Getting Settled

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!