November Blog

PROLOGUE
November is the month where the cold sneaks up on you. It hits like a brick through a sound proof glass window. This month temperatures continue to rise and drop in unexpected waves, and I am driven to taking hot baths every night for warmth. The kerosene stoves have come out at school and I’ve relearned how to use my heater along with my electric blankets, halogen fan, and newly repaired kotatsu (heat table). Fortunately, the amount of social and work-related business I’ve had this month has distracted me from the sudden drop in temperatures.

GENERAL
I’ve been continuing to work hard on my Japanese: pedagogy and linguistics course. It’s nice to use my noodle for a change and it’s a really welcomed challenge for me! I’m learning a lot about grammar especially between paying more attention in higher level middle school classes. 3rd years for instance were learning noun phrases such as ‘I don’t know who you are’, which takes the question word ‘who’ and turns it into a phrase instead of a question… anyway I never said I wasn’t geeking out about it. I was also recently contacted by CLAIR because they had chosen one of my essays from my advanced Japanese course last year to post on their JET Programme website! Neat! Granted, I failed that course with flying colours but it’s still an honour to be nominated (bats eyelashes).

LEIGH & STEVE
Other than that, in the first week of November I was visited by my friends Leigh and Steve. They had been in Kyushyu (a southern area separate from the mainland, Honshyu, made up of nine prefectures) for a stint and were returning to say goodbye to their Tango-parents, the Yoshidas (and to me!) before returning to the United States via Nepal. Those two are what you might call, ‘globe-trotters’. When they were here, Natanya joined us for a weekend of onsen in Taiza, dining on udon in Miyazu, and general socializing with people around the town. I was really in awe of how many people Leigh had come to know in her two years here in Tango, and I have to admit I was a bit envious at how many people wanted to see her before she left. I live here and I don’t think half that many people want to see me! Ah well, it was nice driving around in the last of the warm weather. It was very sad saying goodbye to them after our last supper together at the Yoshidas. I was really grateful to get to see the Yoshidas again because Kumi has been in and out of the hospital with some sort of colon cancer. She seems smaller and has lost a considerable amount of weight, but she looks really happy and healthy and it’s a huge relief. I came home that night to find out that my computer had gone into an iComa and wouldn’t wake up!

FIELD TRIP
I spent one of the early Saturdays in November going on a field trip with my students to an area called “Umi-hoshi Park”, or ‘ocean star park’. We varnished wood that will soon be made into a water-wheel (but perhaps by different students) and went hiking in the autumn leaf-strewn mountain paths. It was really enjoyable to spend some time outside of school with my students, and they seemed interested in talking to me and actually have been ever since. I’m not a very outgoing person, and I tend to keep to myself, so it’s taken me awhile to warm up to the students I teach… but now it’s a really nice feeling to walk amongst them without feeling like an outsider to the extent I was feeling it before. We can’t all be that ALT who jumps around shouting in broken Japanese and making friends, can we! Due to the field trip’s bout of cold, rainy weather, I spent the following day sick in bed with a cold.

OSAKA & IMAC RECOVERY
I recovered enough to spend my day off going down to Osaka that Monday to meet Ian and to drop off my ailing desktop computer at the only apple store in the area. I took the highway bus, which was considerably easy. Natanya was kind enough to house me in Kaya so I could catch my bus from nearby her house. Ian and I had lunch and caught up over coffee after my computer was dropped off. We then spent a frantic hour searching for my bus terminal. I had foolishly not paid attention to where the bus had left me off, and it turns out that there are about 5 bus terminals in and around Osaka/Umeda Stations… so in the nick of time we found a bus guy who knew where our terminal was and we ran for it. I got there 6 minutes before my bus left and there was no time for beer, which was very disappointing. However it was great to have Ian along to keep me calm when I was certain I would not only miss my bus, but have no other way of getting home that night. I slept very well when I finally made my way home that night, and the highway bus was extremely relaxing because I zoned out and listened to NPR podcasts for the 2 and a half hours we drove through the dark highway. Osaka is far too big; lesson learned.

RECITATION CONTEST
The following week was crunch time for the Recitation Contest, in which students from junior high schools in the Yosano District compete for fabulous prizes (coloured folders and a certificate) by reciting stories from their text book in English. As it was last year, I didn’t entirely understand what curriculum the judges were basing their decisions on, but the students were all very good! My two groups of first year students both brought home coloured folders as did my third year student. My second years, who were sadly not recipients of coloured folders, were disappointed but satisfied with their performances, which was fine by me. It was also really nice to see some of the other teachers in the area who look like they’ve early settled into Tango, which is also a relief. Tango is certainly less social than it was last year, for better or for worse. It seems like everyone has small groups of about 2-3 people that they cling to. I am included in this pattern with Kate and Natanya, so it’s nice to see other ALTs with their students from time to time. After the contest, I drove down to Kyoto to pick up Brendan and Kevin from Kyoto Station. However I hd gotten the times mixed up and had to kill 6 hours around Kyoto. I spent 4 of those hours studying in a Starbucks across the street from the station. Afterwards, I met up with Rachel2 and Ian and we ate fruits on the steps of the station and looked out at the 50 foot tall Christmas tree and all of its pretty coloured lights. At times like this, I have no arguments with X-mas decorations going up on November 1st. I met Brendan and Kevin and drove them home in my tiny car.

BRENDAN AND KEVIN VISIT JAPAN
Their visit was really nice! They were excellent house guests. They brought me loads of hand soap (it smells so good and feels so soft!) and more importantly they brought me Swiss chocolates and Kalhua! They ate all of my rice, which I couldn’t believe, but it was so nice having friends around and it was interesting hanging out with people who don’t have the same job I have for a change. One night they came with me to Honeycomb Café to meet Yasuka, a girl I had been in contact with through Toko and Kate. She was really awesome and the pairing of my two weirdo friends from college and a Japanese person I’d never met with before was really interesting. Yasuka sold me, Natanya and Kate tickets to the Nutcracker in early December (or the くるみ割り人形, the walnut-dividing doll).

That week, I took a day or two off to take Brendan and Kevin around the Tango Peninsula. I took them around my town and to meet all my 1st year students from Ine and Honjo Junior High Schools. The Ine students REALLY enjoyed how tall Kevin is. He kept hitting his head on the doorways. Then I took them to Amanohashidate, where they tried to see the dragon in the sky. I took them later on to Taiza and to the same onsen I’d gone to with Leigh. On that day it was snowing! We all got to be in our separate onsen in the snow, which was my first experience with something so very stereotypically Japanese. Sadly no monkeys… although Brendan and Kevin did manage to see a group of Ine monkeys by the temple on the hill.

Eventually I went down to Kyoto to join up with the boys and to hang out with the Kyoto-ites at the monkey café eating hamburgers and drinking leftover liquors in Rachel2’s house. The next day we high-tailed it on the shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo! Natanya joined us to balance out the gender imbalance.

TOKYO VISIT

Our first night in Tokyo we ate at a cool bar in Akihabara and did some over-priced karaoke. Everyone got pretty into it by the end, especially Brendan! Afterward we went back to our youth hostel and hopped in the indoor onsen before having a nice night’s sleep.

The next morning, Natanya and I went to the MoT (The Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art). It was a really fantastic museum! We walked around the permanent collection and saw all sorts of abstract but very enjoyable “art”. Our favourite was a phone booth with a disco ball and ipod installed into it. If you get into the booth and close the doors, all you can see are endless reflections of yourself. Then you’re meant to get into the music and dance to your heart’s content, while everyone outside the box can watch you and giggle. We deemed this the Boogiebox™ and were using it for about 25 minutes… there was also a video about two guys who caught an octopus and carried it around Tokyo so it could meet city folk and other octopi (octopod?). Everyone naturally wanted to eat it, but it escaped narrowly and was eventually returned to its home.

After postcard shopping, we went over to Shinjyuku and wandered around the crowded pedestrian areas looking at pretty neon lights and stores. Then we took a train to Harajyuku to buy Natanya some glitzy socks (I bought a hat that I will probably never wear!) We then joined the boys for a delicious and glutinous Chinese food dinner in Asakusa, where our youth hostel was.

Our last day in Tokyo was kind of a failure. We got up really early to see the fish market but either we got there too late or the fish market was really low key due to the federal holiday…
whichever the case, there were no fish to be found! We got up at 6:30am for NOTHING!!! After that Natanya and I went home and packed our things to go to Osaka and then home. I said goodbye to the boys and we stole their JR Passes so we could save money on our shinkansen home.
RETURN TO OSAKA
Osaka was PACKED. Natanya and I fought our way through the throngs of people and hopped a cab to the apple store where I picked up my computer. We had just enough time to get back to the hidden bus terminal (without too much trouble) and grab bagels and then our bus home. The bus was late and Yumi was waiting at Miyazu station to pick me up because she is my guardian angel. From her house, I picked up Kirby-kun and drove home, where I became sick for the second time this month (d’oh!).

EPILOGUE
The month isn’t over yet! We still have Thanksgiving at Natanya’s at the end of this week, but I think I’ll save that for another entry as this one has found it’s way into a novel. Until then, let us hope my immune system kicks in and the snow stays away for another month or two…

Hooray for Wood

In order to procure a day off on Monday to head down to Osaka to revive my poor iMac (it breaks annually!) I went on a school field trip to somewhere.

I didn't have any idea where we were going actually or what we would be doing! As it turned out we went to a little "world energy design park" in Hioki, the next town over from Ine. The bus ride was fun because the trees have turned all sorts of colours here and it was nice to be able to look at them instead of having to look at the road.

It was field trippy, which was a bit fun in itself. We were told about the park's design and how it's all about reusable energy (solar power and stuff). Then we were told they were building a water wheel for a little 'swiss chateau' (it was the size of a closet). So we got to work varnishing the wooden pices they would use to build it. There's a twinge of child labour in that, if you ask me. I mean... not chlid labour, learning. It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. It was really cold outside but I had my warm Rochester sweatshirt (from the airport, where sweaters were $30 instead of $60 on campus!)

Some first year girl said "your sweatshirt looks warm. Can I have it?" and I said "yeah you can, if you can read it." They couldn't. They froze.

Anyway while varnishing, I was adopted by two second year girls who have never talked to me before and we basically hung out for an hour and they asked me how to say stuff in English. This is the stuff that's supposed to happen more often to remind me of why I like my job! Although 50% of that is my fault because I hide in the teachers' room all day (IT'S WARMER).

We varnished things that will some day be an actual contraption. Although we may never live to see that day.

Then we went on a long hike in the hills and saw... hills! And a precariously placed tree house over a cliff full of small children. Japan is a generally precarious place for small children. No helmets on bikes, no seatbelts in cars. I mean kids are made of rubber so I can understand the lack of concern, but stiiiill, if you get HIT by a kid in the head it still leaves a bruise. That's all I'm saying. Aside from hills and autumn foliage, there was a wooden train that you could ride! But we didn't get to ride it, so we had to walk along the tracks instead. I felt rather cheated by the photos of laughing children on the fun wooden train. Laaaame. I guess this is what poor kids do on field trips -- skip the fun stuff and do the venue's chores (like varnishing and gardening). Just an observation.

I spoke to my English-speaker student K-chan and to the two teachers who secretly speak English but only when they are bored and I'm around H-sensei and I-sensei. It was kind of nice having to communicate as best I could in Japanese since my English teacher wasn't around today.

Also M-sensei (the hot one) completely disappeared after lunch. We decided that he'd gone to meet a secret lover in the forest. Wahahahaha.

Then we had lunch... and DAMN Japanese moms just love their kids more than American moms. I've never had such a spectacularly prepared lunch (aesthetically). It's retarded how nice their lunches were... and I felt ashamed of my peanut butter and banana sandwich on cold toast that I'd thrown together mere hours before. However they thought it was 'cool'. Because they don't know better.

After lunch we went into the woods and cut small shoots of bamboo and collected them for 90 minutes. That's all we ever did with the bamboo and I have absolutely no idea why.

Then we made dragonflies out of construction paper and drew on a piece of wood. I guess all the visiting schools do it. So my kids wrote out things in random kanji and laughed hysterically at it. Presumably it was funny! I meanwhile, when prompted, simply wrote "Hooray for Wood!" and felt accomplished.

Now I am at home curled up in blankets because it's freezing and I am probably going to get a terrible cold from being out in the cold air for so long... oh well! Too bad this will be the busiest weekend EVER. Next adventures may include a bus ride to Osaka and having nothing to do for 6 hours on a Monday in a city.

Think about what you're tryin' to do to me~

Woooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I've ever felt prouder of the people of my native country! Well done, you guys!!!! I'll never doubt you again. D'aww... come here, I feel prepared to hug you.

I am in the ruralest of rural Japan, far away from polls and TV and people down the street (who speak English). I got all my updates from people text messaging me from the US (oh... technology)... but I thought that my circumstances made these fairly historical moments more interesting, so here goes.

I found out that Obama had all the electoral votes he needed as I was eating omuraisu (omelet stuffed with rice and vegetables and smothered in ketchup... Japanese cuisine!) and I shouted "WOO!!!" in front of my eating coworkers. Then I explained to them the "woo-worthy" circumstances and they agreed that Obama was good. Mostly b/c his name translates so perfectly into Japanese!

To my greater shock, Virginia went democrat??? Oh my GOD! I was blown away! I had expected exactly the opposite! Well done to every Virginian who voted at the polls or through absentee. I am thankful to you, and unfortunately cannot claim the same victory since I registered to vote in New York state and my vote has never mattered! hehe. Anyway it must feel good that your vote DID matter. REALLY did. yaaaay!!!

The sky seemed bluer today as I joined the students and teachers to take the flowers out of the flower beds along the road and fertilize them to keep the soil fresh through the winter (it's coming!) we found many interesting bugs, mushrooms and a large frog.

After school (still in a VERY good mood) I went to calligraphy class and made a half assed attempt at doing a large paper thingie for my parents for x-mas. Afterwards I hopped in my car and began the 15 minute car ride through the dark deserted roads home. During this drive, a song came on the radio: "Think" by Aretha Franklin. Boogy-ing down the dark road, Aretha belted out her chorus,

"Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freeeedoooom --oooOoohh FREEDOOOOM!"

and I just BURST into tears. I don't think I had allowed myself to feel the extent of my relief and happiness. I rolled down the windows, turned up the radio and screamed "WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!!!" to all the trees and empty fields that would listen.

This is big! This is one of those big moments that you gotta reach out and hug because you're only alive for so many big GOOD moments in history and the high only lasts for so long!

This is big for our country, big for our health care system (I hope), for our economy, for our children, for our grandparents, for civil rights, for equality, for international relations (lord knows we need them to be better), for war, for peace, for boys and girls and men and women and this is big for me.

So go do yourself a favour (oh hell, favor) and scream "woohoo!" into an empty field.

Hell. yeah.

Rachel

New Friends.

A few nights ago I went to bed. As I laid my glasses upon the "nightstand" (aka: my window sill) I ran into this guy:

a Kamemushi (stink bug to you or me, but a turtle bug in Japanese). I let out an involuntary noise of surprise and disgust and hid it under lid of an old cookie tin.

Then yesterday I found this guy. A cave cricket/camel cricket/ sand cricket. Gross cricket.

My first concern was that he was on the second floor of my house. Eep.



My second concern is that the main predator of these yucko-crickets are these:




and we all know how much I love these. . .

God save me.

"It's the time for leaves to change their colours", Daniel said.

I go between feeling like I want to live in Honjo and Ine for the rest of my life and wishing I were living somewhere else right now. It's hard not to feel at peace when every day is beautiful despite the weather conditions and all the people are familiar and kind. Then I hear about other JETs "spontaneously getting together for dinner" and I feel that pinprick of jealousy that people live so close to each other that spontaneous get-togethers are an option. This has officially not been an option for me for the past year and 2 months. I don't think I'll ever get that used to it, even though I've learned to deal with things alone.

I am however REALLY good at being on my own now. I don't know if that's a "JET Programme life lesson" or something I just happened to be in the right place and right time for. For instance yesterday I finished the Ganbatte Times and I was so pleased with the issue that I jumped up and danced around my house. Self-satisfaction is one of the few things nobody can take away from me -- and I don't have it as much as I used to (like when I was in school).

Anyway onto proper blogging;

This week was interesting. I was expecting it to be dull due to standardized testing, but it turned out that only one of my schools had it so I only had a half-day of no classes. Which... come to think of it is like any ordinary day I'm at school! At Honjo JHS I joined the 1st year girls (of which there are 5) for some pinning and tumbling as they learned the basics of judo. It was really funny and there was a LOT of young Japanese girl shrieking. The highlight of that day was watching the 60 year old gym teacher tackle Minami, a 60 pound 12 year old girl.
I spent most of my days at Ine JHS this week staying until 6:30. On one day it made me forget completely about going to my calligraphy class... and I wasn't reminded of it until some 3rd year boys asked me the next day in English "did you go to shuji yesterday?" and I turned red and said "Ah!!! Wasurechatta!" Which means "Oh CRAP I completley forgot." They had a good laugh about that, and I made up for it on Thursday! In fact on the way to shuji that night I saw my very first tanuki! I guess before I had thought I'd seen a tanuki and even took a picture of it... but on second glance it was only a badger and I had gotten carried away with excitement. However I now know that Honjo also has badgers living in its forests. Neat!

Anyway the tanuki. I was driving up the hill in the dark to Kamitsuji-sensei's home and saw the neighbour cat sitting in the road like it does. But it was not the neighbor cat, it was way too fat and not orange. Then I realized it was too large in general to be any sort of cat. About the size of a small Labrador retriever, perhaps. It looked up at me and I found myself looking into the beady eyes of a very fat, fuzzy, adorable tanuki. Hot damn! And it was only 4 feet away! I didn't bother fishing for my camera, I just wanted to look at it as long as possible because it was SO cute. But it then sense that my car would have the ability to squish it, and decided to run away. But... it's hard for fat squishy creatures to flee at a rapid pace. So instead, tanuki-chan decided to squeeze into a rain gutter. A cat would have no trouble with this... but a pooh-bear shaped cat might. Tanuki-chan had to squeeeeze itself into the rain gutter, finding the most trouble doing so with its rotund behind. Instantly images of "Winnie the Pooh" danced throughout my head as I began to laugh. Finally, it managed to squeeze into the rain gutter and I continued on my way.

I made sure to check that it wasn't stuck in there on my way back. What an amazing little animal...

Other than that, Kirby and I are enjoying the fall weather. It's warm enough to feel happy and energized in the day and cold enough in the mornings to snuggle. Kirby even sleeps on my lap like he used to when he was littler. Yay!

I also taught my students an important expression in English during recitation contest practice this week, "I am like a proud mama." Because Ikumi can pronounce the "ou" sound (sound, found, round etc) and ... well... I am like a proud mama.

My laundry enjoys the warm sunny autumn day...

Over and out.

Now when I write Japan seems less strange… which is strange.

Now when I write, Japan seems less strange… which is strange.

September 15th until September 21st

“I was looking at his myspace … so … his space?”
Yumi’s incredible English never ceases to amaze me. This month she told me I was the “only gaijin she trusts”… which felt less Donnie Brasco and more kindly and sincere in person. Dinners with her have become less “dinner with my Japanese friend who speaks really good English” and more “dinner with my amazing friend.” For that I am thankful.

In other news at Honjo Jr. High School, Mr. Notani (noted Japanese teacher of English/live-action cartoon) is also a secret opera singer. He practiced singing with some of the students for the up-and-coming culture festival and nobody could hold back their amusement for his strange yet carrying vocal abilities. When a 3rd year finally said “Notani-sensei, umai!” (Mr. Notani, you the bomb-diggity) it was settled.

These days my incredible abilities as a dusty AET have increased to that of a pronunciation coach, which I so enjoy. Correcting the r/l/th/d/t sounds is my true calling, surely. However, it’s nice to get to know my misfit 3rd years at Ine a little more as I coach them for their 暗唱 (recitations, I think) at their culture festival. I can see the absurdity wash over their face as they pronounce “man” (like Stan) instead of “man” (like fawn). But you know what? THAT’S JUST HOW ENGLISH IS DEAL WITH IT. Kaai has proven to be a fun person to coach yet again for this year’s recitation contest. She really GETS what she’s saying and takes direction well. She is really a fabulous kid, and I hope she gets to travel extensively after working so hard in school so she can practice her English and have European love affairs!

As for my own participation in the Culture Festival this year, it fortunately involves NO KIMONO and NO SELF-INTRODUCTION. If I have my way, I will never wear a kimono again. That aside, I have compiled a large poster of a years work of my shuji from my first calligraphy attempts like 日本(Japan) to my latest attempts like 運転免許(driver's license) ／紫陽花 (hydrangea) etc. They look OK. At Ine JHS I am being forced to participate in the teacher’s 劇 (geki, or play). I have two lines in Japanese and I play the fisherman’s wife (the fisherman being played by the aging science teacher, what a catch!) I think I’d probably rather die than be in this play, but I suppose deep down it’s nice to be included. (That’s a lie.)

The later I stay for these recitation contest, recitation practice, teacher play practice, busy-in-general afternoons… I start to really wonder, “do these students ever go home?” The answer is no. Home is the enemy. Spare time is for communists. Family love and time spent together bred the Holocaust. Thank the kami-sama the Japanese know better. That only sounds bitter because it was written bitterly.

Adding to that, I am a bit bitter. Not in an actual way, but in a way that most 2nd year AETs probably get. There’s only so much time you can spend in Japanese countryside saying “wow Japanese culture is SO DIFFERENT – they eat so much seaweed and rice and they take their shoes off OFTEN! And look how small and cute they are and how hard they work!” Yeaaaah that’s so over. The droning, grizzled “good morning” in the office… the busy-bee teachers what swarm around me, the unknowing, uncaring (OVER-PAID) English fixture in the corner. The pay is starting to feel heavy with guilt. So very heavy. But knowing that I want to do a good job helps and knowing that I want to go on to do this as a real job and not a made-up half-job is inspiring as well. Soon enough, Rachel, soon enough.

The bitterness was interrupted when I was slicing up paper to make elementary school karuta (a game where kids smack each other in the face to win stickers) and a suzumebachi (big EFFING bee) flew through the window and into my face. I was physically thrown back. I think they weigh as much as a tonka truck and are a bit more frightening to be hit in the face by. I survived, and I think the giant bee did as well. Good times. You know, cuz it could have killed me. This brings me onto my next bug story – the biggest moth ever. I can’t believe how large moths can grow. I had one much larger than my hand land on my porch window. I wish I had taken a picture because it was totally awesome to look at. I also have no idea how it got through SPIDER VILLAGE™ (蜘蛛村) that was secretly built outside my 2nd story porch when I least expected it. At least 5 giant spiders live out there and their webs cascade like a mosquito net of terror across my balconey. I should start charging admission or rent or something. Mooching spiders.

Other than that, things like sports festival, hanging out in Yagi and up in Ine with people, playing dominoes, drinking a lot of rum, and enjoying the new bed that I finally bought have been good additions to my life this month. I apologize, I think that was the longest sentence ever.

Compiling and distributing the Ganbatte Times (a newsletter for the JET people in the prefecture) has given me something to do during my spare time at school or at home. I’m pretty excited about it being a monthly item on my ‘to-do’ list. I am even more excited that high-speed internet is coming to my small town in December.

FINALLY. FI-NA-LLY. OH. MY. GOD. I won’t even go into how much of me has died without the capability to communicate over video chat, watch movies/TV online, or do anything that I had become accustomed to in my last decade spent in the US and Europe. Anyway, yay internet! Let’s hope they are not lying.

That’s all for me. And all for the rice. It has been harvested, now the ground is sad and brown and bracing itself for the cold that we are overdue for. My sweaters are armed and ready.

Long time, no write

Long Time, No Write.
July 14th – September 1st

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN IN ABOUT TWO OR THREE MONTHS… for that I apologize. It’s not that there wasn’t a lot to write about, it’s more that I’ve spent the past two or so months being broke, being busy, and being boring. The three B’s of my summer.
AFTER MY SISTER LEFT JAPAN, things calmed down. I had no more trips planned and I was looking forward to the summer holiday where school would pause and I would move down to Kyoto City to take part in an expensive and intensive Japanese language course. As school slowed down, I was feeling less and less like I wanted to be a part of it. The hours seemed to be growing longer, rather like the summer days. As the heat penetrated the thin walls of my house and workplace, I was feeling the beginnings of cabin fever. By the time mid-July rolled around and it was time to move South for the Summer, I was ready

The apartment

MY SUMMER AWAY FROM INE began around July 13th. I drove down to Yagi where I left my car for multiple days (and on more than one occasion). Good ol free parking… I dragged my suitcase and coffee machine all the way to my ridiculously far away area called Takaragaike/宝ケ池 (the lake of treasures). My dorm room was small but had all the necessities; an Air Conditioner (hallelujah!), a mini-fridge, burner, desk, microwave, faux-closet, faux-bathroom, and a television. I felt at home in such a small space since I’ve been feeling for the past few months (ever since my absence of my sister and family) that my house is just too damn big for one person (and one weasel). My empty nest syndrome began to subside, although I was missing Kirby like crazy. I met my neighbour, Nina, who was very sweet and very good-looking. After many failed attempts to introduce her to Ian (for karma/booty purposes), she and I became bus-buddies and made small talk in the internet lounge while I helped her do her homework (and procrastinated my own).


THE NEXT WEEK, Leigh moved into my house. This was a great relief to the both of us as she was doing me the huge favour of watching my house and pet while I was gone. Although it may have been a relief for Leigh to have a place to put her unpacked belongings, I don’t think the distance did her any favours. In any case, she no longer lived in her house of two years, and I no longer lived in the inaka. It was a weird week for everyone.

BACK IN KYOTO FOR MY SECOND WEEK, I took Megan on board. Megan who had been my only true contact outside of the two-facedness of my year in Tango… Megan who had been my senpai, my teacher, and my friend. I’ll be honest, after three days of spending money I didn’t have, staying out late and ignoring my studies (why did I pay $800 for language class again? Certainly not to study), I was really ready for Megan to leave when the morning came. Not happy, but certainly not upset. She was ready to go home, and I was ready to get back to my temporary life.


HOWEVER, BY MY THIRD WEEK in Kyoto I was crippled with depression. Megan was gone. She wasn’t gone forever – hell she moved to Seattle, so it’s not like this is quits for us, but… she was gone. And Megan had been the best part of my past year in Japan. Without Megan I would never have found all the cool places in Kyoto, I would never have learned what “purikura” truly is, and I would never have had a warm home away from home during the long winter when I felt I had no one else in the world. For me it was impossibly hard to admit that my world was basically broken now that she was gone. After all, I still had good friends in Kyoto! Lauren, Greg and Ian weren’t going anywhere! Plus Leigh was still at my house in Ine – why was I so sad? Why was I so set on not making a single friend at my language school? Why was suddenly for the first time in 11 months feeling like I was the least extraordinary human being ever to walk the face of this fine earth? It hit me like a bus.

BY MY FOURTH WEEK IN KYOTO, I was ready to go home. Home to Ine. I wasn’t sure if I was going to feel happy back in the inaka after all the swank city living… but I also hadn’t done too much swank city living! Fortunately for my sanity, Ian hung out with me a LOT after Megan left. We did cultural activities like going to a museum, walking aimlessly, and accidentally rolling our beers into the Kamo River (well, that was mostly me). We talked a lot about non-Megan related things; Japanese, the newcomer AETs, and Ian’s girl problems. It was refreshing! It seemed like July and August were passing in a flash and I wasn’t even sure what I wanted out of JET or Japan anymore.

MY LAST WEEKEND IN KYOTO I ditched the class’ sayonara party to go up to my house for one day to help Leigh and Steve move out of it. It took a VERY long time – much longer than expected. It involved a lot of sweating, driving around, shipping boxes, and keeping Leigh and Steve hydrated and alive (I don’t think they had slept in days because they had been so busy saying goodbye to everyone they’d ever met in Tango). Despite the exhaustion, it was a really good thing to go back and hang out with the two of them one last time before they would leave Kyoto Prefecture for Kyushyu. I don’t’ think I had anticipated the emptiness I now feel without Leigh. She was a true friend, and without her my times in Tango would have been even bleaker. They dropped me off at Ayabe station and I began my intensely long and awful journey back to my too-far-away-for-no-reason apartment and then met up with Lauren and Ian for beer at the river. I was in the worst mood of my life by the time I met them – but they cheered me up with McDonald’s and booze. We then met up with my coworkers for international karaoke – not to be missed. They really like U2 in Italy.

MY VERY LAST NIGHT in Kyoto was spent in a big crowd of sweaty, distressed and camera-toting Japanese tourists. We had gathered to watch Daimonji (large, lit up kanji on the hills of Kyoto to help guid the spirits from Obon back to Heaven). It was NOT worth it, but it was nice to hang out with Ian and his two friends from home for about 15 minutes before trudging off to meet Leigh and Steve for their last supper in Kyoto.

MY FINAL TRIP BACK HOME after moving out of my dorm was uneventful. However, as soon as I glimpsed the bright blue sparkling water that outlines the coast that I live on, I felt like it was a breath of fresh air. I had really forgotten how beautiful it was where I live, and I felt relieved to be home. I was less relieved to spend the evening fixing my toilet and mopping up the floor, but there’s probably karma in there somewhere. I DID squish a lot of bugs in my Kyoto apartment.


SINCE THEN, IT’S BEEN MEETING the new JET participants. This has involved multiple trips down to Kyoto for conferences, beer gardens, and mingling. I even gave a speech about living in the countryside of Japan, which didn’t go over as poorly as I had anticipated. I kicked a chair by accident, but nobody was severely injured. It was strange and new being a “senpai”, but I was happy to feel knowledgeable for the first time since senior year of college. I’m quite burnt out from all the “newbie” activities, but it’s nice to be on the “old” side of things instead of the “new and sparkly” side. The wide-eyed JET thing got pretty old for me pretty fast, and now I can sit back and relax for the next 12 months before I leave. So, kanpai to that.

UNTIL THE START OF THE SECOND SCHOOL TERM, I was still feeling an on and off depression about losing all of my friends, forcing myself to be social with people I don’t really know, and finding time to do all the laundry I had produced after about 3 weeks of NOT doing any. Thankfully school has resumed and now I feel like I can get back to my life, as unorganized as it may be. My September goal really should be organizing my house, life, and daily habits … but probably I’ll just watch all the TV shows that are coming back on itunes. I’m an admittedly imperfect person. [TV PROMO PICS]

THERE’S MORE TO BE SAID, and there’s a lot I’ve left out… but I think that’s all you get for now.

PS – Kirby celebrated his first birthday! What would I do without him? Probably mop less…

kirby eats ice cubes.

A haircut of destiny/chemical burns

As previously written in this blog, I had my hair cut at Vessel (where I was once before with a great haircut but a sort of tragic ending). This time I opted for a straight perm [by which I mean I was peer pressured into doing it by two Asians]. It ended up being a 3 hour long process. First my hair was washed. Next, smelly chemicals were applied bit by bit until my hair was covered in ‘beauty toxins’. Afterwards, another wash. After the second wash, my hair was painstakingly blown dry and ironed straight and shiny. This in itself took an hour! After my hair looked fabulous, they smothered it with chemicals again. Of course this was followed with a third wash, a second blow drying, and VOILA – straight perm achieved! I am pleased with the result so far. I find it’s hard to mess up my hair at this point. We’ll see how it keeps up as the summer months roll along.

I had also spent most of the day hanging out with Yumi and her high school buddy Helen (a Canadian-Korean 16 year old who was hysterical). Helen was telling us all about the trouble she’d get into by hanging out with BOYS at the ARCADE after SCHOOL! Japanese schools are so damned strict, I had no idea!!! I didn’t know you could get in trouble for hanging out with the opposite sex outside of school grounds and outside of school times! “Babel” has led me astray.

Gaijin muck around, plant rice

I joined Leigh, Ray, Steve, Claire, Ruth and Masami Yoshida for some good old fashioned rice planting this weekend. The steps are simple: roll up pants, put on a ridiculous hat, take off your shoes, stand knee deep in mud/creatures and shove some rice plants in the ground. Masami had already planted about 99% of the rice with a tractor or machine of some sort and the group of us were just filling in the holes that the machine had missed. There isn’t much more to tell, but it was one of those experiences where you stop mid-way between your task to think, “Wow I’m planting rice in Japan – it doesn’t get any zanier than that does it?” I would also stop every few minutes to think about how many tadpoles, swimming centipedes, snails and general creepy crawlies [including spiders that walk on water] were flitting around my ankles. I didn’t like it when I had those thoughts, but they were frequent. The guys got REALLY into it (along with Leigh… and even Claire for that matter!) I, on the other hand, was more of a well-wisher and enjoyed the experience without ever wanting to do it again. We finished off the evening with a feast at the Yoshidas, and I quickly fell into a food coma.
The next morning I met Yuuki and we went to the Sakura Park in Honjo/Tsutsukawa for the sports challenge day. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just a bunch of kids playing baseball (Honjo won because the teams tied so they janken’d for it!), PTA games, and eventually a long walk around the Tsutsukawa area. I think it was about 8km, they said. Yuuki and I put on our number jerseys and set out with the entirety of Honjo Elementary school girls on our walking adventure! It was very very very hot. I blew through two bottles of water within the hour and a half we were outside. We also saw a million rice patties, old houses, birds, bugs, and even a snake in the grass! Eek! Afterwards Yuuki and I went to eat FAMOUS SOBA at the Urashima Shrine Park in Honjo across from my house. Good eatin’. We then were too lazy to do anything else the whole day and went home to nap for all eternity.

Rachel is prodded in the eye for medical purposes.

My sister had left the country, which consequently left me with about 60,000 yen to my name and 3 weeks until pay day. I decided to ignore my lack of funds and take a trip down to Fukuchiyama with Yumi with the sole purpose of finding me new glasses.

The optometrist in Japan was not unlike the ones I’ve been to in the States. There’s a waiting room, a receptionist, and lots of weird eyeball attachments within the office itself. The differences however were also quite numerous. The first being that Yumi and I waited to be seen for almost two hours. During this time we had to watch a British war movie set in Africa from the 1970’s. Roger Moore was in it! The receptionist had lost the paper I had filled out about my medical history etc. When we re-wrote the information, she promptly placed my form in the back of the queue. I believe that’s why we waited two hours. I wasn’t terribly pleased with how that went, but as Japan brings out the timid, non-complainer in me, I contently sat and waited for my (UNFAIR) turn.

I had my eyesight measured! They use C’s instead of E’s… I wonder how much of a difference it made! They discovered that I was as blind as I had previously mentioned, and started measuring my eyes for contact lenses. This somehow involved me being prodded in the eye with a queue tip and then immediately having my eyes rinsed in a glorified bedpan! I wasn’t used to that sort of thing, so it caught me off guard otherwise I may have instinctually fought it. Anyway, I had lenses fitted on me (contact and regular) and then set off to the glasses shop next door to pick out new frames.

It was a bit emotional having to say goodbye to my old glasses frames… I think I had had them on the bridge of my nose since I was 18 or 19 years old. However, I picked out ones that essentially looked the same (to this day nobody has noticed them). So, in all it was a happy ending!

I should also note that Yumi and I went to eat ramen, and that it was tasty!

Laura visits Nippon 2K8

ロロ・日本

My sister came to Japan! I feel like it was the highlight of my entire time here so far. My sister and I as many of you know are very close... we may even be BFF. So, having her here made for an AWESOME two weeks and two days in Japan.

On Laura's first full day in Japan, she came to Ine Elementary School. She did a small self introduction at the beginning of the classes and answered some questions (they weren't very many). Other than that, she watched the kids play games indoors and out and we all had lunch together with the first and second graders! I think she had a good time -- and it was definitely more fun for me having another person in on the jokes I feel surround me 99% of the time.




We went around Ine and Honjo as per usual, hitting up the regular joints: Urashima Shrine and the udon restaurant, Ikari Farm, the Wind Turbines between Ine and Yasaka, and the boat houses. Naturally, I took Laura out to Amanohashidate as well so she could look through her legs and see something resembling an upside-down island. Or a dragon. You decide!









On our first weekend, we hung around the Tango Peninsula, which included getting lunch, playing video games, and sleeping in. However, on Sunday we braved a badly planned trek to Tottori. 10 hours of transit time, 35 minutes on the dunes. We are so HARD CORE EXTREEEEME. Here are proof pictures. That day finished off with a very late dinner at Tenten in Mineyama. Poor us. We also hit up Sora, an ice cream farm with baby cows and pretty flowers on the premises! Ice cream makes hard core treks more hard core, after all.

Laura -- after about 10 hours on trains and in the car -- ready for action!

I also took Laura to Tokyo! This was equally exciting for me because I'd never ventured out much when I first arrived in Japan last July... I was too jet lagged! So we stayed near Ueno Park and got to the zoo, the aquarium (near Disneyland -- Laura wouldn't let me go), and we hopped around to Harajuku for a bit of shopping. Tokyo is too big... and because of it I felt like there were too many places to go but not enough reasons to go to any of them! Still, the hotel was fun and we had some fast internet, which is always a vacation for me!

Rachel is a bear.

A seal at the Ueno Zoo!
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Laura finds someone to love.

Laura gearing up for Harajuku. And a boss good time.

We crashed at Megan's for the night after getting back from Tokyo. We also hit up Osaka for a few hours to grab some Okonomiyake!

Some Osaka for some Cabbage Pancakey goodness

I have the laziest ferret in the universe.

The next day we headed to Nara: home of the sacred deer and the BIG BUDDHA. Also, Laura informed me, the biggest wooden structure in the world. Take THAT, Trojan Horse! The deer were cute -- even though it was raining for most of the day. The Big Buddha was awesome and I picked up some chocolate mochi for my co-workers/self on the way back!

Laura and Big Buddha make friends

At last -- one with nature! Laura's lifetime goal of being Pocahontas is realised!

We came home to Honjo for only two days before heading off to Kyoto. The first day we sort of walked around aimlessly because most of the attractions/sight seeing areas were closed by the time we got done with Amanohashidate and drove into the city. We saw the pet store though, and hung out with Amy, Ian, Megan and Greg at some random izakaya near Nijo. Why did we do this? Because it was LAURA'S 20TH BIRTHDAY! WOAH! We had a good time.

Amanohashidate -- now the OTHER side!

Laura rings in her 20th year of life by drinking ALL the beer.

Birthday onigiri was in order!

The next day we went WEST to Hiroshima. Here we saw the very heavy yet educational museum of Hiroshima. The Peace Park was really beautiful and rather upbeat; the Children's Memorial definitely being my favourite. We also got HOUNDED by elementary schoolers. It seems like all of Honshu was on a field trip to Hiroshima because we got interviewed/acosted by about 7 different groups! We got asked our names and home countries and afterward we had to sign their school books and take pictures with them. Fantastic!!! It really lightened the mood of the day, which was nice because we were only there for a few hours and all of them were hot and humid.

We finished up the vacation by playing wii and watching cartoons in the hotel with Megan after a dinner of Indian food and parfait (too much parfait). We also did some pretty excellent purikura which I may or may not bother to put up in the future. Oh yeah, we also saw Ginkakuji (the silver pavillion), the Philosopher's Walk, Nijo Castle, the Imperial Gardens and all the cool spots in the city.

I like a parfait!

Man. Dropping Laura off this morning was really sad because I'll miss her, but ... we did a LOT. It's hard to feel bad about a vacation when it was productive and awesome simultaneously. Still, I feel rather lonely being back in the house by myself. What can ya do.