. At the signal, the first person from each team would race to their end of the weather-card line. They worked their way down the line, saying each vocab word as they touched the card, “Snowy, rainy, hot, cool, sunny…”, etc. Team 1 was working left to right and Team 2, from right to left. When the students’ met, they janken’d to see who could continue…

...Ahhh, I will have to make a video for those of you who haven’t experienced janken before. Janken is the Japanese take on rock, paper, scissors…except it’s like RPS on speed. Both games start about the same: “Saisho-agu janken poi!” has the beat 1-2-3-4, and on 4 they ‘shoot’ either rock, paper, or scissors. After that, it’s a tad different. If you tie on the first round (i.e. rock, rock), you say “Iko-desho!”, which has the beat 1-2 and you shoot on 2. You continue to ‘iko’ as long as it takes to determine a winner.

Ok. That’s the technical way of doing it. Unlike RPS, where we usually just say, “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!….Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” over and over, Japanese kids have sped up janken to near-supersonic speed. Usually, the beginning verse is said in its entirety – to determine the rhythm – but, after that, you just get: “Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho! Sho!….” with players frantically ‘shooting’ RPS as fast as they can….

…let me tell you: by the end of that class I was in tears from laughing so hard. The game lasted quite a long time since, even if a student was quicker at the vocabulary and made it further down the flashcard line than the other, they often lost at janken. Then, their opponent would continue down the line and their teammate would have to quickly start from the beginning in hopes of catching the opponent as soon as possible and ‘jankening’ them out.

The kids got crazy near the end. Team 1 had only two people left standing (when you made it to the end of the flashcard line you got to sit down) while Team 2 had closer to six. One of the students was very quick at the vocabulary, but always lost to janken. When there was only one person left standing on the winning team, the suspense nearly killed them. The last student would make it most of the way down the line, only to lose to janken and be sent back to the beginning. Since there weren’t any teammates left, that last student had to keep starting over. Sometimes, they won at janken and nearly got to the other side. Then, they’d lose and have to start again. Eventually, though, they made it and everyone collapsed at their desks.

The game wore them out mentally and physically. Fun, fun times.

Sports Day

2007-09-28T03:52:00.000-05:00

Hey all. I think I’m going to give up trying to write about all my new experiences, there are just too many to recount. I’ll try to post the most interesting ones, but if you want to know more, you’ll have to get Skype. :)

About one week ago, the schools in my area held their Sports Day’s. Sports Day is a major event for most schools in Japan and is when the school is split into teams which compete against each other in a wide range of sports….and I mean wide. The sports kids compete in include jump rope competitions (where roughly 20 students jump a single long rope), 3-legged races (which should actually be called 15-legged race since ENTIRE CLASSES get linked together), a tug-of-war match (where multiple classes compete using one massive rope), and almost anything else that can be made competitive.

The games I like the best were the knight fights and tug-of-war. I’ll readily admit that I was completely jealous of my students that day and wanted to play, but – considering I’m at least twice their size – it’s probably better that I didn’t.

I snapped a lot of pics during Uchiko-chu’s practice day, but was expecting to take better photos with my D40 during the actual event. Well, long-story-short: I ended up missing the Sports Day’s of all my schools thanks to the tail end of a typhoon and a communication mix-up. I’m bummed about that, but glad I took so many pictures during their practice now. Speaking of which…

* A quick note: to help protect against child pornography and other such nastiness, all relatively close-up photos I take of my students (or any children for that matter) will be restricted on my Flickr account to “friends/family only.” A Flickr account is entirely free, so if you want to see the awesome pics of my students, you should get one. I will count you as a contact and you will be able to see them, no problem.

I also took some short videos of the tug of war game and the teams practicing their cheers. Cheers in Japan trump cheers in America, in my opinion. Keep in mind that this was their first time practicing as an entire group and most did not have their uniforms….

My Best Summer Memory

2007-09-05T04:03:00.000-05:00

I had my first official ALT day today, woot!
I introduced myself to two 1st grade classes (quick note: 1st grade in Japanese Jr. High is roughly 7th grade where I come from -> read: 12 and 13 year olds) and then they played a game of "Kirsten Bingo" where they tried to guess facts about me (not my idea, I swear). Overall, I had a blast, and am impressed how witty these guys are...and also how tall! As far as I can tell, Japanese children reach their adult height sooner than Westerners because at the moment, I am teaching 13 year olds that can look me in the eye. That's impressive for 13 year olds in general I think, not to mention Japanese (my JT is shorter than me which is a bit awkward because he's a pretty built guy).

Anyway, after class I was correcting some 3rd grade (read: 9th grade) papers on what the students did over summer vacation. They were supposed to write about their favorite memory and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the entries. These kids are so witty!! Their English wasn't perfect, but still completely comprehensible (well most anyway, but I'll get to that later), and they were great! I want to share with you 2 entries that I loved. I'm transcribing their paragraphs exactly as they wrote them so the humor isn't dumbed down by my editing...

Paper #1:
“I fought with two cookroachs today.
When I was sleeping on the floor,
They appeared. Then I was surprised.
But I fought with them. Hit, hit, hit!
But I couldn’t hit. They were so quick.
So, I pleyed them a bug killer. Them
they died. I was tired. I’m winner.
YEAH~”

Paper #2:
“Today, I was reading a book all day.
I read ‘Seiji’ two times. It is very interesting.
A hero called Seiji is a strange person. But
I sympathized his opinion.
I have a headache.
I learn to shouldn’t read books all day.”

Aren't they great? There were many more I loved, but limited myself to sharing two.

I want to share one more, but because I feel like this next student was trying to say something substantial and I just can't understand it! The kid drew an empty baseball diamond with 'Boooo' written across the top. Below, was written the following...

Paper #3:
“I play baseball a championship series,
I there a teme a match got, I there a right
fielder out play a got I too Don’t activity
good lost I Don’t can’ all Don’t be useful
a thing. very puite fell pass Don’t cry.”

Am I just imagining something about a pitiful pass, game lost, and don't cry? I wish I could understand what the student wrote. This obviously was a very significant event in this kid's summer, even if it was not a happy memory.

On that note, I have to run to Fuji and spend a small fortune on bread so I can make exotic PB&J sandwiches for my Eikaiwa tomorrow. Haha, even Paul makes fun of that one, but I don't quite understand it when Aussies have Vegemite: a spread made basically from condensed beer. Yuuuum. (actually, I have to admit that with cheese it's pretty tastey, but that's beside the point).

Don't rush to comment on my blog too fast now ya'll, you might hurt yourselves. *wink*

3 Goals Accomplished!

2007-09-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

So here I am at my desk in Uchiko Jr. High School, honestly just killing time because my actual first day of teaching won’t be until the day after tomorrow.

Yesterday I had to bug-bomb my apartment: Marco, Paul, and I all got tatami fleas. Since my tatami were new, I didn’t get them nearly as bad as the guys, but would still wake myself up at 5 a.m. scratching. I got this nifty bug-killer you inject into your tatami with a needle and then, just to be on the safe side, blasted my tiny apartment with two cans of the fumigation stuff.

Next, 3 great turn of events this week that made me very very happy:…

First: I FINALLY got my keitai (cell phone). It’s pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. I went with the company “au” and most of their phones come with internet, camera, video, txting, and such so really it was just a choice in design. Although I won’t let myself use the t.v. function, I got: this one (in black). I know it’s expensive, but although they thought my cell would work with a phone card, it doesn’t, so I would LOVE to hear from you guys. Email me and I’ll give you my #.

Second: I found Aikido!! Or, maybe I should say, Aikido found me, haha. I stumbled across an AJETs blog one day who wrote about training in Matsuyama. I shamelessly commented on his site, begging him to tell me where the dojo was. Josh was kind enough to hunt down my number and get in touch. Although I won’t be able to start training until my school schedule settles down, I am more relieved than I thought I’d be about finding a place. Guess I didn’t realize I’ve missed it so much.

Lastly: I found a bass guitar! An extended-neck bass guitar!! Every music/guitar store I passed these past few weeks, I’ve gone in and asked (or tried to ask) about extended basses. I’m dying to play again, but none of the stores I found carried them. Thank god for Hard Off! That’s right, that’s the name of the store. They’re a second-hand chain that has spin-offs such as Book Off and House Off. Anyway, I found a beautiful solid wood bass for 30,000 Yen and am going back to Matsuyama after work today to get it (they wouldn’t reserve it for me so I’m crossing my fingers that it’s still there). Now, Johnny, if only I could find a way to bribe you across the globe for lessons…:D

Nothin Much

2007-09-03T08:08:00.000-05:00

So much has happened since my last entry, but at the same time not much of it seems particularly worth mentioning.

The majority of my time in Uchiko has been spent driving (or, rather, getting driven) from place to place trying to sort out insurance, utilities, bank accounts, and all that jazz. Things only started to settle down about a week ago, when I spent some time in Matsuyama taking an “intensive” Japanese course. The course was fun while it lasted, but my BOE (board of education) was the only one that I knew of to not count the course as part of job training, and so all expenses and time spent in Matsuyama were taken out of my own pocket and holiday leave. Commuting to and from the city every day cost me $25 a trip and so I could only afford to go to the first week of classes. Kind of a bummer, but luckily I was able to spend the weekend in Matsuyama seeing the sights with the Matsuyama JETs.

This past week we had our official Uchiko-cho welcome party that was very formal. Marco, Paul, and I had to give powerpoint presentations in Japanese…yeah, that was interesting. Marco, of course, was fine – having studied Japanese for 6 years and lived in Tokyo. Paul was the comic relief since his speech had been translated by his wife and spoken with a thick Aussie accent. I won’t tell you how I did. I hate public speaking and having to speak in a language I should have a basic grasp of by now but don’t was a tad uncomfortable to say the least. Everyone was incredibly nice, though, and they had arranged to have an Iaido demonstration during dinner. There was also a Shoudo or calligraphy master who painted our favorite Kanji for us to keep. I choose mizu or water, which I think everyone got a kick out of because it is such a simple character. I love it, though, in part because I think the Kanji just looks cool and also because there’s a Zen koan that I read years ago that I really like.

Oh! My attempt at making chocolate chip cookies succeeded!..sorta, hehe. It took me a while to hunt down all the ingredients. Basic things like flour, granulated white sugar, and salt I could find at my tiny Fuji in Uchiko. Brown sugar and bags of chocolate chips that contained more than 10 chips per package were harder get. I never did succeed with the brown sugar, settling for a sort of beige/tan sugar, but I bought chocolate chips (for about $12/bag) in Matsuyama. Hiroko-san then rented out the local community kitchen for me (and sort of bent the rules by assuring the caretaker that our cookies were a “BOE foreign exchange” group activity :P ) and we made about 6 batches of cookies. Although they tasted more like sugar cookies with chocolate, they were most definitely delicious and so I’m calling it a success….and considering saving up for a mini-oven so I can continue to bake.

Getting Settled

2007-08-14T23:19:00.000-05:00

So here I am, sitting in ninety-degree sopping wet heat, trying to figure out the best way to sum up my first week or so in Uchiko.

To start with, as soon as I got off the plane from Tokyo I realized I had made one very inaccurate assumption about Shikoku. My only previous experience with Japan had been my visit to Okinawa, an island which is undoubtedly tropical. I know Shikoku would get hot and humid in the summer, but I figured that – since it is roughly 600 miles north of Okinawa – the muggy, sticky Vermont summers would have prepared me well enough. Ha! Shikoku is most definitely tropical itself: today was around 32 degrees Celsius and the humidity is so bad that the pages of my books have already begun to wrinkle. I have to remember to air out my futon next week or else it will begin to mold (I also have to get used to rolling up my bed every morning).

That said, Uchiko is a beautiful town! The mountains surrounding us are like a pointer version of VT’s oversized hills and the houses around here are amazing: Uchiko was the first town in Japan to have government protection for the preservation of its historic buildings. Looking out my bedroom window, I see old homes with traditional ceramic tile and, walking down the streets, you would almost forget which century you’re in if it wasn’t for the vending machines and yellow-plates everywhere.

The most remarkable thing about my three days in Uchiko, though, is the situation I find myself in linguistically. Apparently, Uchiko has a sister-city in Germany (Rothenburg) and so learning German is just as popular, if not arguably more so, than English. Also, Marco, the CIR (Coordinator for International Relations: a JET whose job it is not really to teach, but to act as a sort of ambassador) who was assigned to Uchiko is German. So, right from the beginning, all conversations between the JETs and our contractors/supervisors/coworkers are in 3 languages: Japanese (primarily), German (when Marco’s Japanese fails him), and English (when my German fails me). In fact, at a goodbye/welcome party held last night for both new and old JETs, only a few English words were spoken the entire night since the majority of the guests were Japanese who have taken the local German classes.

So, now I find I have to remember my German as well because I will have better luck talking to the locals in German than in English if I cannot think of the Japanese! I wish you guys could here a normal conversation in our office…

Hiroko-san (coworker): Ashta wa yoobinkyoku ni ikimashoo.
Marco-san (CIR): sumimasen, watashi no hanko wa…aa no…aa no…Freitag ni kuremasu ka?
Hiroko-san: Hai. Freitag wa ii desu ka? Kirusutein-san wa ii desu ka?
Me: Hai, ii desu. Aa no...mmm…unsere…alien registration cards mo kuremasu ka?
Marco-san: Sie werden uns am Freitag den "Alien Registration" Ausweis geben.
Me: Aa, so desu. Danke.
Marco-san: dozo.

Now, since I had to write all three parts, I had to dumb down Hiroko- and Marco-san’s vocabulary considerably (honestly, the Japanese is probably wrong too), but you get the idea.

Even though I still only comprehend a fraction of the conversations around me, I am extremely happy for the few times when the conversation will switch from Japanese to German and, since I was still miraculously able to follow, I didn’t notice the language shift. I should mention that’s happened a grand total of…twice. :P

Alright, this entry is extremely long, so I’m going to call it quits now. Still don’t have internet at my apartment so this will get posted whenever I can manage to snag a cable for a bit. Til then, Tsuess!

Almost There!

2007-08-06T02:51:00.000-05:00

Since the next two weeks or so are going to fly by like a whirlwind (and I will not have internet for some time after I leave the Keio Hotel), I figured I should write a bit about what we JETs have experienced thus far…

…to give you some idea of the Japanese welcoming spirit: we’ve only spent a single night in Tokyo and I have already penciled 4 parties into my planner: one for ALTs in general, one for those of us stationed in Ehime, another for those residing close to Matsuyama (mainly Uchiko and Matsuyama JETs), and a fourth for us New Englanders/Canadians who just plain rock. *wink* I should note that, also in Japanese fashion, all of these parties revolve around large quantities of alcohol. I’m glad I’ve met a couple other Ehime ALTs who would also rather not greet their mayors brutally hungover.

Beer parties aside, I’m very encouraged to finally meet many other JETs here in Tokyo (there are hundreds staying in the Keio Hotel at the moment) because I am no longer worried about being the odd one out. I’ve seen a guy with a mohawk (not spiked, but still clearly there), several people with visible tattoos, a hippie whose idea of formal business wear included cargo pants, and a gal from Washington with two lip piercings. I asked the Washington girl if she was going to remove her rings and she said she would remove one, but try a stud in the other. I was expecting resistance to my tragus piercing, but was going to keep it as long as it was no risk to my job.

In my defense, I want to point out that I clean up well: at the Boston orientation, I (being a tad impatient) decided to skip the line at the check-in counter and walk straight through security. Our orientation was held at the Consulate-General of Japan on the 14th floor of the Federal Reserve building; security included armed guards. I figured the worse they could do would be to refuse me entry, so I wasn’t all that concerned. Well, I made it through, no questions asked, and it was fun being the only JET at the orientation without a neon yellow “guest pass” sticker. One JET said he saw me walk by and assumed I worked in the building, although I did look “a bit young”. Hehe.

Although I am nervous about meeting my superintendent and supervisors for the first time (and having to go through the formal introductions in Japanese), I feel comfortable already. I’m sitting here snacking on a matcha-flavored KitKat and drinking a carton of Milk Tea (my apologies B, but it’s good :D ). I can’t wait to see my apartment (first time ever having one of my own, woot!) and explore my town.

That’s it for now I guess. Tokyo is amazing – it beats out both NYC and Boston (I can’t believe I’ve stayed at all three cities in only a week’s time) – and I wish I could explore more. Oh, and I met several JETs from the southern coast of Ehime, which is known for its surfing...yeah, baby! We all want to try. Ok, now I’m done. Keep in touch, I’ll get lonely once I’m alone at my station.

Departure!

2007-08-01T16:34:00.000-05:00

Wow. Two days left...and I have literally just gotten back from an amazing road trip to see the Rock the Bells Festival in NYC and some friends in Kingston, Ontario. Because my wonderful sense of timing brought me back home just one day before I have to leave for Boston, I had to pack for Japan before the road trip. Stressful, but so worth it!

I hate goodbye's and, unfortunately, I've had to experience a lot up until now. Luckily, I've been blessed with amazing groups of friends who've made the whole process so much easier...

To my UG crew: Big hugs for all! It's going to be hard to top a job that had whipped cream fights, dangerous amounts of sugar, prank battles, and random late night shenanigans. You supply my chai and I'll send you more mochi *wink*.

To my Tuesday night poker pals: pray for me that gambling is legal in Uchiko, hahaha. And I've got one word for you all: bodog! There's some of you I still haven't the luxury of stacking *cough* Evan *cough* and so if you ever have the erge to play on an off day, let me know. Oh, and don't let James bully you - dude can't hit every flop, he just wants you to think he can. ;)

And my road trip buds: you guys (and gals) are honestly the best traveling companions anyone could wish for and this trip was seriously just what I needed. Also, riding in the cab of pickup trucks for over 1,200 miles has gotten me comfortable with the thought of being crammed in a plane for 13+ hours, heh. Thank you SO much for those of you who put me up and provided food and showers. Well, here's to negotiating both monster cities and back-country roads, fighting lost cell signals, singing along to fuzzy pop stations, and making crazy ideas work!!

Cheers, guys. Next time we talk, txt, or email I'll be thankful it's in English! I love you all from the bottom of my heart and if any of you suddenly become millionaires, I expect a visit!

Kayaking in Maine

2007-07-10T18:30:00.000-05:00

Playing in some faster water in Maine. Hopefully I can snag the video Mike took as well, or at least the link to it. My camera battery died before he got closer in this one...

Kayaking

2007-06-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

So this has nothing to do with my preparations for Japan - unless you count destressing before the big move - but we recently had major success in our attempts at rolling our sea kayaks after meeting an incredibly knowledgable (and patient!) kayaker. In celebration (and as proof of our, or at least Mike's, success), I recorded a 90 degree recover and a full 360 roll. Enjoy.

I Have My Assignment!

2007-05-31T13:13:00.000-05:00

I now know I will be teaching in Ehime, Japan - specifially in the town of Uchiko.

It looks like a beautiful place and I am so happy because they have mountains! Where there's mountains, there's rock, and where there's rock... :D

I have been emailing back and forth with my RA and PA (regional and prefectural advisors) trying to understand my position and what I should prepare for. I have been sent a packet of information for JET's living in Ehime (thank you!!) and while all the information is overwhelming, I am very thankful for it because - from what I've heard from other friends in the program - the amount of helpful information participants receive before arriving varies greatly.

So excited!! (and very very nervous...)

Videos!

2007-05-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

K, I lied: I'm posting again, but I thought I should share some of our video clips. Alex took a couple short videos during our trip and I knew some folks wanted to see them. The first is from a nifty sushi restaurant that served food conveyor belt-style. The second was a guy at the arcade in downtown Naha. Last clip is from our trip to Churaumi - check out the whale shark in the back!

Home

2007-05-08T12:45:00.000-05:00

So. After a total of 8 hours of sorting, editing, loading, and organizing, all of my photos from Okinawa are up...and my first day back, what do I do? I go take more pictures. Hahahaha. It was such a gorgeous day out I camped at the waterfront for the afternoon.

Anyway, this will most likely be my last post until I move back to Japan in August. Thanks for checking out my site and a big thanks to those who kept in touch. Two weeks wasn't bad, but I'm gonna get lonely during my year overseas. Til then I guess! Cheers.

Day #14 (Saturday 5th)

2007-05-06T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well, we’re about three hours into our thirteen hour flight across the Pacific and I decided I had to whip out my laptop: staring off into space, music or no, just wasn’t doing it for me. Hmmm, battery power at 70%. That should last me through a few solid solitaire games…

…The last few days here have gone by so quickly. On Tuesday, Meg and Dov flew in from China. I’m so glad their break lined up with our trip because they get back from China only one week before I’m shipped out and after not seeing them for almost a year, I want all the time with them I can get! I brought Dov’s climbing shoes over with me and begged him to be my bouldering buddy for old-time’s sake. Year off or not, the guy’s still a spider and puts me to shame. The five of us also made sure to squeeze in cards and Green Day (it was just our luck that Friday was a Japanese national holiday called ‘Green Day’ in honor of the environment and we decided to acknowledge it in proper musical fashion). Man I miss folks who sing just as much as I do!!

I suppose I should offer a few closing comments about our visit to Okinawa, but it’s really hard to sum up. Of course it was an amazing experience but besides just being an awesome adventure, I think it really helped me get my head around the fact that I will actually be LIVING in this country for a year come August – and I’m so psyched!! Part of me was worried that I’d leave thinking, boy that was fun but I’d rather not stay. Yeah, that would suck. I’m not gonna lie: there are some unique features about living in Japan that I am not looking forward to, like that bloody key money (key money is like a security deposit with the very minor difference being that you never see it again and I’m told it usually ranges between 90,000 and 150,000 Yen – read about $900 - $1,500). Overall, though, I’m really happy and think that once I get settled it could easily become a second home.

What will I miss about Okinawa/Japan for the three months I’m back in the States? A vast abundance of cane sugar for one, hehe. Almost everywhere we went there were cane sugar flavored creemees and candies. I hope the rest of Japan is at least a bit like that just because it reminds me so much of VT and our maple sugar. I’m also going to miss the little kids that scream ‘hallo!!’ from across streets and out car windows. Mochi ice cream, streets lined with orchids and hibiscus, the extreme merchandizing of goya, and bright pink cube-like cars will also be deeply missed. :D

Well, cheers for now I guess. Wish me luck driving on the right side of the road!

Day #7 (Sunday 29th)

2007-05-01T03:21:00.000-05:00

So I figured I should write about today since I’ve been slacking off and haven’t shared any of our recent trips (Shuri Castle, limestone cave, etc.), although - connection permitting - you’ll hopefully see pictures from them.

After the torrential rains we experienced yesterday, we thought today would be the perfect day to make the 2 hour drive up to northern Okinawa and visit the aquarium. Churaumi is famous for being (I’m quite sure) the only aquarium in the world to host whale sharks. Well, not one hour into our trip the clouds broke up enough to give us the most sunshine we’ve seen all week and, while we were very thankful for the nice weather, we arrived in Motobu facing a decent walk with no sunscreen. Not only are we all VTers, but those of you who know us also know we are all so pale we practically glow in the dark, so sunscreen is not an option – it’s a necessity. Unfortunately, sunscreen also costs about $12 for 60 mL (about 4 oz.)!! We bit the bullet and bought the damn stuff…grrrrrrr.

Anyway, Churaumi itself was amazing! Their central tank (which was roughly 5 stories high) held TWO whale sharks as well as devil rays (my favorite), sting rays (…sorry Steve. worst. luck. ever….), manta rays, lemon sharks, black tip reef sharks, puffer fish, eels, and dozens of other gigantic so-ugly-their-cute ocean dwellers. Their shark tank also rocked. As a kid, I was one of those who checked out every single shark book from the kids’ section of the library and am still a fan (woot for Shark Week!!). In the shark section they have, all in one tank mind you: bull sharks, tiger sharks, white tip reef sharks, sand sharks, and several more I can't recall. They also said that their next goal is to be the first aquarium in the world to host a megamouth shark. Now, considering there have been only 4 megamouth specimens found in the world, that’s a pretty tall order. If they do actually acquire one, you’ll be sure I’m finding my way back here to check it out.

After the aquarium, we made our way to Pineapple Park for basically a free lunch. See, at this park, you meander through three or four large rooms filled with every conceivable treat made from – you guessed it: pineapple. And every single item on display has free samples *wink wink*. We filled up on varieties of pineapple pie, cookies, chocolate, cake, jelly, and juice. My favorite was my pineapple wine creemee. Mmmmmm.

Last, but not least, we decided to take the rest of the day to finish the drive north and end at Cape Hedo: the northern most tip of Okinawa. By the time we got there, the clouds had returned, but the water was still breathtaking!! I have never seen water that blue in all my life, not even in the Caribbean. I can’t imagine what it must be like with the sun out.

So, considering Gushikami is less than 10 km from the southern tip of Okinawa, we can now say we basically drove the entire length of the island (and back) in a day. Sweet.

Day #6

2007-04-28T04:26:00.000-05:00

Back in the cafe to upload some pictures...and it took nearly 2 hours to upload those 12 or so I just posted due to this tiny signal I'm stealing. I have soooo many more I can't wait to share (how did I ever take pictures without my D40??) but both my Starbucks tolerance and my friend's patience have long passed. Til next time...

Quick Note

2007-04-24T23:57:00.000-05:00

For the time being, please see my Flickr site for photos (link below right) since I lack both the time and the skills to figure out how to quickly post pics to my blog following these Japanese directions. Gomen nasai!

I FOUND A SIGNAL!!

2007-04-24T23:34:00.002-05:00

Ok. I am currently sitting at a Starbucks in downtown Naha (capitol of Okinawa) tapping into a very weak wireless signal. Everyone around me is staring at me like I'm crazy (I have yet to see anyone working on a laptop in public anywhere), but I am so happy because I finally get a chance to post! Yeah, it took us 40 minutes by bus to get into the city, and about another 30 minutes to walk to this exact Starbucks, but if this is the only place I can find a signal I will make sure to make my way back at least once more before I leave. :)

There's more I could write about our adventures today, but my battery's dying, the signal could go at any moment, and Alex is ready to kill me, so I'm just going to upload my pics and hope to make it back soon..... ja mata!!!

Okinawa Day 2 (Tuesday 24th)

2007-04-24T23:34:00.001-05:00

Today was our first big day out and about in Okinawa and I’m so frustrated that I can’t share my pictures with you guys because, although I am sitting in Starbucks as I type, there is no wireless service here either. *sigh* Out of all the difficulties I had expected to encounter during this trip, getting internet access in Japan was not one of them.

Anyway, this morning Rachel drove us into town so we could cash our Traveler’s Checks. We then decided to catch the bus into Naha while she was with us so that we’d be better prepared to go it alone the rest of the trip. We spent the day walking down the main strip, drinking bubble tea, and found an arcade with that DDR-for-hands game. For those of you who haven’t yet seen the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl-u8jRCKVs (sorry I'd link it, but I'm navigating this site in Japanese at the moment and don't have the time). Alex wants us to come back here with Rachel’s video camera after he’s had some practice, hehe.

Here at the mall, I finally found a store that would accept my visa card. I was starting to get worried since the majority of our money is on my card and only a third or so we have in cash. “Kard o deshiharimasuka?” Is a phrase that I think will now forever be ingrained in my memory. Speaking of which, it’s amazing how total cultural immersion can reawaken old language skills *wink*. Even though I’m a year or so out of practice folks seem to understand me more or less and only the very first cashier I spoke to actually laughed at me. Hahahaha. No, seriously, I’m sure I sound horrible, but I’m happy that I seem to have remembered enough to survive and it will only get better with more practice.

So that’s about it I guess. If it continues to rain tomorrow we’ll probably end up back at the arcade. This rain is KILLING ME because we found a beautiful beach with beautiful rock that is just begging to be climbed!!! If the weather doesn’t dry up by the end of the week I’m bouldering in the rain.

Okinawa Day 1 (Monday 23rd)

2007-04-24T23:34:00.000-05:00

So I decided to be good and write about our first day in Okinawa even though I have no idea when I’ll get a chance to post since, it turns out, Rachel does not actually have internet access at her apartment.

Flights went well, as well as 13+ hour flights can go I suppose. We had some drama at the Tokyo airport – we must have run to every gate C in the entire airport before finding the correct one – but miraculously made it on the plane in time.

And now we sit. And wait. We have to chill in the apartment for the day because, in another ironic turn of events, no shop in the immediate area accepts Traveler’s Checks and the ATM machine spat out both of my debit cards. Rachel doesn’t have to work tomorrow, so she will drive us to the city so I can hit the bank. I’m also hoping to find a Starbucks (the only time in my life when I’m actually yearning for one) so I can tap into their WiFi and post my pictures!

So yup, that’s about it. We might go out for another walk in a bit, but besides the fact that Rachel wasn’t kidding when she said she lived in the middle of cane fields, it has also started to thunder…hmmm I think Alex is going to be sick of poker after today. :)

One Week!!

2007-04-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

.....to hang out with friends who won't be here when I return, to finish the HUGE stack of paperwork I need to get processed and sent in for the JET program, to buy my new camera....and the list goes on. *sigh*

BUT I'M GOING TO JAPAN!!

For 2 weeks my 17 year old brother and I will be staying with a good friend of mine who has been participating in the JET program for the past year. Besides being a wonderful (and much needed) vacation, this trip will give me a taste of what the next year of my life might be like, depending on my own JET assignment.

I'm going to try to get in the habit of this 'travel blog' thing for the sake of those I'll be leaving behind in the states, but I'm going on record as warning you all that I am very bad at keeping journals and - when I do find the time to write - it will most likely be at 2 a.m. and on very little sleep. Be forewarned: atrocious spelling and incomprehensible ramblings are almost guaranteed.

That said: 1 WEEK!! WOOT WOOT!!

*picture of my home that will soon be literally a world away!