Memoirs of a White Chocolate Geisha

There and Back Again

2009-07-31T17:00:00.003+09:00

本庄〜またね！

Well, I'm home now! That is to say I'm back in Seattle, Washington -- town of the needle that reaches SPACE and the 1962 transportation gift to mankind: the Monorail (you're welcome, world). I will no doubt face new adventures in this strange yet familiar land... such as unemployment, making friends, and reminding myself not to bow to Asian people I see on the street. This will take time.

The last few days in Honjo were spent huddling over my toilet and, in a way, letting my feelings out. Anxiety hit my stomach with a wave of vengeance such as the world had never seen. I spent my last Saturday night in Japan with a high fever, body aches, and nausea while Kate and Natanya , Champions of wellness and friendship, spoon-fed me ginger ale as we watched "Walk Hard" (which certainly didn't help my bout of illness).

I continued going to work, usually just for a few hours to talk to people, feel like the butterflies in my stomach were stabbing each other for drug-money with ice picks, and rushing home to finish packing and cleaning. On my last weekend, besides feeling ill, I shipped my two enormous suitcases to the airport via 空港サービス (airport service). Thank God for Japan -- my suitcases weighed 110 lbs together and there was no way I could have handled them by myself on the trains to the airport without the guardian angels of Kuroneko Yamato special delivery service. I also completed and handed out all of my gift bags, which were comprised of folded paper cranes and Hershey kisses thrown into adorably patterned plastic bags. I managed to gift these to 70 people -- おつかれさまでした!

On Sunday I felt well enough to drive down to Mineyama to have dinner with Megan, Kate, Eric and Yumi at Honeycomb and to ship my iMac desktop computer to the US via express delivery service. However, the delivery people, who usually deliver within Japan, wanted to charge me about $600 for their services, which I declined. I decided instead to use the FedEx/Kinko's in Kyoto city and save about $350 in doing so. Still, it meant I had another 25lb box to schlep down to Kyoto on my final day in Japan, which would not be fun.

Monday was a particularly sad day for me as I said goodbye to all four of my schools, my neighbours, and my entire Board of Education. I gave a speech, managed not to choke up, and left the building for the last time with Nishihara-san (my supervisor for two years who has done everything for me). We said some teary goodbyes and had a nice big hug and a final photo together. I sure will miss that lady.

I then sobbed, "DON'T FORGET ME INE~" while driving away from Ine and its beautiful boathouses and bay and continued my way South to Miyazu. I would spend the night at Yumi's family's house in hopes of finding comfort my last night with a familiar family. The Okkuda family showed me a great time! We watched Japanese game shows on TV while eating delicious steak and shrimp -- yum! Yumi's crazy mother then insisted that I take one of her "antique" vases as Japanese omiyage... though I feel that I was snookered into taking something she didn't really want anymore. Still, it's the thought. I then took a nice hot bath and curled up on a futon and watched cartoons with Yumi until we both fell asleep.

The following morning was another sad, teary, Japanese goodbye. The worst of all because it was a goodbye to YUMI. I can't imagine what my life would have been without her, but it would have been bleak and without dental appointments for certain. In any case it was completely awful and afterward she went to work and I drove to my car lease company to drop off dear Shadowfax the Car. The company owner was kind enough to drive me, my carry-on luggage, and my ridiculously large iMac computer to Mineyama station to meet Kate and her entourage of merry high school teachers for one last Tango goodbye.

A photo of Kate and Natanya at the Mineyama post office, sending their boxes home.

Kate and I hopped the train to Kyoto City, meeting up with Natanya along the way. It was nice to have a relaxing train ride before our final goodbye to Kate, who has gone back to Minnesota since. Natanya and I then wandered over to the FedEx/Kinko's and were successful in sending home my desktop computer. My arms were very thankful to relieve themselves of the bulky burden (ouch!). We then grabbed lunch at a really strange cafe -- the servers were all attractive young men and the patrons were nearly all middle-aged Japanese women. It was a bit eerie, but they served sparkling wine, so who were we to question their practices?

Natanya and I then returned to Kyoto station to seek out cheap and adorable souvenirs from Japan for our friends and family. I bought a lot of small handkerchief type presents as they were the only items I was able to squeeze into my ridiculous luggage. Who doesn't need a handkerchief, right? ...right?

The best part of the day was meeting Danielle and Lauren for ramen and beer at Kyoto station -- I hadn't seen Danielle in months and we talked more about her wedding next March in Colorado and about the house that she and her fiancé are having built. It's so exciting to hear about these things and it's nice to know that Danielle will continue living her life in Osaka and that I'll be able to stay in contact with her, and thus stay in contact with Japan.

Lauren, Natanya and I went to stay at Lauren's apartment for the night. We studied vocabulary in Lauren's GRE book (Avert your eyes, you captious braggart!) and hunkered down for the night watching some of Grey's Anatomy (THERE'S A BOMB IN THE PATIENT! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK!) It was my last night in Japan, but I managed to catch a few hours of sleep anyway.

The next several hours were uneventful. I went to the airport, picked up my enormous suitcases, managed to get them on the flight without paying extra, ended up in Seoul, Korea for five boring hours, hopped another flight to Seattle where I sat next to an elderly Korean man with the CONSUMPTION, and ended up in Zaydeh's condo on Alaskan Way. Yes, I realise that's all one sentence, but it feels like I did the whole thing in one big breath.

So now it's over (the blog and the flight and all that). I'm pleased and punch to be back in a familiar yet exciting area and I'm looking forward to what's happening next. So far, I've been helping Zaydeh look through Bubbeh's old things. Not that the things are necessarily old, but I suppose one starts calling things 'old' when somebody passes away. I'm not sure I agree with it. Let's just say, we're going through Bubbeh's "effects". That woman kept 5 can-openers and 5 sets of silverware. Don't even get me started on the margarita mug shaped like a cactus or the entire cabinet of paper plates. This is going to be fun.

So until I decide on what to call the next blog, このブロッグを読んでくれてありがとうございました。Thanks for reading my blog. It was fun to write, fun to look back on -- and I hope it was fun to read.

Rachel

Solar Eclipse : Moon eats Sun

2009-07-22T17:00:00.000+09:00

Yesterday there was a solar eclipse that we could see in Japan! I learned that the word for solar eclipse is 日食 -- the first kanji means sun, and the second kanji means 'to eat' or 'food'. So, I suppose that the meaning comes from the sight of the moon eating the sun. Delicious!
The students and teachers grabbed some nerd-glasses and were able to view the eclipse during the few sunny parts of the day. From the sound of it, most others in Kyoto couldn't see the eclipse through the cloud cover. Alas!
Anyway, it was neat. A lovely spectacle for my last day at Honjo JHS. I felt sad cleaning out my desk and taking my shoes out of their cubby, but I'll be seeing those folks on Friday for what will go down in enkai history as "the drinkiest day of all." Honjo JHS loves their beer.

After that I went home and finished up my "thank you presents" for people around my town and schools. I'm making each person an origami paper crane and throwing it in a plastic bag with some hershey kisses and hugs (thanks to my sister). It's not much, but I have 70+ people to thank, so I was thinking thriftily.

In the evening I drove to Sutenten in Iwataki to meet my friend Yasuka to have dinner with her. We only lasted an hour before we were both full and sleepy. It was nice to see her one on one again (usually I see her with a lot of other people around). I will certainly feel the sting of leaving all my Japanese friends. Boo.

Penultimate

2009-07-21T17:00:00.004+09:00

These two weeks have been very busy and I've had to say goodbye to a lot of things that have been constants in my life for two years now. To name a few; schools, calligraphy, Ian and Kirby.
I've visited both of my junior high schools and elementary schools and read speeches that skim the surface of how I feel, but in Japanese that I can manage (which matters to me!) I received colourful cards from all of my schools, some with photographs, and all of them with notes from the students. It was a really perfect gift for me. The elementary schools sang me songs and the junior high schoolers read English speeches, which I was surprisingly touched by hearing. It's hard not to remember what those students looked like two years ago when they were all much smaller and less brave.

Classes have gone on summer holiday, and now all there's left to do is wait out the week, pack up the rest of the house, and go to Seattle.

Ine JHS couldn't find a free day to go out to dinner with me, so they threw me a farewell lunch on the last day of school. We gathered in the Principal's office and toasted with cups of tea and bentos. Then the staff sang me a surprise English song -- oddly, Edelweiss. Broom and glow forever.

On Friday I had a farewell party with the staff from the Board of Education (9 of us in all). We went out to a pretty izakaya in Nodagawa with a koi pond in the back and suggestively-shaped pudding on the menu (which we ordered, naturally). Mrs. Nishihara, my supervisor for two years, gave a short speech, followed by a slightly less short speech by the Head of the BOE. They gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a card with the Japanese hina-sama (dolls) on it, and a mug made by Ine's own potter, Mrs. Kura. The handle is a fish! Afterward there was drinking and story-telling and we went home considerably early since it was an exhausting week.

The following morning, I drove with Kate and Natanya down to Kyoto City to take Kirby to the ferret adoption agency in Nagoya. Natanya, champion of friendship and love, came with me for moral support. We took the shinkansen to Nagoya station and met up with a unique-looking Japanese woman, Ms. Ishihara. She took Kirby and all of his documents and gave me a BIG hug and left with him. As I watched her carrying him away, I burst into tears. I think that all the stress from leaving plus saying goodbye to so many people plus losing my pet, the only thing that's really kept me from going insane in my house, was more than I could bear at that moment.

However, I had planned for this outburst of emotion and Natanya and I immediately changed into party dresses for the long, local train ride back. We briefly explored the area around Nagoya station and were disappointed but how unexciting the post office was. We did however find a lot of cheap wine in the department store basement. By the time we arrived at Kyoto station in the afternoon, we were delightfully smashed. This helped me feel less empty since I was coming back without Kirby's travel cage.

We met Ian and Kate at Nijo station and went for a quick dinner at a ramen shop near the movie theatre. Then, after meeting up with Lauren, we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which received mixed reviews from the group. I personally enjoyed it. Following this, I fell into a sleepy/sad stupour and we wandered over to a nearby bar for drinks and french fries until about 1am, by which time we went to bed in various locations.

The next morning I took a bus to meet Lauren at the Kyoto Station Starbucks to hang out for a bit and say goodbye. We talked about how it's hard for things to feel as definite as "I'll never see this person again" because of facebook and twitter and skype and g-chat. That helped us both feel better, I think.

After a hearty Hawaiian hug, I took off for Kameokoa to say goodbye to Laurel and eat donuts at Mister Donut! It was really nice to see her again, and I'm pleased that she'll be taking over the Ganbatte Times newsletter for me as well. Rachel2, Natanya, Ian and Kate then showed up in Kameoka and we drove up to Ine together after saying goodbye to Laurel.

The last hurrah in Ine was exactly what I needed so as not to feel awful about coming home to an empty, ferret-less house. Instead, the lot of us cooked up a curry and played dominoes until the wee hours. Cake was thrown, wine was spilled, and allergies were developed -- a perfect evening.

Ian would soon teach Kate how to throw a punch. Kate would soon take a Benadryl and pass out.

The next day after a leisurely breakfast we all walked over to the Tsutsukawa Buddha statue and followed giant crayfish down the gutters. We also spotted a lot of tiny frogs (some with tails still) sitting on the hydrangea bushes!

Can you find the frog?

After the walk it was time to say goodbye, so I gave Rachel2 and Ian some big hugs, we took photos, and off they went. I'm not sure when I'll see them next, but I feel optimistic it will be sooner than later.

Today I went to my last shuji (calligraphy) class with Mrs. Kamitsuji and the junior high school students. When my daily calligraphy was done, Kamitsuji-sensei presented me with some binders of all the work I've done in 2 years and a letter from her. I was really touched, and saying goodbye to her and that class and that room is something that I'm still having trouble with. That seems more forever than saying goodbye to JETs. On my way out, some of my elementary school students gave me some plums from their garden and I drove home feeling overwhelmed with happiness.

Yep, that's right -- I feel happy, not sad. I can easily say that some of the worst days of my life have been in Japan. And working on the JET Programme hasn't exactly been a dream job or a career path for me... but I feel so fortunate that I got to live here for two years that I can't help but feel happy instead of sad. I learned Japanese calligraphy, I've watched the rice in its circle of life, I've seen frogs and snakes and eagles and boar and tanuki. I've become conversational at a language I never really set out to learn. I've fallen in love with teaching. Really, I've fallen in love with life. I think Ine will always be the place where I learned how to be a person, and I learned how to be accountable for things other than myself. There's no amount of bad days that can reverse that experience, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

This blog will soon draw to a close, but it will always be here to remind me of all the memories I've had these two years. There's just not enough room in my heart and in my head to keep it all inside, so I'm glad that I've written it down where it can't be erased.

So, in this last week of living in Japan and living in Ine specifically, I'm going to take the good. I'm not going to accept the sadness, but I'm going to hold onto the profound gratitude that I've been feeling ever since it sank in that I'm going onto a different kind of future. So in the end, I really think it's going to be OK.

Farewell, Bike!

2009-07-06T17:00:00.001+09:00

I sold my bike! The Yasaka JET, Megan (Leigh's successor) offered to pay me for my lovely, Dr. Pepper can-coloured bicycle! Hooray! So, she drove the long road up to Ine and I introduce her to her new fly ride.

After re-homing a few rogue spiders, we pushed the bike over to her kei-car SUV and tried to put it inside, failing spectacularly! We would need a wrench to take the front tire off the bike... but where could we find one?

A-ha! Surely the gas station would have a wrench. Don't cars have bolts or whathaveyou? So, I valiantly rode the bike one last time in the humidity of this fair seaside village all the way to the gas station.

When I arrived, Megan was standing off to the side while everyone at the gas station (all two people) stared at her unapologetically. We explained what needed to be done, and the trusty gas station attendant, Mr. Mitsuno, went to work and deftly removed the front tire of the trusty mamachari bike. And lo, the bike fit within the confines of her trunk. But what about me? How would I get back home?

Double lo, I also fit within the confines of her trunk!

And so we celebrated with the washing of our dirt-covered hands and the eating of local tempura-don.

Goodbye, bike! You were one of the great ones.

Poisonous Centipedes Dream of Electric Sheep

2009-07-04T17:00:00.001+09:00

Centipede Celebrates Independence Day; Dies

The weather can't seem to make up its mind. Sometimes it's sunny and warm, and more often it's rainy and very humid outside. Usually they call this 梅雨 (tsuyu) or "rainy season". Ian always says that Japan can't have both "four seasons" and a "rainy season". Someone's lying somewhere I guess! In any case, rainy season is usually over by the first few days of July from what I remember, but it doesn't seem to want to leave this time.

I went to a 4th of July BBQ hosted by Natanya's English conversation group ladies in Kumihama. The weather wasn't exactly BBQ-esque -- it was misty with on and off drizzling. However, the BBQ was a lot of fun! They prepared meat, fish, vegetables, and squid. Yum! Not to mention that Rachel2 and Greg came up from the city/Yagi to come celebrate Americamas™! Thanks to the rain, nobody got bug-bitten or sunburned.

Afterwards we went to Natanya's house to sleep and have dinner. We clonked out pretty early (around 1 or 2am) and slept through the snores, murmurs and heat. And by, "we slept", I mean everybody made a lot of noise in their sleep while I prayed for dawn.

The next morning, I got up from underneath my desk bright and early, packed up my blankets and put my things in my car. After awhile, Kate, R2 and Greg also woke up and joined me in the kitchen for general sitting around and yawning. Natanya woke up last, and with a blood-curdling scream.

"MUKADE ON MY CEILING! IT'S ON MY CEEILIIIIING".

The rest of us ran to see, and sure enough there was an 8-inch, crimson, poisonous centipede crawling along the crevice connecting Natanya's bedroom wall to her ceiling. About 5 feet above where I was sleeping 30 minutes previous. Shudder.

"Natanya, calm down and get your mukade spray."
"It's HUGE."
"Yes! You're not wrong. But you need to get your mukade spray now."
"OK."

Natanya then handed me cockroach spray. It was worth a shot.

So I sprayed the mukade, causing it to fall with a loud 'thwup' onto her bedroom tatami floor. It started chasing me because I was spraying it with poison (poison that wasn't doing a lot!) This was when I called for backup.

"Natanya! GET THE SHOE! GET THE SHOE AND KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!!!! NOOOOOWWWW! DON'T CHASE MEEEEEEE!!!!"

Natanya pummeled that centipede with her hiking boot six times before it stopped moving. Six! After the hard part was over, it was time to extract the crushed, poisonous mukade from the floor and throw it in a bag... but mukade are really disgusting to look at, so this was harder than we'd thought. First I put on rubber gloves and got tin foil to pick it up and throw it in a garbage bag. The adrenaline from moments ago had me shaking, and I wasn't able to hold my hand still enough to pick it up. So, Natanya tried while I held teh garbage bag. The mukade's head then twitched and we shrieked like banshees.

"HOW is it still ALIVE?!?!?!"

Eventually we had Greg "Hero of Our Times" Khezrnejat come and pick up the mukade, wrap it in newspaper, and throw it in the garbage bag. Success!

There wasn't much to do afterwards except eat toast in silence and every so often make a comment about how big centipedes in Japan can be. Natanya's feelings of deep regret for not re-contracting or staying in Kaya longer rapidly dissipated. I thinks he's happier to go home now.

Natanya: "I want to go home now."
Kate: "This is my impression of Golem doing Disco"

Later on, I drove home and Kate joined me at the Honjo beach for some sun in the afternoon. We talked about leaving and what we want to do next. Nobody knows the answer to that question, no matter how many times it's asked. What I do know is that I'm moving away from the hills filled with poisonous giant centipedes and back to a country full of gnats, small spiders, and the occasional housefly. Because I am an American, and that's the sort of insect my emotional capabilities can properly handle.

Going Back (Thursday, June 18)

2009-06-18T17:00:00.001+09:00

Michele and Zaydeh picked me up not long after and I spent the day being exhausted with Oren and Michele and Mo (my cousin). They took me out to dinner and I met their nice friends Ed and Marsha and ate a hamburger and wished my life were better. That night I sat in a king size bed and watched ABC programming until I passed out in front of the TV – waking up just in time to run to the airport for my guaranteed flight.

I flew from Seattle to Vancouver to Tokyo to Osaka that day, but it didn’t feel as long as it was. I watched movies, ate more pizza, and enjoyed the last bits of circulated air conditioning before going back to Japan. Unfortunately I had missed my two days of elementary schooled, leaving me with a lot of guilt and a completely screwed up school schedule. It would have to wait.
From Osaka, I managed to catch the last trains up to Tango and to Natanya’s area. I didn’t have the energy left to drive home, so I slept on her floor and didn’t wake up for 13 hours.

I spent the weekend in my house catching up on laundry because the weather was hot and sunny for the first time in weeks. I spent some time with Natanya and Kate, but left their company early on Sunday to go home and feel miserable.

When it comes to the condo and owing money undeservedly, it could be the end of the world if I let it. But I won’t. I can deal with those things because they don’t matter. But not having my grandmother still weighs heavily on me, and I feel like there’s nothing to do but let it crush me until … until it doesn’t, I guess. I’m sad most of the time, but I know it’s going to get better. And I know that my next trip to Seattle will be one way, and under better circumstances. At least I hope so.

I Hate Delta

2009-06-17T17:00:00.000+09:00

I spent 21 hours at Sea-Tac Airport before I gave up on Delta Airlines completely. I was still flying on Kevin’s buddy pass and was optimistic about hopping a flight back to Atlanta so I could fly business class back to sweet Tokyo and get home in time to teach two days of elementary school.
Delta overbooked every single flight that week by at least 3-10 people. The people who gave up their seats were put at the top of the standby list and moved to the next flight. As were the next group of people, and the next, and the next. This left me eternally at position 24 on the standby list – I never saw the inside of a plane. I slept in the airport, hoping that the early morning flight would be able to take me to Atlanta even though I had already missed my flight to Tokyo. I would have to spend the night in Atlanta and wait for the Friday morning flight back instead. Whatever, I reasoned, I just needed to get out of Seattle.
I spent that night on a bench, freezing and sobbing. I didn’t want to call family to pick me up because I didn’t have the energy to be driven somewhere else, driven back, and have to go through security again. But it felt like I was never going to get out of that terminal, so I didn’t know what else to do.
After finally telling my family that I was stuck at the airport and having the remnants of my optimism completely crushed by the lack of empathy from the staff and the situation itself, my dad helped me buy a new plane ticket with a different airline for the next day. I booked a hotel room and left the airport, having gotten nowhere at all in all that time.

The Rest of It (Saturday June 13-Monday June 15)

2009-06-15T17:00:00.004+09:00

I spent the weekend in Seattle after the funeral was over. It was nice spending more time with Megan and seeing Laura’s best friend Graham again. It was also really good to spend a lot of time with Zaydeh, who was taking this worse than anyone.

Zaydeh seems so forlorn without Bubbeh around. He’s just about deaf and he’s been that way since I can remember, but without my grandmother around the house he’s having a lot of trouble hearing the phone or doorbell ring.

He took us to see the apartment they had put a payment on in a brand new, very nice retirement community near Seattle Center. It was one of the nicest apartments I’ve ever seen, but knowing it would just be Zaydeh in it, it was too big. He thought so too, and has since canceled his lease on it and is planning to move into a smaller apartment at some point, but not soon. I felt better knowing that Zaydeh would be staying in their condo with all of his things, and walking up to Pike Place Market every morning for fruits and coffee. This, however, meant that Megan and I would not be moving into the condo in July after all. This too was fairly crushing news.

The condo was never ours, and we had done nothing to earn it, but it was the one thing that was fairly solid about my move back to the US. Having a place to live immediately – finding a job and applying to grad schools would come afterwards. Now I will have to do everything all at once, which is a bit stressful. Still, I suppose I counted a lot of chickens before they’d hatched.

Laura’s friend Graham is doing very well on Capitol Hill. We met him and his girlfriend for breakfast (making me realise that I’ve gone almost 2 years without eating a proper breakfast). Although I’m not nearly as close with Graham as my sister, it will be nice to know someone in the city! Also worth mentioning, his cat Leland is adorable.

I spent an entire day with Megan around her neighbourhood in Queen Anne. It’s a residential area primarily with a lot of cute, small houses. Seattle is not afraid of colours either! Purple houses, pink houses, mint green houses. It was really beautiful. I met her roommates Nick and Jonathan and we watched some TV while I battled off my daily jet lag fatigue.

I ate two slices of pizza (one slice too many) and Megan and I walked around her area and talked about the places we’d like to move into in July. We also talked about the general futility of knowing what we want out of our ‘careers’ and how little furniture we own.

Megan and her roommate, Jonathan.

On the last day in Seattle, my mother and I visited Zaydeh’s. Zaydeh drove Laura to the airport and my mother and I rested in the condo for a bit. I had a phone call from someone I’d never heard of and called her back. It turned out it was a debt collector trying to phone me to tell me that I owe $1400 in membership payments to Bally’s Total Fitness in Los Angeles. A gym membership I had cancelled thirteen months ago. Apparently the contract I had signed was good for 36 months, regardless of cancellation. What a crock. After a good twenty minutes of hyperventilating and talking to one of the ladies at the agency who told me “I could settle at $750”, I decided my life was officially bleak. No grandmother, no place to live, and now I have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a service I did not require nor use. America is awful.

Dejected, I went to the airport with my mom. Her flight was 4 hours earlier than mine but I didn’t want to do anything or talk to anyone, so it seemed like a good place to feel disgruntled until my flights back to Japan. As it turned out, Sea-Tac Airport is the best place to feel disgruntled as I would soon find out flying standby on Delta Airlines.

The Funeral

2009-06-12T17:00:00.002+09:00

Dressed in black, we met Zaydeh for breakfast at the hotel. Zaydeh smiled at seeing us in such unusual garb and commented, “Who decided on this colour anyway?” He had a point. I was one of very few people at the actual funeral who were all in black.
Breakfast was awful. I was smiling too much, trying to make everyone feel better. My sister was quiet, my mother was sad, and Zaydeh was distraught. He couldn’t believe he was burying his wife of 64 years – and neither could we. Those two had always been a formidable unit of teasing, cooking, and never-ending affection. The question began to rise in my mind, “What are you supposed to do when your family is broken?”
Sitting between my sister and my eleven-year-old cousin, Mo, I felt ridiculous. “I can’t believe I’m at my grandmother’s funeral. I’ve never been to a funeral and now I’m at her’s! Impossible.” In the past few years all of my four grandparents have been teetering into poorer health, but I never thought that Bubbeh would be the first to go.
My grandmother, being an unwavering defender of the women’s liberation, was honoured by a female canter in a purple suit. The canter, as it turned out, was the first women ever to perform a ceremony in the Orthodox Jewish cemetery where Bubbeh was buried. Breaking the moulds even after life. The canter led us in Yiddish folk songs and in prayers. We followed the pallbearers to the gravesite beneath a magnificent old tree. The tree reminded me so much of Bubbeh, it almost surged with her spirit. I immediately identified it as “The Bubbeh Tree” and I feel confident that it was a place she would have picked out herself, though my grandparents had never reserved their final resting places – optimists well into their mid 80’s. We took turns shoveling earth onto her grave and returned to Elliot Bay for her reception.

At the reception, I felt like I didn’t want to be around people anymore. I had no appetite, though the platters in front of me looked delicious (Bubbeh would not have held back – she was a champion eater). I took a glass of wine and sat out on the steps, looking out at the bay, thinking of how unfair it was for God to take someone we all needed so, so much. Bubbeh said, “God will never let the world end so long as there are ten good people in it.” But with her gone, we’re down to nine.
When I returned to the reception, people had begun telling stories about their times spent with Bubbeh. It was a gift that I was able to remember her through so many different people. She was kind, a good listener, never shied away from making friends with complete strangers, she could out-eat just about anyone, and she never sat down at the dinner table when she was cooking. She truly wanted to know everyone, and she wanted to understand people fully and without judgment. I hope that every one of us was able to take home a part of her spirit and that it makes us all better people in the future.

After everyone went home (“it’s like herding cats!”), I resisted the jet lag induced urge to nap for the next 19 hours and waited for Megan to get off work. Fortunately for me, her office was the next building over from my hotel. It was really nice to see her again – it had been nearly a year since she left Japan! But I was weighed down by grief and exhaustion and I don’t think I expressed my happiness as well as I could have. She took me and Laura out to a great happy hour place where we ate yam fries and tried local beers. It was nice having all of the funeral things over with and being able to relax a little bit, even though we were still very sad. Bubbeh had always known that food could cure just about anything; and I think she and yam fries would have been fast friends.

A Diversion

2009-06-11T17:00:00.002+09:00

I thought that my next trip from Japan to the United States would be a one-way ticket representing the end of my JET Programme contract and my time spent in Japan as a teacher. Unfortunately, my first trip back to the US was not under any such circumstances.

My grandmother, known to us as Bubbeh, its Yiddish equivalent, passed away from lung cancer complicated by pneumonia on Sunday, June 7th at a hospital in Stony Brook, Long Island. She and Zaydeh, my grandfather, had once lived in Stony Brook for decades and had long since moved to Seattle to live across from Elliot Bay. The reason for their presence in Long Island was that it was the last spot on their long vacation to visit family and friends all over the world. They flew to Iceland, where they met my parents and explored glaciers and volcanoes. Afterwards, they flew back to London to visit with my parents a bit longer before boarding the Queen Mary and cruising back to New York in style. My grandparents have always been swanky folk. Only a short while after the Queen Mary docked in New York City and Bubbeh had met her older brother for martinis, did she fall ill.

Within 24 hours, friends and loved ones were coming out of the woodworks, racing to say their goodbyes.

I decided to fly back to the US to see my family and to say my goodbyes to Bubbeh, even though they would be a bit late. My schools were characteristically understanding, and they each gave me money for flowers, which they told me is the Japanese custom. I was really touched.
The funeral would be held on that Friday so I left on Thursday afternoon from Tokyo airport. My friend, Kevin, allowed me to use his family’s Delta buddy pass – enabling me a cheap fare from Tokyo to Seattle on standby. The first flight was a breeze – I even got to ride in business class! Unfortunately the flight was from Tokyo all the way to Atlanta, flying directly over Seattle and landing nowhere near it.

At the Atlanta airport I was on a very long list of standbys and was told that, “it didn’t look good.” As I sat, exhausted and unsure of what to do next, I saw my sister standing in line for boarding. Somehow she had found out my flight and booked herself on the same one. In the nick of time, I was put on the flight. It was a miracle. I sat next to an old man who was going to his son’s graduation from the University of Washington. He told me about his ex-wife who was in “lady’s prison” and his fiancée and that he had seen a few UFOs in his time in Georgia. Then he helped me with the in-flight trivia challenge and sure enough, we won a fair few games!

Laura and I met up with Oren and Michele (our uncle and aunt) and waited for my mother at the airport. Only my mother would bring two checked suitcases for a 5-day trip.

We checked into a hotel nearby Zaydeh’s apartment at Elliot Bay. It felt so wonderful to be back, but the reality of the situation was slowly starting to hit and I began to feel numb. Like I was watching myself on a TV screen. This wasn’t my life. The Sreebny women went out for a bowl of clam chowder that evening (at 10pm because the sun never sets in the Pacific Northwest, apparently) and fell asleep at different times, each one of us on our own jet lag.

Oe Yama and The Eight Person Date

2009-06-08T09:55:00.003+09:00

Local Teachers Wander into Mist ; Camoflauge

This weekend I was invited by my friend, Yasuka, an employee of the Mineyama Town Hall, to join her in Amino for a konpa, or a group date. From what I understand, a konpa is a group of people (even amounts of single boys and girls) where they get together at a restaurant or bar and get to know one another. So, that’s what we did.

I took the train up to Amino from Mineyama so I would be able to drink (this would help me relax around perfect Japanese strangers). Yasuka brought her co-workers, Yumi and Yumi. The guys were pretty diverse… two of them worked at a bank, one works as a 4th grade teacher in Mineyama, and one was a jerk, though I did not hear what he did for a living.

Mostly the party was fun. We ate a lot of fried chicken and salad and drank a lot of cocktails. The two guys I talked two (and had to sit next to) were nice enough. Though, one of them smoked cigarettes into my hair all evening. Considering it was in Japanese, I think I held my own. Though there were times I had no idea what was going on and the jerk guy kept making fun of me in front of me, which wasn’t cool.

Four hours later we were all quite intoxicated. Kate and Natanya, champions of love and friendship, came to pick me up. After that I told ridiculous stories and passed out watching Gone with the Wind.

The next morning, after Kate made us eggs and told us that she did the dishes every morning because if she is ever found dead before she can get to them, she thinks people will judge her. Even though she’s dead!

We drove in the rain and mist to Oe Yama in Kaya and hiked up a good deal of it. The mist made the walk very interesting and we took a lot of fun pictures!

This Place is Death

We ended the day at Apple Farm with curry and sandwiches. We also talked about Octomom and how many children a crazy person should be allowed to pump into herself. Ridiculous. I made many poor arguments.

Then I came home and found out that my grandmother is most likely going to die, so that’s probably going to change the course of this week. Flying 7000 miles home when I’m leaving in less than 7 weeks for good? Absurd timing.

Track & Field Day

2009-06-03T17:00:00.001+09:00

Track & Field Day

Every year the four junior high schools in the area, Honjo, Ine, Hioki and Yoro, battle it out in track and field competition. This year we gathered early in the morning (in the rain) for the 競技会, or kyogikai. It was raining fairly consistently, so there were tarps and tents set up to shelter our bags and bodies. However, the rain collected on the tents and would spill down at random intervals, soaking everything and everyone in its path.
Aside from that, the day was good in that I got out of the office! I also had an opportunity to see Mrs. Aimi, my JTE from last year. She told me that she’s very happy at her new school (Hioki) because the class sizes are tiny (the school population is 15) and she is much closer to home than she was working at Ine JHS. I was really thrilled to see that she’s enjoying her new job and that she’s doing well. This will probably be the last time I see her before leaving.

As always, the relay races were among the more exciting activities of the day. The students work really hard for about a month practicing their sprints and passing the baton to their friends.

In the end (as always), the biggest school took home first prize. Once again Ine JHS will house the trophy. It must seem unfair… the points seemed to correlate directly with the size of the school. Ine taking first place in most everything, followed by Yoro, Honjo and finally Hioko. Seems a bit less exciting when the same school always wins. Nonetheless, everyone really tried their best and we were all thrilled to go home out of the rain.

Dust in the Wind, the Karaoke Story

2009-05-31T18:52:00.002+09:00

Weather Crummy; Disappointed Females Trek to City

This weekend, due to crummy Tango weather and family duties, Natanya, Kate and I decided to take a literal rain check on our hike. Instead, Natanya and I drove down to Kameoka so we could head into Kyoto and play!

The morning started as crummy as the weather. I thought the elementary school next door told me that I could bring my recyclable cardboard (or cardboard boxes I've had since July 2007...) to the school between 7:30 and 10:30. So I showed up around 10 and one of the teachers/caretakers was there and he said, "Haha, they've gone home already." THANKS. So, stuck with cardboard, I said farewell to Kirby and drove South to Kaya. Natanya had plenty of cardboard waste too, so we placed it surreptitiously in the parking lot of a convenience store. Apologies to the 7-11 employees on Rt. 176.

Once in Kameoka, we snagged a free spot at the station and walked over to Laurel's apartment to meet her new friend, Kuma. I never knew rabbits had so much personality! This little boy or girl (we just don't know how to find out) thumped his feet when vexed, nibbled at our socks, and let us cuddle him as only a kind and thoughtful rabbit might. Meanwhile Margaret was wandering around muttering something about boys and dates... but... bunny... d'awwwwwwww.

Continuing on our day of planned fun-things, we took the train into Nijo to do some quickie purikura at the arcade and to see Star Trek with Greg, Ian, and Masahiro. Hooray for student prices and employees who believe that we are foreign exchange students! I don't think I'll be able to get away with that for too much longer... they might start to wonder once I'm 30.

Star Trek was vastly entertaining and the beers we all got helped our viewing pleasure go to where no man has gone before. Or something witty.

After that, people wanted food so we ate some kaiten sushi nearby, but this sadly cut the night short as people had last trains to worry about. So, all but me, Ian and Natanya went on in search of karaoke and more beer. We met up with Lauren, who changed her mind and went home.

Ian, Natanya and I ended up doing karaoke at two locations due to the waiting list at the first place. We are superstars, no lie. Natanya and Ian sang a 35 minute ballad by Bob Dylan while I weighed the options of eating my pastries now, or later. I chose later, and then tried to sing Kate Bush. Oof.

Somehow we ended up at Radio Clash around 2am and chatted, made paper cranes, and I texted everyone I knew that, simply, "I LOVE YOU." This was well received, and it's all true!

Around 3am, we poured ourselves into Ian's apartment and slept until the voices of children woke us up at 8am.

I have no explanation for this, other than it exists and I saw it.

So! Karaoke, sushi, movie, friends, and bunny all add up to one final note: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Driving home was relaxed this afternoon... Natanya and I listened to podcasts and sipped water and watched the scenery turn from sunny to cloudy to drizzly. We were home! When I got back to my apartment complex, I had to wait a bit longer to get inside because three monkeys were playing in front of my doorstep! Blagh! Deftly (and after 15 minutes) I trundled my car slowly up the path, chasing them back into the jungle. As I carried my groceries inside, they glared at me from trees. Eep.

A Weekend of Estrogen and Tofu

2009-05-24T17:00:00.001+09:00

A Weekend of Estrogen and Tofu
May 23 & 24 2009

I’ve been packing boxes early in order to beat the heat that will soon be here and inescapable. Another reason for getting my personal belongings out of the house and onto freighters is that I am trying to slowly adjust to the idea that in about 2 months, I will not longer be in Tango. The thought of waking up to an empty house breaks my heart. I am also finding a new home for Kirby, my loyal and charming pet ferret, as a result of plane regulations not allowing ferrets in the cabins nor in the baggage areas. After so many weeks of researching customs and quarantine regulations, I have to give up my pet because an airline doesn’t consider Kirby to be feline or canine enough to go on an airplane. It’s been really exhausting (somewhere between the guilt of not being able to take him back, and the stress of finding him a good new home).

So it was a relief and a delight that Natanya and Kate came up for a rather impromptu sleepover this Saturday evening. Natanya had come with her English conversation friends, Keiko and Mieko (there are no two finer women on this peninsula). They brought with them strawberries, sugar peas and regular peas – all from Mieko’s garden. I blushed like the baby Jesus in his hay-crib.

We had coffee and strawberries and walked over to Urashima-jinja Park for a bite to eat. Three of us had tempura udon and Keiko ordered the “famous” soba. It’s famous because the town makes it.

Afterwards we took the Ine boathouse ferryboat around the bay and fed the seagulls, and the hawks that decided to trail nonchalantly, floating over our wake.

Hawks love crunchy snacks, as proven by this terrible photograph.
I do love my boat-houses. A student once wrote "funaya are where people put boats". Deep thoughts, deep thoughts.
The loneliest island.

Soon after Mieko and Keiko left Ine and Natanya and I decided to try our luck at making a tofu pudding recipe she found on the New York Times website. However when it’s cooking with Rachel & Natanya, it’s certainly not cooking with directions. The pudding turned out more or less “OK”.

Honjo at dusk. Now that it's not freezing, we can go outside and enjoy it.

The elusive floating island. It may or may not be in the sky.

Kate drove up and we went for a walk to catch up on gossip and talk about our weeks. It was nice getting some movement into my otherwise immobile daily routine [drive to work, sit at work, drive home, sit at home]. Afterwards we made mabudofu and had dinner together while watching too many episodes of America’s Next Top Model. This preceded Ever After, one of the silliest movies I’ve ever seen. Drew Barrymore, you ridiculous woman.

It was really nice just having Natanya and Kate around, and not doing anything particularly out of the ordinary. Just being normal with normal people. The weather was fairly cooperative too, but by no means sunny. It seems May is being stubbornly unseasonable this year.

After a nice night’s sleep, Kate cleaned my entire house because she was ignoring her oncoming asthma attack and then Natanya cooked eggs for breakfast! Then we decided to head to Mineyama for some fun-times™ at MINE, the mall there. We took some pretty excellent purikura and bought some things from the 100 yen store (especially Kate, who spends 90% of her paycheck on knick knacks for friends back home). After a donut and a run-in with Brynmor Thomas (gasp!) we went to kappa zushi for a late lunch and then I dropped Natanya off at home.

It was simple, girly, and covered in stickers. (pictures to come when I am less lazy)

WE CAN'T KEEP THIS SECRET ANY LONGER!

2009-05-21T12:43:00.001+09:00

Because the World Needs to Know:

We've all seen the news, and I'm not going to sugarcoat the situation. Hundreds of millions dead in Osaka, the unlucky survivors quickly turning to cannibalism. Hyogo has literally detached from the archipelago and sunk into the ocean. And now, we're hearing that someone's been infected in Shiga. We are surrounded, and all the masks and vigorous gargling in the world can't save us now.
~Gregory Q. Khezrnejat

I think Greg's e-mail about swine flu in Japan really says it all. After being asked for about 21 days striaght if "I felt OK", I think I can safely say that I do not have swine flu. I am however selfishly hoping that enough students get it that we can not go to school for a week. I could use the time to write down the reasons I still think of the Japanese people as 'sensible individuals who will not be convinced of the end of days by a kid with a cold in Kobe".

In other news I've sent 6 boxes back to the states. All of the boxes are sick with swine flu.

A Weekend with Goats

2009-05-16T17:00:00.001+09:00

A Weekend with Goats

Two weekends ago, the first weekend after Golden Week where everybody was back from vacation and all in the same place again, Natanya invited everyone she knew to her house for a party. This was a veiled excuse to play “Celebrities”, our favourite game combining charades, gestures, and taboo. It also generally involves ridiculous people such as Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Gandhi, Miss Piggy, Tyra Banks, Ahmadinejad, various New York Times columnists (naturally I don’t remember their names, out of apathy) and of course, Zac Efron.

However, most of the invited were unable to acquiesce this kind invitation, and so the group became four people; Natanya, Kate, Ian, Rachel and the Other Rachel (hereby referred to as R2).

The weekend began at an empty train station in Amanohashidate (the station that seems to evade nicknamery) as Natanya and I shared stories of our sunburns and ate chocolate from Hokkaido. Ian and R2 arrived promptly 3 minutes late, and we drove to Sutenten, an izakaya [food-place] in Iwataki. This was the first of many meals where I proceeded to watch other people drink, as I was the driver. We then retired to Ine for an evening of beer and Pringles, all while sitting on the kitchen floor. Ian was reunited with Kirby the Ferret and all was calm.

Home-made mudslides... smell like vodka

The next day, after a leisurely French toast breakfast, we drove onto Otoko-yama, the nearby mountain that separates Ine and Yasaka. The drive was nice, though the sky threatened rain throughout the day. Near the top of the mountain (where the wind turbines live), there is a farm called Ikari Highlands Ranch (碇高原牧場) and we stopped there to watch sheep, goats, cows and rabbits frolic on the strangely rolling hills. I bumped into the Head of the Board of Education and met his lovely wife and adorable toddler grandchildren.

Two girls a'mooing and an Ian in a Pear Tree.

I recommended the adjoining steakhouse, where we went for a late lunch. The corn was spectacular.

Goats play upon a bench.

It was time to leave and drive to Mineyama to meet Kate, who had invited me to dinner. I was going to drop Natanya, Ian and R2 off at Natanya’s house in Kaya and then drive back to Mineyama to do dinner further north in Kumihama with two of Kate’s co-workers. However, my cunning sense of map-reading and direction failed us all and we ended up on the narrowest jungle roads in some town I’d never heard of.

Terribly, terribly lost.

Driving down the mountain, I expected to reach Yasaka, but instead we ended up too close to the Sea of Japan and had to backtrack and head North, and THEN go to Mineyama. In a nutshell, there was no way we were going to reach Kaya. I convinced the group that we should all go to dinner together, which is what we did.

I had never been to the Bay Cook restaurant that overlooks the Kumihama Bay (and all of the large fish within). We had to sit separately due to lack of reservations, but everybody had a good time eating the pizzas and pasta dishes and watching the sky grow darker.

Everyone spent the night at Natanya’s. It wasn’t the most energetic or interesting night of anyone’s life, I don’t think, but it was certainly nice to spend time together in a non-wintry environment. I went to bed early, when Ian started reading aloud passages by David Foster Wallace, another name I’ve come to know, and hate.

Bali : There Were Excursions, Also

2009-05-08T10:12:00.004+09:00

Excursions, Also.

At some points throughout the week, Ian and I managed to leave the comforts of the hotel for new horizons.

Our first outing was by shuttle bus to Geger Beach. It was possibly the least fun beach I have ever been to, which is really an accomplishment in itself. The water was littered with boats and seaweed (oishii!) and the sand was occupied by a bunch of burnt, mostly nude Eurotrash. What a dream!

We weren't pestered too much by any of the beach employees. "Massage? You like Balinese massage?" "Nope." "Cheap price, cheap price!" "Nope." I did however buy a sarong from a lady on the beach. With a smile like that, she could have sold me timeshare. My favourite part of that beach was watching the two Germans nearby attempt to make love to each other while wearing swimsuits... and I think while the girl was asleep. We have photographic evidence.

Can you spot the fornicators?

It's cocoa!

The second outing we went on was a bus tour around Eastern Bali. This was a lot of fun, even though the majority of it was on a bus. We went to a 'traditional style village' to see how the Balinese live. Old people sleep outside, we were told. A lady ushered us into her residence and showed us papaya and coconut trees, cocoa, and coffee growing in her yard. Then she sold us junk (however, the sarong I bought from her is my favourite).

Back on the bus, we drove on to see a big Hindu temple (which I have forgotten the name of). (Ian has pictures of that, so I'm still waiting on them). We had to wear sarongs and walk about 3/4 a mile up a hill while kids offered us a ride on their motorbikes for a dollar. [[I have not mentioned up until now that everyone in Bali either drives a bus or has a motorbike. I'm not just talking men and women, but entire families and small children are hanging off of these things. Seeing a motorbike whiz by with about 4 schoolgirls was no shock after a few days of it. In fact, one of the hotel pamphlet advertisements for Bungee-jumping while on a motorcycle stated that it was "safer than riding a scooter in Bali". So there you have it. ]]

You fly and you know it.

The temple was really spectacular looking - coloured umbrellas to represent the various Hindu gods (Vishnu, Shiva, Rahma... and more my memory did not retain). People carried food offerings in baskets on their heads up the many stone steps, placing it in front of the umbrellas. We, as non-worshipers, were not privileged to enter the gates of the temple, but we were able to observe from the other sides. Some of the sneaky Balinese offered us a quick trip into the worshipers' area... but we were warned by our tour guide that they were not telling us the truth (of course three of the guys in our tour forgot this quickly and I suppose they'll be going to Hindu Hell now, provided there is one).

It looks like a party! Don't be fooled though, it's like going to church.

Back down the hill, we got back on the bus and went for a late lunch in a gorgeous area near Lake Batur and at the bottom of Mount Agung, the volcano. I can't describe how beautiful it was so I'll put up a picture instead. Lunch was also delicious.

At the foot of Mt. Agung, where Balinese Frodo must journey.

Our final tour stop was at the Floating Pavilion near the Klungkung Palace. In the city centre stands a large monument, tall and dark, representing the warfare between the Balinese and the Dutch in the area.

I've seen floatier.

I suppose the Dutch won... otherwise there would be less of a need to sell biscuits and sun tan lotion in the local stores. Everyone put on a sarong for this temple as well.

Why Ian, I do declare! You look sensational!

I thought that the pavilion on the still water surrounded by flowers seemed very Japanese to me, but the statues and intricate carvings on the stone around the building were certainly something new. It made me think of the dim memories of my last trip to Bali when I was nearly 4 years old. We took home a garden statue with a ghoulish face and named him "Goodbye-bye". I believe he met his end on one of our moves, but he remains in my young memories as being a weird freaky statue that greeted me on my way home from school every day.

Hollah, I'm a stone fox, boys!

It was exhausting being in the heat all that day, so wandered over to the actual seaside restaurant (called Tao) and I ordered some spicy Thai soup. It was a fitting end for one of the more exciting days of the vacation.

Our final outing was to Kuta Beach -- a popular tourist beach littered with cafes, western eateries, a mall, and hotel resorts. The beach was HOT. I got sunburnt the worst I've ever been in my entire life -- even with sun screen and reapplication! The sun was just too hot, and we never managed to get away from it even under our overpriced umbrella.
The terrible part of this excursion was the constant, relentless pestering of the salespeople around us. One woman wanted to give me a manicure and would not leave me alone. She came back 3 times and each time she bothered me for about 5-10 minutes. I finally gave her one of my hats and told her not to come back. That seemed to work, and the hat only cost me a dollar anyway. Worth it.

Don't be fooled, this beach is death.

After I couldn't take the heat anymore, we wandered back to the city area and plopped ourselves down in a Starbucks for frappucinos and then read books on the steps until it was time to catch the bus home. Not the best beach experience ever, but it did change my skin colour from porcelain to... other. I think my skin is about 3 different colours at the moment (white, burnt, and in between).

Bali, Hotel Days

2009-05-01T17:00:00.002+09:00

Hotel Days

View from the "Seaside" Restaurant at the Hotel

I woke up to palm trees and golden sunshine. Bali!!!! I got up, brushed my teeth and waited around for Ian to wake up so we could go exploring and find breakfast.

We walked to breakfast, finding ourselves feeling warmer and muggier than usual. The buffet at the hotel was fantastic! Breads, cheeses, eggs, and tons of melons and other fruits. My usual breakfast routine during a work week is a piece of toast, hastily eating in my car on the way to school. This was like paradise.

Stomachs full, we tried out the pool area. The pool was big with a lot of fun statues and silly waterfalls. It also was a hotel pool bar, which we would visit later.

"By the time we swim to the bar, it will be Happy Hour."

One of my favourite parts about the hotel was the little cabana canopies around the pool area. Shaded places covered in big pillows where we could pass the hours reading and chatting and avoiding the direct sunlight.

For lunch we discovered that the hotel restaurant, the "sea side restaurant", although that was a definite embellishment, had some delicious cuisine. Ian ordered an enormous Reuben sandwich (to our surprise they had rye bread on the island) and II tried to order something more 'traditional' and got satay and rice pilaf. This was the first of many delicious meals we would have at the hotel.

I can't say we did much more than that, but it was a spectacular thing being able to sit around at my own pace, switching off between an easy-reading book of Bengali stories and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (less easy) and sipping frilly drinks at the poolside bar on happy hour.

I think we ordered room service and watched Cinemax all evening.

The other guests at the hotel were primarily German (or German-sounding). A group of corpulent, sunburned folk who we didn't get to know. It was easy to recognize faces in the hotel as there didn't seem to be a lot of people staying there (even though it was the start of the high season in Bali). I suppose the economic crisis truly has affected the globe... except the Germans, apparently.

One afternoon we ventured into the salon for massages. This was one of the more memorable parts of the trip for me.

My masseuse gave me a nice, long full body massage using scented oils and elbow grease! She managed to teach my knots a thing or two, to boot! Afterwards, they scrubbed me down with a sand body scrub and I rinsed it off. Last on my massage schedule was my floral bath -- a tub filled with flower petals where you can sit and enjoy sugary tea. Delightful. However, when I got into the room Ian was there. I was confused as there was only one tub and clearly two people. The masseuse told us we had 10 minutes and closed the door. They thought we wanted to share the floral bath. Instead, I got in with my bathing suit on and 'enjoyed myself' for about 3 minutes before getting out and leaving. Ah well, I suppose when a boy and a girl of the same age go on a vacation it's well assumed that they are romantically involved.
As humiliating everything felt to me (a proud American brought up with a proper amount of shame), it definitely broke the ice. After that we were happy to tell people we were on our honeymoon; nobody really cared, anyway.
One evening at the hotel, we went to see a Balinese show and eat special foods. Unfortunately the giant lunch I'd eaten had not yet digested, so I mostly drank wine and enjoyed watching other people eat the spectacular looking dishes that surrounded us on cloth-covered tables. The show was really spectacular. I don't remember the story, but it involved royalty in shiny costumes and expressive make up doing some fancy footwork. Far more entertaining than anything I've seen on a stage in two years, anyway. Ian mentioned how attractive the girls looked, and I told him that I reckoned the oldest person in the dance crew was nearly 14. We finished off the wine. After the traditional dance was over, a four person, poor man's mariachi band appeared. They asked each table to give them a song request. While the songs were not the most impressive, the guitarist did a mean Bryan Adam's impression. The wine may have helped our enjoyment of this, however. I believe we completed the evening by watching van Helsing on Cinemax and falling asleep in our dinner clothes.

Easily my favorite hotel moment was our last day when we lay, sunburnt, in a canopy area making paper cranes. After learning so much about Ian's romantic history, I decided it would be therapeutic for us to make paper cranes named for his past girlfriends. What this resulted in were some interesting photos and a new paper-folding skill for me!

The hotel seemed like a place to rest. Not only from general every day stress, but from the actively pushy hawkers and salespeople on what felt like every other place in Bali. No one pushed us into buying anything, nobody begged us for money for a service not rendered, and people left us well alone. They were also extremely friendly... we had a few nice conversations with the various young bartenders, some of whom had fallen out of practice with their Japanese since Japanese people had stopped frequenting the hotel.

All in all, I think the hotel was my favorite part of the trip. Coming home to my apartment later on would make me appreciate the good food and attentive service all the more. My cooking's just not that good, even though I get to eat it in my room for free.

Bali, day one.

2009-04-28T17:00:00.004+09:00

3500 miles in 20 hours : Ine to Denpesar

I woke up at 7am (early, considering my flight wasn't until the early evening) and packed a few last minute items. Early morning logic had convinced me that I would need 15 pairs of underpants, 12 pairs of socks, and at least 7 outfits that I would find some sort of reason to wear. It's not every day you travel to the southern hemisphere, after all.

I drove down on what I would consider one of the more beautiful days of the year (at least in Tango) and rolled down the windows so I could get a good taste of the warm air and the spring smells that were permeating the winter chills (even in late April).

Thanks to a gracious Kameoka JET, I was able to park my car for free in front of her apartment complex. An older, more out of place building surrounded by beautiful houses and stunning flower gardens. I walked to the station with my over-packed bags and met up with Ian at Kyoto Station.
"You looked stressed," he complimented.
Though I didn't feel stressed, I certainly recognized that I sounded nervous. Maybe it was the excitement from driving and the idea of going some place new, or maybe it was just that I was going to spend the next 7 days straight with Ian -- something that was equally new.

We arrived at the airport, bought sandwiches and beer, and hunkered down in some massage chairs (which, to be fair, we did use for 10 of the 90 minutes we were there for). After our second beers, we boarded the airplane along with the horde of Japanese people also taking a Golden Week holiday to some place warm.

The flight wasn't terribly long, about six or seven hours. Ian and I spent the time drinking wine and watching movies (and no doubt pestering every one around us in doing so). Ian suggested watching Jurassic Park, though we couldn't find it in English. The dubbed version wasn't so bad, though I understood absolutely none of it. Not long after we realized how to put movies into English and felt dumb. We followed it up with AI (in English) and then went our separate ways on our individual entertainment systems. I attempted to study a bit of Indonesian (so I could be less clueless) but only retained the word for milk, which is 'susu'.

The plan was to stay in Nusa Dua (a peninsula in Southern Bali) for 6 days. Hours and hours of poolside reading, prepaid tours, and non-Japanese food awaited.

Upon arrival, we felt the thick warm air at once. It was a spectacular change from the chilly Japan nights we've been having this April. We coughed up some money for visas and went to collect our bags. Being white and foreign in Japan can earn you some attention (people speaking slowly to you, being overly polite or condescending, and someones avoiding eye contact with you). In Bali however, it just makes you a target. Three men rushed up to me and offered to help me carry my one suitcase. Being exhausted from traveling 3,500 miles in about 20 hours, I didn't argue. All of a sudden, Ian and I were surrounded by about 6 men, some of who had helped us with our things and some who had just showed up for no apparent reason. They all demanded 100,000 rupiah each (about... 8 dollars maybe?) for their 'troubles'. HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

Annoyed and cranky, we found our tour guide (whose decent English was masked by his thick French accent and creative syntax). 40 minutes later, we had arrived at the Ramada hotel in Nusa Dua (the Tango peninsula of Bali, I joked). We were greeted with fruit punch (even at midnight, what service!) and on the assumption that we were married, the hotel staff gave Ian the paperwork to fill out. I meanwhile spotted that the gift shop was a money changer. "Phew. Now we won't be completely screwed if more helpful Balinese show up and hold our things for ransom."

The room was big and comfortable (I was thrilled to see an air conditioner). After quick shower and a look around the mini fridge and porch, I crawled into my bed, eager to put the day behind me.

Unfortunately I didn't get more than two hours of sleep... whether for general excitement that we'd actually made it or the cup of coffee I'd had just before landing. So, I laid in bed, listening to the intermittent squalls outside, waiting patiently for the sun to come up so I could see what was outside of our window.

New School Atmosphere & Hanami

2009-04-14T11:26:00.000+09:00

Monkeys Take Over Neighbourhood, Spring Arrives

Monkeys clambered out of the jungle into the fields to eat everything that was starting to turn green.

I reckon I should write a little bit about what I’ve been up to this month (besides losing all the teachers and school comforts I hold so very dear).

After Aimi sensei left Ine JHS, everything felt like it was falling apart. The new teachers were SUPER nice (especially the Japanese teacher, Ms. Tomonaga and the new Principal, Mr. … Principal). I felt excited about working with my new JTE, Mr. Yamagami (fun to say!) However the week started out with us moving desks. And instead of me moving my desk somewhere, I had to give it up altogether. I moved all of my personal belongings that used to sit upon my desk (the little stone that says “stone”, my elephant from a Thai restaurant in Shiga, and a kangaroo keychain from Scott) into a box in the trunk of my car. They told me I could share a desk with the art teacher, whose desk is full of art teacher things. I felt inconsolably sulky about the whole affair. WHO AM I TO BE DENIED A DESK? I AM RACHEL K. ENGLISH TEACHER! But in the end, I don’t really need that much room and the art teacher gave me some drawers to put my things into. So, it’s not the worst fate in the world after all.
Flowers! Life could be much worse.
The new teachers at Honjo JHS are spectacular. My favourite is the new science teacher, Ms. Oe. She has the most sincere laugh I’ve ever heard out of a Japanese woman – guttural and low. A boisterous, “hur hur hur”. I love her to pieces already. We speak a mixture of English and Japanese because she wants to practice. She told me, “I have lost my vocabulary and I can’t remember my idioms!” Then we talked about intransitive verbs. <3 Friends forever. We also have a young teacher named Yamashita-sensei who is a big computer dork and likes to talk to me about Mac computers. But now I know about some fancy new Beta Windows program that runs simultaneously with the Mac OSX. Technology! It helps that all the words about computers are katakana English. Pu-ro-gu-ra-mu, so-fu-to-we-a, and haa-do-do-rai-bu. Fantastic!

I haven’t had any classes yet, but I am starting to go to them again with Yamagami-sensei starting today. I hope they go well and that I can help! I miss being useful! It was really a treat getting back to kyushoku (the school lunches) as well. I really missed the miso soups and even the white rice that my stomach lining loathes on a day-to-day basis. The weather getting warmer and more pleasant every day is also helping everyone’s mood! It’s so nice not having to use the heater anymore. I like to think of this as my last horrible winter just because America has all the ‘central heating’. Faaaancy.

On Friday I had a meeting with the elementary school homeroom teachers who will be helping me team teach this new elementary textbook to the 5th and 6th graders starting this school year. I was really excited about it, but after 30 minutes of stumbling through Japanese lesson plans, it became quite clear that none of us knows what we are doing. Who knows how this lesson will go, but at least I finally have a textbook to work off of. SUPPLEMENTS!!!! Huzzah!

School aside, I went to Kyoto and Kameoka this weekend to finally spend some quality time with Laurel and the other Kameoka girls who have replaced the friends I still miss deeply and dearly (you know who you are, you southern women). It was really fun hanging out with Laurel and spending time with a different group of people. I think that when you spread yourself among groups of different people you can learn to appreciate the people who aren’t there, as well as getting comfortable in different situations. I’ve always been most comfortable as a social butterfly, fluttering amongst groups of people and never getting that close to any of them. I feel like this year has been an exception, which would explain a lot of the social anxiety I’ve been having.

Sakura and ear lobe massages in Kameoka...

On Saturday I met up with “the usual suspects” (Ian, Natanya, Rachel2, Lauren, Greg etc) and we had a picnic under the sakura by the Kamogawa River to celebrate R2’s birthday. It was a lot of fun, but I ate and drank too much and had the worst headache later.
R2, Natanya & Ian eating delicious gyoza by the Kamo River
We had grand plans to do karaoke, but those dissolved after we ate bananas foster (rum soaked bananas on FIRE over ice cream) and were stricken with extreme sleepiness. We all just ended up falling asleep in a pile at Rachel’s apartment and had one of the least exciting, but most comfortable, nights in Kyoto ever.

Sakura in the Imperial Palace Grounds & the Rare Blossom Rachel2

The next day we did mini-hanami and walked through the Imperial Palace grounds on the way to the pet store, where we played with a pug. I picked out some Kirby food, R2 got her brown curls grabbed by a spider monkey, and Ian and Natanya fell in love with the pug. After a quick stint at Starbucks, Natanya and I drove back to Tango.

Natanya snores louder than you could possibly imagine!

Kirby was really happy to see me and I was really happy to get some sleep, since the night before had been interrupted by Natanya’s GORILLA SNORING. That’s right! You know who you are!

Goodbye, lovely teachers!

2009-03-31T18:33:00.000+09:00

It's teacher transfer time! Unfortunately all of my favourite people are leaving... which is awful. But as I would be leaving them in 4 months (WHOOOHOHOOHH) anyway, it's better to rip off the band-aid now. But it's still so hard saying goodbye to people when you're pretty certain that it's goodbye forever.

Matsuda先生, Nakani先生, me, & Aimi先生 ~
ありがとうございました！

So, a tribute to my favourite teachers at Ine who are leaving, Nakani-sensei the school nurse and Aimi-sensei, my JTE. Aimi sensei really inspried me to become a teacher and gave me a good grasp of how to teach English. So for that I will always remember her, and I wish her the best of luck at her new school.

At least it was a beautiful day outside, and I cleaned a bit more of the downstairs of my house. I'm looking forward to a time when the weather will allow me to live in the other 90% of my home.

Just to Clear the Deck, I own no Monkeys.

2009-03-01T16:14:00.003+09:00

A Boisterous Cloister of Oysters
by Rachel K. Sreebny

On Saturday morning I drove the 80 minutes from Ine across the Northern coast of the Sea of Japan to Kumihama. My area, Ine, is the eastern most part of the Tango Peninsula. And Kumihama is the western most part of the Kyoto Prefecture, so you can say I drove cross-prefecture! All to eat oyster for the first time ever.

It was an oyster enkai organized by the kindly ladies of Natanya's English Conversation Group. There were a variety of oysters along with oyster fried rice and oyster hot pot! It was a lot of fun and the minshoku (guest house) was really beautiful. It was on a small beach called 小天橋 or Shotenkyo which means "small heaven bridge" or something like that.

After eating oysters forever and getting a giant bag of oysters each (like... 30 of them) we all migrated to my favourite ice cream place. It's a small Jersey Cow farm called Sora, meaning sky, and they have fresh ice creams, cheeses and milk puddings there. We all got ice cream and then most of the ladies set off home and Natanya came along back to Ine with me.

everyone say "moo"

Natanya had a lot of venting to do about her frustrations with not re-contracting, then changing her mind and having no say in the decision. Her BOE won't let her and on top of it she has boy drama, so it was good that she came with.

We spent the night knitting, watching 30 Rock, drinking beer and eating even more ice cream. Then Natanya put on like... all of my clothes and we watched the Wrestler and talked about which My Little Pony Characters we'd be.

I'd be "Purl" and have a skein of yarn on my horse butt. Ian's blue and his name is cloudy. He has a beer on his butt and when you put him in warm water it turns into a broken heart. Natanya is Spanky and she's purple. Kate is light yellow and her name is sparkles. She has a cabin on her butt. Then Greg is black with red eyes and his name is "Darkness". Lastly is Yumi. She's white with rainbow hair and her name is Yummy. She has a pie on her hip. Hooray for imaginations!!!!

Today (Sunday) Kate drove up and we went on a hike around the coast of Ine. It was nice weather for it despite rainclouds and it was good to get some actual exercise after doing nothing but eating yesterday. We got a lot of great pictures so I'll let those say a few thousand words on my behalf.

Other than that, I drank a root beer, cleaned my house, and skyped with Tristyn so I have no complaints! Enjoy your Sunday evenings, everyone.

Phew

2009-02-16T08:04:00.003+09:00

"Don't know if Rachel has contacted you about Tristyn yet but the news is great. She had her abdominal surgery Monday and after 48 hours of excruciating pain and nausea she perked up enough to come home Thursday. She's eating and walking (very slowly) and looking 1000% better than pre-op The surgeon said it was the least complicated scenerio and restored blood flow immediately to the stomach and surrounding area by snipping a ligament around the celiac artery. We didn't even know the human body had a celiac artery! Her 5" scar is now a badge of courage and future great poolside topic of conversation . We are, of course, overjoyed."

I couldn't be more overjoyed either, man.

It's hard watching your friends suffer from overseas. That's how I segue this post to my Japan blog. I hope the next time I see her she is fat as can be and back to normal health so we can do pilates poorly together!

Journey to the North : Day 4

2009-02-11T09:00:00.001+09:00

Lauren and I find an airport transportation autobus and climb aboard for the 90 minute journey to Chitose Airport. The weather is fine and we have no troubles finding a vessel to take us back to Kansai on the Main Island of the Japans. Exhausted from our travels, we do not speak much on the trip back. Instead we reflect on the many wonders seen over the past three days; strange beasts, sculptures in the snow, and a candlelit canal.

On our arrival to Kyoto Locomotive Station, we meet our companion, Ian. Ian helps us find proper Western food; burgers! Lauren is under the spell of the East and continues her descent into madness by eating okonomiyaki while Ian and I feast on meat, bread and too much sauce. Full and gay, I leave my comrades and find a locomotive North to my vehicle. I sleep on the ride up, full of mirth and memory.

Journey to the North : Day 3

2009-02-10T09:00:00.006+09:00

February 10, 2009
Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan

Lauren and I slept away the morning hours after our long, eventful days previous. Finally rising from our soft, warm bed, we dress and go out into the Susukino area to find luncheon with a friend of Lauren’s – Corey (yet another out-of-place Hawaiian). We decided on râmen, a special delicacy noodle dish of the area. Slurping down hot noodles in miso broth with pork and a dash of spring onions seems just the way to enjoy the cold climate and continuous snowfall.

The Sapporo City Hall

Lauren and Corey head out to the beer distillery while I wander around Sapporo City, admiring the architecture. Soon after, I decide to visit a small artisan area known as Otaru to the North. I find a locomotive to take me there and stare in awe as, ever so unexpectedly, the sea appears. The train winds northward up the snowy coast, and passed the icy waters of what must be the North Sea. Not long after, we arrive at Minami Otaru, the southern patch of the town. I depart here, not knowing where exactly I’d like to go.

After walking for some time along the snowy sidewalks and slippery streets, I find a bustling intersection. A steam-powered clock stands in the middle of the area and historic plaques give tourists information about the town itself. I see a newly wed couple, not even dressed in their winterwear, taking photographs in front of a large, snow cake (complete with painted strawberries on top). It is quite beautiful and I manage to take a photo. I continue my stroll along the chocolate shops, toy stores and glass blowers. Finally the sun sets and I reach the Otaru Canal, which is lit up with candles. Here, I believe photographs will aid me with description, as my words could not express the beauty of this spectacle.

Frozen through, I decided to head back to the Locomotive Station in the City Centre. I meet Lauren and we sip coffee, warming ourselves from the inside. Lauren suggests we meet her friends Geetika and Naoko once more for a crab supper. I happily agree and we meet them at a cosy seafood restaurant high up in a restaurant structure. We feast for the next two hours upon fresh Northern Crabmeat and toast to our success. Afterward, I retire early to pack up my belongings and get a night’s rest before the journey back to Kansai. Lauren does not join me until the wee hours of dawn.

I dream of worrisome unpleasant things –causing me constant anxiety. A friend’s botched surgery leads to her sudden death. Most unpleasant. I am inconsolable for hours the next day.

Journey to the North : Day 2

2009-02-09T09:00:00.004+09:00

February 9, 2009

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Asahiyama Zoo, Asahigawa, Hokkaido, Japan

Our first full day in the Nörth begins with an early morning breakfast in the underground sector of the accommodations. The hotel has provided us with the necessities: a spread of strange, eastern foods – most of it pickled or from the sea. Lauren (pictured with her explorer game face) partakes, her hair shining with the gleam of the Orient. At last I spot some Western Delicacies: eggs, toast and instant coffee. We snack on provisions while waiting for Kristin and Jian-wen to find us in the basement corridor.

Kristin and Jian-wen are prepared and ready to face the early morning chills of Sapporo. We leave the lodge and trek northwards towards the transportation vessel. Our tickets are purchased and we have brought everything we need to make the three hour journey to Asahiyama Animal Park. Cameras in hand, we board the highway vessel. Joining us on this voyage are some young, native women. They apply copious amounts of make-up (no doubt to blend in with their snowy environment) and giggle, as though they are small children. Lauren and I posit that this is in order to attract the men of the Japans. The island gentlemen must find this high-pitched noise instinctively alluring, and can hear the frequency from a long ways off. Sure enough, a male and his female companion join the ranks. He wears sunglasses inside the bus – perhaps it is a genetic eye condition, or perhaps he looked into an eclipse, thinking it was Amaterasu calling to him from the heavens. His hair is slicked back with seal blubber, and he is growing a weak beard. It seems queer to me that in such bitterly cold climates, the indigenous men seem incapable of growing thick beards or facial hair of any kind. Though, perhaps their skin is tougher than my own. The engine starts revving and our vessel gets on its way.

Lauren sleeps during most of the journey while Jian-wen attends to Kristin’s blistering headache. Perhaps she ate too many pickled sea creatures and is feeling the unfortunate consequences. The ride is long. I stare out the large, glass windows as the mountains and tall trees fly by. Memories unexpectedly emerge from my mind… playing in the snow as a child in Northern Virginia… trudging through the tundra of Western New York Territory… my first Oshõgatsu (Japanese New Years) atop the shrine of Yasaka Village (covered in snow, of course). It feels like a dream to be out in the middle of such grand nothingness.

We arrive at a rest stop and see a great crowd of visitors from every imaginable village in the Japans. They are in a frenzy; shopping, eating area delicacies (most of it iced cream, naturally), and taking daguerreotypes of snow sculptures outside. Wee ones play and frolic on the man-made sliding ground and elderly women simply take in the view and have their photos taken from inside a Japanese-made igloo.

Our first sighting of a snowbeast!

Another hour or so on the steel vessel and we find ourselves at last at the entrance of the expansive Asahiyama Animal Park. At last the opportunity to see indigenous beasts in their natural environments! Sadly for our group, the park is extremely crowded with more natives. Seems curious that they should be so eager to see their own wildlife. Though I suppose if I ever saw a Nörth American moose, elk or raccoon I would be equally delighted.

We decide to find provisions and hike up the mountainside to the very peak. The view is breathtaking – snowcapped, vast mountain ranges for all the eye can see. We find shelter and food inside one of the huts atop the mountain. Other visitors seem to have the same idea, but our timing is key and we find seating and nourishment in the form of hotdog, soup and rice.

After eating, we press through the building crowds and gallivant off to see the wildlife. Such variety of fauna, indeed! No explorer could have imagined how many indigenous species call Hokkaido their home. Chimpanzees, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Wolves, Polar Bears, Seals, Lions, Tiger and even Giraffe! Whereas in my African travels I have many a time seen lions eat giraffe and giraffe eat leaves from tall trees, in the Nörth, the giraffe eat the very snow they live in! The lion simply paces around his paddock, growling at those who dare to peer inside. The hippos and rhinos seem a tad less active than those in my previous studies. They simply lie down atop the frozen wasteland. Perhaps their lack of hair prevents them from activity. Surely their natural fat stores keep them warm, however. I do not worry. On a side note, I instruct Lauren on the correct way to identify an ostrich. Emu, indeed!

After a strenuous three hours, we encounter something most curious indeed. A parade of small penguins makes its way through the crowds, ever so slowly. Many people take photographs (our troupe included, surely) and in a moment the penguins are gone. We are left with our growing frostbite and seek out another native delicacy – warm meron pan (bread that tastes of melon). Tea and meron pan in hand, we board our vessel once more and instantly fall asleep for the three hour journey back to our lodge.

And what do you suppose they're looking for?

Tiger tiger burning bright, he will eat some snow tonight.

Madonna and Child: Macaque

The March of the Penguins

Egads! A grasslands animal that eats snow naturally!

Kristin and Jian-wen decide to leave the North the next morning, much to my dismay. Lauren leaves our group to meet some friends from her homeland while Kristin, Jian-wen and I are left to our own endeavors. We wander over to Õdõri Park to see the famous ice and snow sculptures.

Such wonders are these in the darkness! The native Sapporians have set up lights in order to bring out the smallest details of their festive seasonal installations. Carvings in the snow of famous castles (Hamamatsu Castle), famous people (various athletes, animated characters), and even an international section where various nations have submitted their own artists to sculpt strange things from the frozen ground. My own nation has constructed something most repulsive and strange… a combination of Wisconsin Indigenous Mythology and Frank Lloyd Wright. Whereas Jian-wen’s nation, Singapore, has tendered a most delightful snow sculpture of an animal… or a person… it’s quite hard to tell, actually. The clear winner of the statues is that of Thailand, an eagle fighting a giant serpent. Certainly worthy of the gold medal! Even Lithuåniå has crafted something – a tall rodent leaning on what appears to be a mitten. The description tells us the folk story of a mouse who found a glove and shared it with the other creatures of the forest. The tale ends with a bear crawling inside, ripping the glove. The mitten must have been spun from most elastic yarn. Rather, that which only Lithuania can produce.

We finish off our busy day with fried noodles with meat and cabbage, purchased from a local vendor stand in the midst of the festival. The hot noodles slip down our throats and give us strength enough for the walk home. I bid farewell to my traveling companions as they retire for the evening.

In my accommodations, I fall asleep almost at once, only to be awoken by Lauren returning after a night of frivolity and intoxication. Lauren spends the evening in the bathroom, perched over the privy, as I drift off into a warm and deep sleep.

Journey to the North : Day 1

2009-02-08T09:00:00.001+09:00

February 8th, 2009 (Sunday)

Kyoto --> Kobe --> Sapporo

Laüren and I braved the hördes of spatially unaware Kyoto-jin to take pleasure in COFFEE.
After replenishing our caffeine levels, we met fellows Kristin F and Jian-Wen C. and hopped the locomotive to Köbe city. The sky is eerily blue today.

Kobe as seen from the Port Liner locomotive
A swarthy crew, indeed. (Kristin, Jianwen, Rachel & Lauren)Posing in front of Kobe Port

The earthquake long ago has done wonders for this bustling metropolis. Its appearance resembles of a mixture of Seattle and Disneyland. We sit crouched next to a time-inappropriate Christmas tree, surrounded by our various parcels. The information sign says,

"ANA 403 Sapporo -- Weather Check".

Weather looks fine to me...

The frigid winds of the Nörth are somehow preventing the checking-in of our personal items! But we shall overcome this temporary hardship in time. Patience is of the utmost importance on this, our maiden voyage day! We can only hope the meager sandwiches will last us until we reach 27,000 feet and are rewarded with tea. *** We have made it to Chisöte Aérpört! The landing was most exciting and received applause from the natives. Fresh off the flying vessel, the four of us made our way by another locomotive to the Kita Hötel -- our primitive accommodations. Indoor plumbing and electric lights should suit us just fine.

Dressed in our warmest, we brave the bleak and frigid climate.

We dress in our furs and journey out into the Winterländ. It is night, and the darkness turns the wind into a piercing, penetrating gale. We seek shelter and warmth in the red-light district of Susükinø [薄野], where the indigenous tribes of Sapporo have staved off insanity by carving the shapes of animals into the ice. We observed actual sea-creatures (crabs, fish, etc) freshly encased in the blocks of ice.

frozen monstrosities!

Fearing our own capture and encasement, we seek shelter in an 'îzakåyä', where we meet a kindred explorer from the subcontinent of Néw Jërséy. Her name -- Geetika. She and her indigenous squaw, Naöko, regale us with tales of frivolity with the local peoples of Tokyö. We fend off the cold by downing exotic "cöçktaëls" and partaking in traditional dishes such as sashimi, kara-age, and pizzå. Laüren decides to befriend this explorer and continue alcoholic indulgence, whilst I (as the Japanese say) "cash in my chips" and head back to the inn for rest~ I'll need it for the frozen days ahead.

Post dinner! (Naoko, Gittika, Lauren, Rachel)

London and Emotional Rollercoasters

2009-01-05T17:00:00.000+09:00

Well it was quite the whirlwind vacation to England! Last year I only saw my Dad for 3 days before he had to go on a business trip, but this time he took 2 weeks off and we did NOTHING (not even Belgium things!) I don't think I've ever accomplished so much nothing on a vacation before... it was fantastic.

The pound is doing poorly, which made me happy because it meant that not everything was ridiculously expensive (only practically expensive). So, I bought lots of yarn and an ipod and some clothes. Good purchases all around.

Family is all doing well. Mama is still crazybonkers and my Dad likes the wii fit a LOT. Laura is good and is rocking a most interesting bouffant sort of hairdo most days. I don't know if this is on purpose. Dogs are well, except that Shekel is going blind! He is starting to look like the scary old rat, Nicodemus, from the Rats of NIMH! Oh no! But my cousins' pets had to be put to sleep first thing in 2009 (RIP Licorice the dog and Cosmo the cat). So weird. It was in 24 hours of each other, too. Different households to boot! What crap luck. Anyway I am thankful for my aging, blind, obnoxious dog.

For Christmas my mom cooked a ham and a chicken and a million side dishes, which actually made up for not having Thanksgiving with them this year. I ate so much ham, I may actually be 14% ham by volume now. They'll call me Ham Sreebny and I will excreet ham at them. Through my EYES.

Um.. for new years we sampled scotches from around the woooooorld (and got drunk) and played British Trivial Pursuit which has questions such as,
"Which town in Northern Britain was first to achieve an electric tramway and to this day still utilizies trams."
An American such as myself first asks the question , "wtf is a tram?"
The answer is Blackpool... or Liverpool.... or Blacksomething. I forgot. Needless to say I did not earn a single wedge.
The funny thing about England is not that they pronounce everything silly and phrase things strangely

"How many noses has a slug?"(the answer is 4). (I got that one right out of guessing).

Other than that, I utilized high speed internet and filled that big empty void in my life called "intimacy" with three human bodies around me at all times, and watched the first season of 30 rock. Come to think of it, my ma pa and sister were the ONLY people I had contact with in those 2 weeks, which is probably why it was so hard to depart.

The long flights and long train rides back were full of me half being horrified about leaving and going back to Japan where I feel gloomy lonely and empty most of the time and half me crying from exhaustion after being up for too many hours and never having any idea where my trains were supposed to be... also tooooo many suitcases and no escalaters make Rachel very unhappy. When I got to Fukuchiyama station and missed my train by 10 seconds b/c my bags couldn't be carried up the stairs quickly enough, I just burst into tears. Some girl with Japanese about as good as mine had to help me ask about other trains because I was so exhausted that I didn't have the energy to tell her that "I can understand the schedule I'm just crying because my body wants me to let it die." Anyway thanks, mystery girl! You saved me a bit of trouble.

Yumi's mother was a saint and picked me up from the train station. My car was a saint for not running out of gas on the way home. The weather was a saint for not raining or snowing.

Getting back home finally at midnight was weird. I had to take a bath because it was too cold to get into bed otherwise and once I was in bed and shut off the lights I had that dawning realisation that "AUGH OH NO I'M BACK HERE AND HERE IS WHERE I AM!!!!!" And had the same realizaton when I got up at 645 for work. "Oh no it wasn't a dream, I'm still here.... it's like I never left nNOooOoooooo!!!!"

So I've been feeling on and off depressed for the past 48 hours or so. But once teh sun finally came out and it was all beautiful and the waterfall was out and I had a nice drive to work it didn't seem quite as bleak. Nighttime just seems darker when there's no one else around.

Apparently my students did well above average on their English standardized tests so my BOE is happy with me for a change (even after me nagging at them about me going to that conference in 2 weeks). Phew. Our boss took everyone out for lunch at the sushi place down the street. Sitting down and knowing I could eat everything and HOW to eat everything made me realize that coming back is SO easy that it doesn't feel right.

It really doesn't feel like you should be able to wake up next to your sister in a proper house with central heating and say hi to your dogs and drink coffee wtih your dad and go for a ride in the car to the airport and spend that same night at your frigid empty house in rural Japan. It's so jarring that I feel a little bit crazy. That's why it seems like the vacation never actually happened, which is kind of depressing in itself.

Anyway I don't know what's wrong with me but I am preeeetty sure I am some kind of depressed right now. Seeinga psychiatrist in Japan sounds like more trouble than it's worth but I wanted to put this out there to everyone since it's a new year and I don't want people to think that I hate everything. I really just go back and forth between loving it here and hating it here and it never seems to sit in the middle. I just feel like I seem to be preventing myself from doing things I shoudl want to do. Like my friends here are awesome but I never feel like going out with them and it doesn't stop me from feeling lonely most of the time. I have a good job and I work well with my coworkers but I still feel like nobody there respects me and I am a really crappy teacher. I just feel like I am trapped inside myself and it's preventing me from having the fun I deserve to be having during my last 7 months. I also keep comparing myself to others which makes me embarassed about not having a good time in Japan when it seems like everyone else it -- but everyone HATES life in the winter! Why can't I see this????

Anyway I'm back and after work I am going to go home and sleep SO HARD. Meanwhile the monkeys are calling to me... "Happy 2009!" They seemed to screech.

Rachel

November Blog

2008-11-25T17:00:00.002+09:00

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

2008-11-08T16:41:00.000+09:00

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~

2008-11-05T18:19:00.001+09:00

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.

2008-10-28T17:00:00.002+09:00

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.

2008-10-17T17:00:00.000+09:00

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.

2008-09-15T17:00:00.001+09:00

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

2008-09-01T17:00:00.000+09:00

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

2008-06-15T17:00:00.001+09:00

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

2008-06-07T17:00:00.004+09:00

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.

2008-06-01T17:00:00.000+09:00

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

2008-05-31T17:00:00.023+09:00

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.

My Parents Come to the Japans

2008-05-06T17:00:00.000+09:00

In late April and early May, my very international mum & dad came for a very Japanese visit! We went to a LOT of places, which was great for me because I haven't really seen that much of Honshu until now!

We first went to Yokohama to see all of the very modern, very beautiful buildings and piers around the city. We also went to Chinatown to eat dumplings. Here are pictures.

Jet-lag got the better of my folks. But they're just so cute!

The very next day, we took a train ride to Hakone. Hakone is also in Kanagawa Prefecture (along with Yokohama). It's a town full of hot springs, craft museums, and fancy hotels! We made use of Ryokan living, craft museums, trains, buses and yukata! I also introduced my parents to the onsen, but... we I haven't any pictures of that.

Hard to imagine that I come from their combined loins.

My parents also managed to visit my elementary schools! My dad had a BLAST at one of them on his very first full day in Japan. The second elementary school involved a much shorter visit and meatloaf shaped like a koi with a corn kernel eyeball! Mmmmm ketchup scales! We were also treated by my BOE to dinner at the onsen (with a beautiful view) and a ferry ride on Ine-bay around the boathouses! And what trip to Tango would be incomplete without a steak dinner at the Ikari Farm and a visit to the Whirling Giants of Death™?

Finally we ended our vacation in Kyoto. I have almost no pictures of the fabulous sight-seeing that my parents went on due to the fact that I was deathly ill. I mostly watched the BBC. I did, however, get out for one day with my dad and we saw the Golden Pavilion; overrated, but shiny.

An Enkai, an Illness, and a Dog.

2008-04-18T09:16:00.000+09:00

An Enkai, an Illness, and a Dog.

With the new school year and new teachers come to Honjo JHS, it was time for yet another enkai. I was rather shocked to find out that it was happening a mere two weeks after the goodbye enkai (quite the rebound). However, it allowed me to use the following phrase which I had just learned.

二週間ぶり! “The first time in two weeks”, referring to drinking sake with co-workers, that is. And I may not have said/written/understood the grammar correctly in the first place.
We went to a really beautiful restaurant (and ryokan?) in Iwataki. I wish we had come in the daytime and the not-pouring-rain time so I could have walked around the garden on the premises. Instead, we all poured inside the room and sat down (自由席OMG- free seating) and naturally I sat near but not directly next to the fanciable Murakoshi-sensei [from hereon known as “Foxy sensei”] I sat next to the music teacher on my left [Shimizu-sensei] and the math teacher and drinking buddy of mine on my right [Ota-sensei]. I was happy with the surroundings and pleased that after a cup of sake, I was up to speaking some Japanese, answering the usual batch of questions about my hometown, eating habits, cooking abilities, presidential preferences, and love life. Oh, and baseball.
I had been feeling quite under the weather all day… not quite sure why. Mostly the lack of sleep, I had thought. However my feelings of general ickiness kept up throughout the evening, leaving me half conscious for a better part of the dining. Sadly, I couldn’t eat most of my food. This is VERY unlike me. I ignored my death rattle by talking to Foxy-sensei and Shimizu-sensei about the students and music and baseball [hooray for Ichiro, the only thing I know about baseball besides the fact that tight pants have always been my favourite things in the world of athletics.]

After much eating (why do so many dishes have small dead fish with eyes?), we strutted down to a local karaoke/bar named “White Pepper”. It sounded very familiar to me. I then thought that Bryn might come to this bar, which is where I may have heard the name before. Considering for a moment that Bryn’s former JTE was in our company and the lovely bartender had been talking about him for going on three minutes, I decided to invite Bryn to join our ‘fun’. He did so, being the sport he is. After a brief encounter with the not NOT trashed Notani-sensei, he hung out with me in the corner where I shared my half-chair with Aria-sensei [the nurse]. We chatted, wiped the blood from one another’s ears as Kocho-sensei sang his favourite tunes from the 1950’s, and drank whatever it was the bartender kept giving us. Unfortunately I had not foreseen that the gathering of two gaijins in a bar when said gaijins are not of the same gender can only mean one thing – HOT WESTERN SEX (in secrecy). I assume now that everyone things I am dating Bryn. This bodes less well for my romantic takeover of Foxy-sensei, which surely was well on its way. I believe he looked at me once and told me to ‘be careful’ in karaoke. One may recall the last karaoke session with this same set of teachers at the Ine JHS goodbye party. Do I hear wedding bells?

The trip home was no less than terrifying as my ride braved the sheets of rain on the narrow mountain roads of Nii-mura. Finally we arrived at my house, only to have a frantic look for my house keys!

At last, I had found my keys and let myself into my apartment. Only to be followed by some very expensive, Japanese puking. Another first time had in Japan.

Hm.

2008-04-14T17:00:00.000+09:00

I was trying to think of the best way to explain my new JTE situation. So here goes:

Tsuji-sensei was a horse.
Notani-sensei is a camel.

Both get you from point A to point B.

However when one switches from horse to camel, one thinks, "This is difficult only because I know what it's like to ride smoothly."

Poorly explained, but there you have it.

And if you've ever ridden a camel... well you just know what it's like.

偀介君Supermanz dat Ho

2008-04-11T17:00:00.001+09:00

Letters from Kameshima
(it's an island... kind of close to where I live.)

Thursday
Dear Eisuke-kun, It is only the first day of classes, but already you have made my year.

Kind Regards,

Rachel Teacher

Friday
Dear Mashiba-sensei (may I call you Yoichi?)

I never knew I would be smitten by a 22 year old junior high school gym teacher doing a backflip to the eager applause of thirteen year olds.

I was wrong. So very wrong.

Anytime. Anywhere.

Rachel Teacher

Friday Later...

朝妻(Asazuma) -- part of Ine, but more a hilly village where I do shuji.

I drove around this new rode that leads from Honjo-hama (Honjo beach) all the way around the peninsula, hugging the coast. I didn't really know what to expect, but I got a really nice view as it turned out! I recommend taking mystery roads.

2008-04-07T19:31:00.001+09:00

this essentially sums up all that happened in the past 60 hours.

Party in Honjo/Ine/Inaka/Your Mom

2008-04-07T18:04:00.007+09:00

Party in Inaka; 6,000 Found Dead.

This weekend was a celebration of nothing in particular. A month ago I had decided to throw another party (the last party being Rachelmas™ back in December). Most of my good friends could come, which was good. A few couldn’t, which was too bad. The most interesting part was the RSVPing, which was usually acquaintances telling me that they ‘probably wouldn’t make my party unless nothing better came up’, which is always a delight to hear. Well, the turn out was a good number of people to the food and liquor that we had prepared. I have more liquor left over in my house than I could ever drink in a year.

Let’s go back in time to Friday, where I drove to Nishi-Maizuru to pick Ian and Megan up at the train station. What a great place to pick people up! It’s only an hour and 15 minutes away from my home and there are no tolls! I believe it’s also quite thrifty for the train passengers, which makes it an ideal Inaka-pickup place for future weekends. We immediately went to Karachi for curry and followed it up with a donut or two. After a lovely drive home (accompanied by Easy-E, as per usual), we watched cartoons and slept in the downstairs tatami room. We didn’t even need the heater! Kirby was pleased to see his favourite guests back in the house. The guests were equally pleased to see Kirby, who is now as big as a wild boar and twice as chubby.

Saturday I left around 1030 in the morning for Yagi (Greg’s town) which is about 30 km from Kyoto as I understand it. I got there in about two hours time and met Greg at the train station. We trained it to Nijo to meet Zara (who was visiting from Kyushyu after dropping her mother off at the airport). We all went hanami-watching [a term used to describe looking at blossoms] in the city while I did errands. Pet food, coffee, etc. The blossoms were indeed lovely! I shall have to plan a proper hanami picnic for next year, but I got my fill of pink flowers, which was my goal anyway. Two hours, one ice coffee, and a subway ride later, we met John ‘Nowun kan oonderstand me’ Blakeney at Nijo. He looked as though he’d been hit by the party truck. He immediately asked if he could have a shower at m house, and we jumped on the slowest train in the world back to Yagi. The ride back was quick and painless with a quick stop off at Miyazu’s most famous beauty spot: MIPPLE. An unbelievable load of snacks and booze and we were back in the car and driving to Ine.

The party was lovely, as I have mentioned. A great group of people came over, plenty of liquor was imbibed, and nobody got so drunk that they threw up in my house or yard, which is always a plus. I am always touched that people will drive all the way up to my town for a few hours of standing around in my kitchen eating pizza and chatting. It’s no small trek.

Around 3am, we called it a night and went to bed. No hangovers the next day, which was fantastic (and VERY different from Rachelmas™). The first problem in the morning was the realization that there was NO MILK. How did we drink a gallon of milk in one night? The answer: we COULDN’T HAVE. Someone had most certainly pilfered my milk. I drove some of the kids out to the Nishigaki about 20 minutes away to get milk and veggies for omelets. Zara made omelets and smoothies for us and we enjoyed them while forcing John to watch “The Little Mermaid” (my work here is done). Eventually it was time to go down to the train stations and get Zara and Greg home.

The only problem was that my car seats four people and we had six. Simple solution, three HUGE boys in the back (all being tall and or bootylicious), Megan in the front seat, and Zara curled up while sitting on Megan’s lap. [PEOPLE IN THE CAR] Zara is also about 16 feet tall, so that worked out as well as it sounds. A dangerous car ride to Amanohashidate saw Zara off! We then drove down to Ayabe to drop Greg off at the station which would save him money. He of course ended up on the SAME TRAIN as Zara. The earth is so small.

• The remainder of the lot found ourselves eating yakiniku and being ripped off on kimchee. Those bastards. Then an ice creamy goodbye and everyone hopped a train or two home. It was a very lonely trip back up to my inaka home, but all in all, a very satisfying and bank-draining weekend. Let’s do it again!

School Year Ends; Teachers Wander Off

2008-04-01T17:00:00.002+09:00

Rachel says 'Goodbye' to Teachers, is Heartbroken on Purely Educational Level.

I won’t lie, this week has sucked and it has sucked hard. Last week I believe I studied Japanese for about 6-7 hours every day. It was interesting how much of it I was able to retain considering I have the conversational ability of an autistic panda.

I had an enkai with the Ine JHS teachers on Friday of last week. We went to a beautiful hotel in Amanohashidate (I was terribly underdressed) and ate fantastic food that went on and on for hours, course after course. Sauced up on sake, beer, and whatever liquor the womenfolk were feeding me, I had a good time conversing with my cohorts and taking time out to have English conversations with Aimi-sensei as well. The teachers’ speeches were very boring, but sincere. We are losing seven teachers (of our 15)—but three of them are only going to Honjo, where I also teach. I am sad to be losing one of my favorite teachers in the world, Fujimura-sensei. Her never-ending genkiness and motherly love towards me has really helped me get situated at Ine JHS. I wont’ be forgetting her anytime soon. She’s off to Hashidate JHS! So, at least Bryn can see her for me!

Yesterday (the last day of wretched March, which did not go out like a damn lamb) was my last day of work with Tsuji-sensei – my JTE and the best friend I had in my town for sure. We chatted the whole day about what we were nervous about in the coming year. She told me she really liked a lot of the teachers who are coming (including Notani-sensei, the new English teacher from Bryn’s school). That made me relax a lot. She says her new school is a fairly good size, maybe 300-400 students. Sadly she’s going to Yawada, which is clear across the prefecture (as much as you can get before going into Wakayama). A group of us teachers went to the only restaurant in Honjo (a lunch restaurant by Urashima Shrine that serves famous soba and delicious udon). It was nice chatting with the other teachers; some leaving, some staying. We all came back to school quite refreshed and full of noodles.

Midway through the day, Tsuji-sensei sat down at her desk and informed me that she was unable to make the Goodbye Enkai the next day because she had to drive to her new school immediately after the goodbye teachers ceremony on Tuesday. I was crushed. All of a sudden I went from having one more day with Tsuji-sensei to having two more brief hours. Hours at school, and not drunk at a hotel somewhere. It was a miserable way to end it, I felt. I helped her clean up the student council room with Ota-sensei (the math teacher who has taken a shine to me and likes to try out English on me). Afterwards it was time for me to leave. I said, ‘well, thank you for everything.’ Then she extended her arms for a hug—which I wasn’t sure people ever did in this country. I hugged her goodbye and we said our, “I’ll miss you’s” and “write me soons”. I left the school crying for the third time in one month.

I am at Ine JHS at the moment. We’ve just completed the goodbye teacher ceremony and it was sad, but more boring and cold than anything else. Why is it still cold?! The gym teacher is considerably more good-looking than the last (the 55 year old man) which makes me feel a bit more high-spirited about the coming school year.

Thank you to all the teachers for making my first 8 months in Japan memorable, and for being nice to me even though I could never quite speak to you other than saying all the wrong things in your ridiculous picture language.
Love, Rachel.

The Bay - Could it BE any more colours?

Rachel Appears to be Musical Prodigy, Isn't.

2008-03-26T17:00:00.002+09:00

Rachel Appears to be Musical Prodigy, Isn't.

Musical prodigies are said to look this amazing. And have ferrets.

Japan is an amazing place in that it creates mental images for me that make me laugh uncontrollably in the teacher’s room…

Megan and I were talking today while I was studying (online, obviously) and I told her that the Vice Principal had asked me to play the piano for the teacher’s farewell ceremony on Tuesday. I pointed to myself to confirm this, and then mentioned that I may not be a good choice as I have no idea how to play the piano at all. He then nodded, said “Hm. Is there no one who will play?” (Meaning I was definitely his last choice), and then he kindly instructed me on how to hole punch papers and put them in folders. That man sure puts the ‘pal’ in principal.

Anyway, I told Megan about the piano playing. She thought it was funny enough. I then said that I should have agreed and played the piano and played chopsticks. Megan said it would have been better to just bangon the keys for six minutes and then stand up and say, “It’s an American song!”. I had the mental image of every person in the room standing perfectly still -- not laughing or acknowledging my hypothetical insane actions. I then burst out laughing in the middle of the teacher’s room. Laughing so hard that my JTE actually asked me what was so funny. I told her the idea, and she started laughing soon. I then said, “Everyone would just say ああ、面白い。。。“ Which means “Ah… that’s interesting.” – they say that all the time when they don’t like something. LOVE IT.

I have absolutely nothing left to talk about, that seemed like it was completely validated.

Sumo Wrestlers hold Championship, are Fat.

2008-03-22T17:00:00.001+09:00

Sumo Wrestlers hold Championship, are Fat.

As I got off the subway at Namba Station in Osaka, I thought, ‘what could possibly be so wonderful about fat guys in thongs wrestling each other out of a circle?’ The answer is, ‘everything’. The lot of us (my friends plus KAJET people—an organization that sets up events such as this one for everyone in the prefecture) crowded into some tiny seats around the ring. Many of the foreigners I was with had trouble with the size of the seats, but they did their best to squeeze into them. The sumo match started off with lesser players (I don’t know any sports terms so please bear with me). The group of sumo-san come out and ascend the stage as their names are called out. When the entire group has been called out, they clap their hands and lift them to the sky while standing in a circle. Then everyone cheers, and they waddle off stage. During this opening, the sumo-san will wear sort of flags of their sponsors over their nether regions.

The fighting was the most exciting part, although it is the briefest part of the match. First the sumo-san have to approach the stage. A man in a very old, oriental looking get-up sings to a fan (someone told me that he sings their names). Sumo-san then climb up into the circle, face each other, and lift their legs high in the air, stomping them to the ground. The crowd yells ‘yoisho!’ Then the sumo squat, have some towels brought to them, squat some more, throw salt around the arena (to cleanse)… eventually they face each other and the match begins. The goal, from what I understand, is for one wrestler to toss/shimmy/push/elbow the other one out of the circle of chalk that surrounds them. Sometimes the matches are really quick, sometimes they are very long (by long I mean almost a minute). We saw wrestlers pick up their opponents and chuck them out of the ring, or fall trying to do so. We saw slap fights! Some sumo would grapple with each other then takes breaks while hugging, which was odd. The most exciting part of this is that the sumo wrestlers look to be about 300-400 pounds. When a 350 pound man in a diaper is tossed out of a ring, it is INCREDIBLE. Boy, some of those men took some real tumbles.

I also want to mention that the majority of watching the matches was mostly chatting, with brief pauses to return to the action. Megan and I began to rename the sumo wrestlers and take bets on them. ‘I call the one in the aqua diaper! His name will be Bel’aqua!’ “Alright… then I want the one in the CRIMSON diaper. I will name him Noodles.” Megan made much better choices than I did.

I was interested in some of the wrestlers who weren’t Japanese. The top sumo wrestler (who won this match among many others in the past few years) is Mongolian. We also saw a Russian sumo, a Romanian sumo, and a Hungarian one, I believe. It was really strange seeing them dressed as sumo. I don’t know who pulled off the diaper better, the Asians or the Caucasians.

In the end, I highly recommend taking in a sumo match at least once in your life. I believe alcohol might make it even more exciting, although I don’t have that as first hand experience.

Teachers Prepare for Migration

2008-03-19T17:00:00.000+09:00

Migration of the Teachers: Part I – Preliminaries

It’s the last full week of school (if you don’t count Vernal Equinox… a stupid idea for a holiday but a grand idea for a day off!) The teachers are finding out over the phone whether or not they will be working at their respective schools for the next school year. Many of them won’t be. Oddly enough (and happily for me) quite a few of the teachers are swapping from Honjo to Ine, and from Ine to Honjo. This means I won’t be devoid of their smiling faces or strange conversations. It’s good that I am able to keep the people I know, as they are few and far between.

However, as I had prepared myself for, my most fluent JTE, Tsuji-sensei, will be leaving me. She has tears in her eyes this morning… I think that while she is happy with the news, she is going to be fairly heartbroken when she leaves this school and this little community. Tsuji-sensei came to Honjo JHS six years ago. I believe she was fresh out of college, where she majored in French and learned English on the side. As such, she is certified to instruct both English and French. I have to mention that her English is phenomenal. For someone who has learned English solely inside of Japanese Universities, her skill and the level of conversation she has progressed to is top notch. She says this is because her former university professor is British. Be that as it may, it was always a breath of fresh air speaking with Tsuji-sensei. I honestly feel sometimes that she is the only person who can understand me (as an English speaker and as a person) in this town. In the summer that brought me to Japan, Tsuji-sensei married her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, also Tsuji-sensei, worked at the elementary school in Honjo for some years. He currently works in Kyoto city with handicapped learners. This means that the Tsujis are married and live about three hours of driving apart, which also means that Mrs. Tsuji (my JTE) travels to Kyoto city almost every weekend (read: every weekend she is not at work).

So, for her, transferring is a great relief. Wherever she is sent, odds are it will be infinitely closer than where she is now. Honjo is so distant from the city our prefecture is named after that people in Shiga, Hyogo, Fukui, and Osaka are able to reach it must faster. One hopes that she will actually be able to live with her husband at some point, too. I suppose she’d like that as well!

In the next few weeks I will have to say goodbye to a lot of my colleagues. I suppose the only consolation is knowing that the teachers are generally better off where they are in comparison to Honjo or Ine. Also, in early April we will be receiving the new first years (fresh out of elementary school), which will be my new breath of fresh air.

Last day at Ine JHS for the Year, Keima Came

2008-03-18T17:00:00.002+09:00

Last day of classes at Ine JHS! I am celebrating the break from having to teach my horrid 2nd year students. Here is a picture of the first year students. I actually like them. I managed to convince them of the pronunciation of ‘came’ by writing on the board,

• Keima came.

Giggle aside (in my head), Keima blushed, and the students learned. In theory. Also, it was cold again this morning. I was not amused.

Bet you can't guess which one is me.

St. Patrick’s Day Acknowledged, Rachel Forgets Anyway.

2008-03-17T17:00:00.003+09:00

Today was St. Patrick’s day. In actual news, I had my last first year class at Honjo JHS, so I took a picture.

Then I talked to John wot comes from Oirland, so I suppose I celebrated the holiday in that fashion. I then knitted and fell asleep while watching Amelie.

Not to flood my blog with even MORE photos, but I went cycling around Honjo-hama (the area behind my house, essentially) and some of the photos came out looking very stunning. Despite my taking them.

Curry is Always in Season

2008-03-16T17:00:00.003+09:00

Leigh and Simon enjoying their donuts and drinks. Simultaneously.

Not much to report, other than curry is delicious. Here are some pictures of my adoring public at Mister Donut.

Jun and I enjoy donut... bags.

Rachel cleans kitchen, Hell freezes over.

2008-03-15T17:00:00.000+09:00

I was supposed to attend the fertility festival in Nagoya this weekend, but instead elected to stay home and clean my house. Now that the weather has changed from miserable to considerably-less-miserable, I find myself able to walk around my house without a million layers. I also find myself going around my first floor more frequently than the past two months. I use my kitchen sometimes, and I’ve even started sitting in the tatami rooms once more! It’s nice to have my house back, and Kirby agrees. He’s become quite the butterball after a winter of sleeping in a hammock and eating ferret cheerios without running around very often.

Kirby and I got some exercise on Saturday! I worked out and went for a bike ride, which I haven’t done a lot lately. Not feeling as sore as I expected to be, I deep cleaned my kitchen, put away the kotatsu covers, and set up my tatami room with some floral arrangements! I also bug repelled my entire house with two kinds of repellent. My pesticide still stands by at the genkan, waiting for its time to shine in the not-too-distant future. The spider sacs, still swaying gently in the breeze on my porches, have been sprayed with pesticide. I was a bit of a weenie about going out onto the porch to do it, but I held my breath, counted to 10 and danced around in fear while spraying each of them lovingly.

Leigh came over in the evening to watch student films with me. The mark of a true friend.

Graduation Ceremony Day, Some People Care

2008-03-14T17:00:00.001+09:00

Today was White Day. This is the day where girls get chocolate from boys. I didn’t, but I did go to a graduation at Ine JHS. There isn’t much to say about it. Teachers dressed up in suits (which helped me to realize that I need to reintroduce exercise into my daily regiment), students wore their same old school uniforms (with pretty red flowers attached), and parents showed up in suits or kimonos! We also had a group of important looking men show up, as is necessary for most Japanese ceremonies, I feel. One of them was the mayor, as it turns out! La-dee-da!

The ceremony itself was about an hour and a half in length. Speeches, bowing, formalities, and then we got to leave. Short and sweet! It was cute seeing my students with their parents, and cuter still watching them enter the teacher’s room one by one to say, ‘thank you!’ and dash out, embarrassed and a bit teary.

I felt lucky to spend the day at Ine JHS on a Friday instead of my usual schedule of going over to sit around at the BOE and twiddle my thumbs. I was also very fortunate in that I got to take food home from the 3rd year graduation party! I grabbed some sushi and sandwiches before heading down to Scott’s apartment to watch movies with Leigh. A good day by all accounts.

I also managed to take some interesting pictures of my town – proof that the weather is actually getting nicer.

一日中泣きました。　I cried the whole day.

2008-03-12T17:00:00.002+09:00

Today was the 'sayonara' party for the 3rd years at Honjo JHS! In celebration of their three years at middle school, we played dodge ball and had ourselves a picnic lunch (in the meeting room).

The first years put on a quiz for everyone! They switched clothes and unbuttoned buttons and moved around hairstyles and the rest of us had to guess what was different! The second years presented 'teacher trivia' and asked questions such as;

What is Kyoto-sensei's favourite colour? (Vice Principal)
How old is Rachel-sensei?
What is Mr. Nishimura's hobby?

Finally there was a drawing contest involving all the grades! The student council announced something that the contestants had to draw. Such as, "the world", "Amanohashidate", "Doraemon", "Yoshi", and a few more that I can't remember. The students would display their works and the teachers (and Rachel) decided whose was the best!

The downer of the day was that my JTE's grandfather passed away and she had to leave school to go home. Not only is it a bummer to have someone in your family die, but she also had to miss a day that she'd really worked hard for and looked forward to all week! It seemed really unfair to me.

The last event of the day was in the music room. The whole school (easily 65 people) sat down and watched a slide show of pictures throughout the school years of the current 3rd year students. It began with pictures of them as first years and showed all the activities they'd taken part of. It was a really cute presentation! Afterwards, it was time for the teachers to deliver their personal messages to each individual student. There are only nine third year students (even I can name them all off with ease), so it was very personal.

Each teacher chose a student they were close to and wrote them something to the effect of, "You've become a leader/You've shown such prowess through the years./I remember when you first came to school..." and so on. I was again bummed that Tsuji-sensei wasn't around to read her passage to Kenta. She teaches the two slow-learner students for homeroom (which is mainly kanji, as I understand it). She and Kenta are really close and it was a shame she wasn't there. Anyway, all it took was a single crack in the music teacher's voice and all stoicness in the room was gone. The rest of the female teachers began to crack and tear up when they read out their passages. This led to the female students beginning to tear up and sniffle. In five minutes there wasn't a man, woman or child in that room who wasn't crying. It was one of the most emotional times I've ever had, I don't even know how to explain why. How can something feel like too much when it doesn't seem like enough? I don't even speak Japanese well enough to understand what's being said, but I understand enough, I suppose. For me, my breaking point was looking across the room and seeing Hayato, the captain of the baseball team in tears. Not just tears in his eyes, but steaming down his cheeks. He wasn't holding back, he was done. All the boys were crying -- and I couldn't stop after that. These kids bike in the ice cold winter for MILES around! They are up from dawn until dusk working their asses off at school, sports, and on their studies -- not to mention household chores! I couldn't believe the amount of emotion in that room, it was almost unbearable. After the teachers sang a song to the students, it was time for the 3rd years to deliver their messages to the first and second year students. The kids got it together (bleary eyed as they were) and said encouraging words of advise to the other students. Then the second to last girl, Sayaka, the QUIETEST girl in the school began to read hers and just BURST into tears. Hysterical sobs. She couldn't finish for a good two minutes. It was awkward, and everyone else started to tear up again. Anyway, we got through it.

Fifteen minutes later I was walking to my car and couldn't hold back any longer. I started crying and I didn't stop for a good two hours. I couldn't even tell you what I was crying about.

To take my mind off whatever it was that was making me feel more and more helpless and uncomfortable, I took a drive around the high cliffs which border the coast of the Sea of Japan. Thank God for the sea, that's all I have to say about that.

Kenta! He is the disabled learner of his grade -- but he got into HS! Wahoo!

Dinner at the Boss’ house, Reminder that I don’t speak Japanese.

2008-03-11T17:00:00.002+09:00

The other night I went to a dinner at Hamano-san’s house. Hamano-san is the Head of the Board of Education in Ine. So, his title is 教育長 (Kyoiku-cho). I went accompanied by Miyajima-sensei (the music/cooking teacher at Honjo JHS), Akiyama-sensei (the nurse/everyone’s second mother), and Tsuji-sensei (my partner in crime and JTE). We met the Hamanos at their lovely home in Tsutsukawa, which is one of the many villages that makes up Ine-town. Their house was old and beautiful, but decorated with the Japanese luxuries of life (large flat screen televisions, couches, cuckoo clocks, stuffed toys and other things Japanese people like more than most).

Dinner was ‘inoshishi nabe’, which was wild boar meat cooked nabe-style, in a large hot pot! We mixed it with miso dashi (the main sauce ingredient which the meat and vegetables are cooked in), mushrooms, onions, cabbage etc.

The evening, for me, was spent trying not to get drunk as Hamano-san kept refilling my beer, and then his own. I also tried my best to understand what everyone else was talking about. However, the TV was on and distracted me greatly throughout most of the meal. By the end of it (three hours later), Tsuji-sensei and I drove back to Honjo JHS to get my car. She asked me if I had been watching the TV. I hesitantly told her that I had, and was embarrassed if it was very obvious. She mentioned that she had been watching too, and wanted to know the outcome of the game show. I told her that the other guy had missed his alarm, so Shinji had won the 1,000,000 yen.

Bike.

2008-03-10T17:00:00.002+09:00

Here is a filler (probably the definition of filler) wot I wrote for the ganbatte times. It is not good, but it saves me the time of writing about my new bike. 読んで。I put it in courier font so it looks like I typed it for the Daily Planet.

The Adventures of Otoshita Kagi
Rachel K. Sreebny

Most people come to understand their lives after near death experiences, torrid affairs, or on their deathbeds (at least, this is what TV and movies have taught me). However, for me to realize the bizarre state of my life in Japan after six months in Ine-town, it simply required me to drop my brand new bike keys through the sewer grate.

My brand new bike is what the locals call ‘enji-iro’, which roughly translates to, ‘the color of a Dr. Pepper can”. It has three speeds, a basket, a bell, and a crazy Japanese bike lock, which I am only beginning to understand. The last bike I owned was a purple Huffy. It had magenta, pink and white streamers that danced in the breeze (much akin to Freddie the leaf), and some neat, neon-coloured rubber things made for bicycle spokes (as was the style in 1992). My bike, as I remember it, had a kickstand. When I wanted to abandon my bike for the day, I would simply pull the kickstand down and lean the bike on it. No problems there – I was quite the clever 2nd grader.

I was feeling fairly accomplished having spoken to the delivery man over the phone and directing him to my apartment (as many know is almost impossible to find amongst the monkey-infested forests of Upstate Tango). The idea of riding a bike again sounded lovely, and was part of my growing denial of the cold, cold weather. Certainly if I purchase a bicycle, wear spring clothing, and never turn on my heat, the weather will change accordingly. The bike arrived, and I hurried to unpack it from its meticulous Japanese wrapping. I quickly understood how to lock and unlike the bike with the keys. I pushed the bike stand up over the wheel, but couldn’t seem to get it all the way back down. As I was jimmying (Yankee term to mean ‘fiddling with’) the swinging bike stand, the key leapt out of the locked part of the bike and fell straight through the gutter into the muck below.

Two minutes, a potted plant hook, meter stick, knitting needle and scotch tape later – I had fashioned a mighty tool! A tool with which I hoped to procure my bicycle keys! Crouched down on my stoop in my school clothes (knee socks and all…), I came to the realization that this tool I had so carefully fashioned, I considered how lucky it was to drop my keys at the end of winter. The knowledge that I may not bump into the Jurassic insects that surround my home during the more formidable months helped me to continue my efforts of poking around in the muck and the mire. However, my tool was as efficient as the insulation in my house. I switched to the undeniable power of the garden shovel, which failed almost as immediately. Finally (and adhering to the rule of thirds), I acquired my keys by using my broom and dustpan. It was no simple task, but I had ganbatte’d and succeeded –a hero for the ages.

Disinfecting my keys in the kitchen sink, I thought about the evening’s events. Living in Japan is no small feat, but in this program I often feel that I never have to do anything on my own. My lack of language skills paired with my predecessor’s overly “independent” actions have led me to a lifestyle of sitting pretty, while lovely Japanese office workers manage my life. Doing so very little for myself on a daily basis, it was nice to feel accomplished – even in the simple actions of retrieving lost keys, ordering a bike over the phone, or realizing that the disinfectant I was using is actually lilac-scented fabric softener. I suppose without those small, household disasters, I would forget entirely how to do things on my own.

Perhaps it’s not the Michael Bay climax-style realization I made it out to be. If the reader finds him or herself unsatisfied, please also note that I made a cheese omelet afterwards, and that it was delicious.

Another weekend in the cities

2008-03-09T17:00:00.005+09:00

Friday night after driving down from Tango with Leigh, I joined Megan and her buddy Kelly in Kameoka for the evening. After much ado about losing an expensive, cult item -- tortillas were made by the semi-Mexican Kelly (and consumed by all).

Saturday I went to Osaka with Ian and Kelly. I had my rolling suitcase with me because inside it was my semi-broken iMac! Rolling that around was far easier than taking it in the original box. Also, I looked even more like a tourist than usual! Always a plus. We arrived at the Osaka Apple Store! With the help of Ian and Kelly, I managed to describe the computer problems to our helpful 'genius', and he whisked it away for repairs. I will be picking it up in two weeks time, and hoping meanwhile that they are fixing all the right problems! It would be really nice to have an electronic escape weapon for those long afternoons after school...
With some serendipity going on, I ran into Anthony on the train to Osaka, Simon and Lyle around the Shinsaibashi area, and Lauren O. with a bunch of gaijin buddies not long after. After a while, the three of us (tryst, if you will) met up with Megan and her friend Doug of Gifu.

We all had dinner and drinks at the Outback Steakhouse. Outback in Osaka is kind of like Disneyland for English teachers in Kansai -- I don't honestly know why. Our kindly server, Yuri, managed to put up with us for 2+ hours as we drank too much beer, ate too much meat (why did I order so much, again?) and booby-trapped Ian's plate with sauce.

After an amusing train ride back to Kameoka, we left Ian for dead and sang lots of Japanese songs at karaoke. As to say, the three of them did and I drank cocoa! I also sang me some "Dust in the Wind" because I was tired and it was the only song I could manage. Accompanied by Kelly's crunking. The perfect evening.

Sunday
Sunday was mostly laziness. Megan, Doug and I dropped Kelly off at Kyoto station and went down to the Sanjo/Teramachi area to walk around the river. It was a beautiful day! Families were out enjoying recreation, the birds were enjoying the sky (from what I could see), and there were heron everywhere! I tried to take some pictures... mostly the day was so pretty it was hard to take a bad picture, but I believe I managed. I also remember that we had Indian food with Amy, Ian and Lauren as well and that it was delicious. I did, however, have a fabulous late night road trip back to Tango with Leigh and we caught up on our weekends!

Odorii Heppubaan

2008-03-04T10:00:00.000+09:00

Reicheru, Reicheru. Ano... Odori Hapbaan wakaru?
Rachel -- do you know the Odori Hapbaan?

'....What?'

This went on. Only it went through different volumes and speeds
ODORI HAPBAAN
OOOOOODOOOOORIIIIII HAAAAAPUUUUUBAAAAAAAAAAAN
odorihapubaan! odorihapubaan!!!!!

Saa.... hatsuon wakaranaikedo... 'Damn, she doesn't understand our pronunciation"
"Sorry, sensei, I really really don't"

"Reicheru, you know, ROMAA HORIDEI?"

oh.

Audrey Hepburn. The female, American actress (none of these words were used in Japaense, mind you) -- someone SUCKS at taboo.

Then they laughed at how I said her name and asked me to repeat other American names -- hilarious ones like Anjerina Jourii.

I hate Japan.

Weekend with my Japanese Homies

2008-03-03T10:00:00.000+09:00

When asked what my weekend plans were, I replied, "I am eating. With Japanese girls."

Essentially that was precisely what I did this past Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, I braved my slight cold (read: I had no ability to breathe) to meet Yumi and Scott and the Honeycomb coffee shop. This is a coffee shop with cute cakes, derricious coffee beverages, and some attractive waitresses! If only I swung that way. But I'm not into waitresses.

Yumi, I should add, wanted to go back there about five times during the day. I blame LIZ for this, as she introduced me to it awhile back and I have been addicted ever since. The addiction has now been passed on.

After coffee, the three of us went to meet Miss Yuuki Shibayama for some Sushi Ro------- in Oyima. The sushi was good, but my sickness prevented me from eating a disgusting amount, as I usually do. Alas.

We ditched Scott afterwards and Yuuki drove us to a Jersey Cow dairy farm in Kumihama! They had baby cows in one pen and HUUUUUGE Jersey dairy cows in the barn. They were HUGE! I don't know why they seemed so big... either Jersey Cows are humongous or I haven't ever actually seen a cow before and I forgot. Anyway, the point is we tried salt ice cream and it was gross. So we revived our taste buds by eating blueberry yogurt ice cream was what soooo good.

After a quick glimpse of the Kumihama vegetable market and a very detailed discussion on sweet potatoes, we went back to the Mineyama area, stalked Liz from place to place, and bought me a shiny maroon bicycle! It's being delivered on Monday after school (in theory). Hooray transportation that isn't my car! Not that I have anywhere in biking distance I can go to, but damnit it's the principle of the thing.

After wandering around Mine and looking at ugly ugly shoes, we went to Seiryuu (a Japanese tavern by the train station). Yumi and Yuuki's stomachs were bottomless pits. I was thoroughly showed up by their crazy hunger.

The next day was meant to be taking Kirby-kun to the vet. However, the friendly vet said that he didn't actually know anything about ferrets and recommended a farther away different ferret-affiliated veterinarian. We did not go all the way to Fukuichiyama, however. Instead, we dropped Kirby off in Ine and drove even FARTHER and close to (in?) Fukui Prefecture. The goal, you see, was a road trip to Obama. Obama, through the ridiculousness of the Japanese kanji system, means "small beach". The name could easily be pronounced "kohama", but fortunately for my obsession with novelty, it is pronounced like our dreamy possibly presidential candidate. You know, the black one.

Obama has two mermaid statues, a public restroom, and a train station. We found no statues of Barak Obama, no ridiculous Obama-shaped cakes, and no shirts with Engrish pronouncing undying fidelity to the strange, American politician. It was sad. We DID however, find an excellent onsen! Yumi and I got nekkid and enjoyed the seaweed, vitamin, and freakishly hot baths in the onsen, drank lots of water, and hopped back in the car!

I should add that on the way to Obama (small beach), we passed Nagahama (long beach), Takahama (high beach), and Oohama (big beach).

We met Marina and Scotty at Karachi (the Indian/Pakistani curry shop in Maizuru). Quick fact about Maizuru, it means, "dancing stork". YAY! 舞鶴. Curry, as always, was magnificent.

Then it was moooore driving! Dropped Yumi off, went home, and realized that my glasses are still so broken and I have to wear contacts until I figure out how to procure more eye wear. Crap.

Monkeys!!!!!!

2008-02-29T10:00:00.000+09:00

So, I'm sitting at school with my plague (got it yesterday, but that is beside the point).

My coworkers start chattering by the window, like they do, in their crazy oriental language that I hardly understand. However the word 'saru' sticks out, because it means monkey.

So, there's monkeys on the baseball field! Spring has come at last, I think. However the three monkeys turn into 7 monkeys... then 10 monkeys, and then about 15 monkeys!

They're playing on the field, climbing the bike shelter and running around at the speed of a determined Labrador. They are also the SIZE of one! Gah monkeys here are so scary.

After snapping some pretty lousy photos, I was asked the question I ALWAYS am asked when monkey sightings occur.

"So, what kind of monkeys they got in the states?"
"None."
"Not even in the ROCKIES?!"
"Not even in North Ameirca!"

they find this hard to believe until I describe a grizzly bear. Maybe Smokey ate all the monkeys.

Also I should note that the sun has been out more -- which is making Ine Bay turn some BEAUTIFUL shades of blue and green! Here are pictures for good measure.

I had a delicious bento box of egg rice with crab, a little bit of hamburger, sashimi, and sushi with cucumber and shrimp! I also got to look at this bay during it! It was fabulous.

Stupid need for human contact.

2008-02-18T10:00:00.001+09:00

I had somewhat of an "episode" last night when I finally got a decent enough skype connection with my mother... It was really embarassing, but it has to do with living in Japan and as such, merits going in this blog. Plus I find that honest moments are the most interesting to look back on, so in 5 years if I read this... uhhh... I hope it's interesting?

Well yesterday I couldn't go to Marina's birthday party because it was snowing way too hard for me to get there and back in one evening in one piece. I spared myself some death-defying driving and stayed in with the ferret and the heater. It was fine.

But as the sun set and I ran out of people to talk to online, I started feeling a bit lonesome. On top of everything, my "super computer" imac has stopped playing the Sims (for reasons that are to computery to put into this entry) and has started freezing more often. I thought "macs didn't freeze", or whatever. Plus, playing computer games tends to be all that I do with my free time (aside from movies, reading and studying). I am not a "big gamer", but it's something to take my mind off of boredom and it passes the time really quickly! So without the ability to play games, I felt like I honestly had nothing to occupy my time.

My internet connection isn't good. It's spotty and generally slow as molasses. I don't need high speed internet to LIVE of course, ... but it also means Skype doesn't work that well. Which means I can't physically speak to anyone without a terrible connection and constant hang ups. So... that on top of being stuck in my house and having generally nobody to talk to/nothing to do in my town sometimes really wears me down. Never this much, though.

On the phone with my mother, I finally just broke down into hypoventalation and trying to vent my frustrations so I could breathe properly again. My mom keeps mentioning taht I should just transfer or ask to move closer to Ine to get better internet and be that much closer to humanity. But, I can't transfer out of Honjo just because of internet! It's so lame... and I love my town/schools/job/general lifestyle here. I'm just not a perfect person.

But, I will tell my PA (Ian) about it and maybe just venting to him will help. Plus he has to listen to me, it's his job.

Rachel

Instead of party snow. Alas.

2008-02-17T10:00:00.000+09:00

Well, I was supposed to go to Marina's surprise birthday party tonight, which would have been nice for a few hours, but instead it decided to snow all day!

So I spent the day in my newly rearranged room (with the heeeater) and enjoyed catching up with some people, making cut out tigers, and walking around in the snow! Here are pictures of tigers and snow, ... I don't feel a need to clarify them further.

(this is technicaclly my 'backyard'?)
Follow the tiger head's advice for a promising future in dental hygiene.

Stupid omelette-grabbin' stairs

2008-02-15T10:00:00.000+09:00

Well, the week has been generally uneventful. I did manage to make a delicious omelette, fall UP my stairs and get delicious omelette on every single step! Makes me miss having apartments with one floor :( And I miss it being warm enough to eat at my table in the kitchen! Someday...

I am supposed to be at elementary school today, but two of the grades have the flu so there's basically no school! So, I am at the Board of Education all day being ... bored of education?

I went to visit the Yoshida's and to see Leigh on Valentine's day. I hadn't seen either of them in a really long time so it was a relief to catch up and to speak to other human beings and all that. We had delicious spicy tofu soup, curry, and Yoshida Bread mmm. The road from Iwataki until the mountain pass to Yasaka was covered in beautiful snow last night. Had the Yoshida's known this, they'd have made me stay wiht Leigh for the night :D But it was fun winding up the snowy road at 15 mph and looking athe pretty trees. Didn't get home until pretty late though.

On the way home, I couldn't help but feel really alone. Not lonely, just alone. And certainly not because of Valentine's day (which is a celebration of all things pink and heart-shaped as far as I am concerned). I think it happens when I hang out with people who have social lives around their homes. Or people who are close with their neighbors or Japanese friends and families. I really don't have anything like that in Ine and I don't think that I will. I am happy to stay at home and keep to myself most days... that doesn't bother me at all. I don't feel like I am missing out either. It just makes me extremely aware of how much time I spend alone. I think it just sort of hit me last night on the drive home.

Anyway I have to go to a birthday party this weekend that I am not keen on going to so much. It's kind of funny how the more time I spend alone, the less I actually want to go out and be social with people. Once a week is really enough! I suppose it's the hermit in me.

Hokkaido Part Four: The long way home – how did it get colder?

2008-02-12T10:00:00.000+09:00

The long way home – how did it get colder?

Getting up the next morning at 6:30am was murder. It was really difficult to leave my warm, comfortable bunk for the cold outside and a long day of transit.
Marina and I hopped a train to the airport and had a nice breakfast there. After an uneventful two hour flight, we arrived back in Osaka, had a pizza lunch, and grabbed another train back to Kyoto. From Kyoto, we trained it YET AGAIN to Kameoka and began our drive home. It was essentially a day of trains, planes and automobile. We polished off the evening with a kaiten sushi dinner and I picked Kirby up from Yumi’s house and went home to go to bed fairly early.

It was depressing going home only because it was colder in my bed than I had felt the entire time in Hokkaido. Hokkaido, the snowiest coldest place in Japan. Figures.

Today was a day off from work though, which is excellent! It’s ‘National Foundation Day’, or 建国記念の日.

Here are some facts about this national holiday:

o Japanese people celebrate Emperor Jimmu, the first mythical emperor of Japan. It’s to honor and celebrate his imperial line as well as the country’s birthday.

o It became a holiday in the late 19th century when Japan adopted the Gregorian (Roman) calendar.

o Japanese people may put up a flag or two, but other than that it’s a fairly boring, tradition-less holiday where people don’t have to go to work. Amen to that!

Hokkaido Part Three: Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

2008-02-11T10:00:00.000+09:00

Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Marina and I tried to sleep in on Sunday morning (or rather sleep off certain post-drinking affects). However, the girls in the room were making a lot of noise fairly early in the morning, so we eventually got out of bed. Marina then asked the girl who had stolen her bunk what the deal with THAT was. The girl replied that neither of them had left their bags on their bunks, so they had been cleaned. So the girl’s bunk had no sheets. And somehow it made sense to her to steal Marina’s sheetless bunk. In conclusion, that girl was crazy.

After a Starbucks breakfast, we met up with Andrew (from Shiga) on the shuttle bus to Satoland. Satoland is a sort of children’s ice wonderland constructed about 25 minutes outside of the city. They have snow slides, an ice labyrinth, and lots of snow games for children. We spent a few hours there, mostly standing in line. The snow maze was about as exciting as a colder version of a hay-maze. Megan and Kyle eventually caught up with us, along with Desirae and her friend James. Together we went on the ice slides (after a two hour stand in a line/queue). It was totally worth it! The slide was ridiculously fun. After standing in the cold, crowded, child-infested Satoland for a few hours, the lot of us hopped the bus back to Sapporo.

We walked around the fish market so Kyle could purchase delicious crab. It’s crab season, and some of the most delicious and expensive crabs can be bought in Sapporo and Hokkaido! (Some can also be bought in my area of Kyoto, I should add). Kyle showed us to a great sushi place that was recommended in her guide book. The sushi was definitely the best I’ve had in Japan. Melt in your mouth delicious, and the price was really affordable to boot!

Everyone left for other activities and I was left with Megan and Kyle. They needed to catch their ferry back home, so I went with them to a convenience store to stock up on snacks and we all had Baskin and Robbins ice cream! It had been too long since I’d had a proper mint chocolate chip sundae.

After everyone was gone, and I realized that there were no new movies out in the cinema, I went back for an early night at the youth hostel. I was exhausted from the day and it was nice having the room to myself to do a little reading.

Memoirs of a White Chocolate Geisha

There and Back Again

Solar Eclipse : Moon eats Sun

Penultimate

Farewell, Bike!

Poisonous Centipedes Dream of Electric Sheep

Going Back (Thursday, June 18)

I Hate Delta

The Rest of It (Saturday June 13-Monday June 15)

The Funeral

A Diversion

Oe Yama and The Eight Person Date

Track & Field Day

Dust in the Wind, the Karaoke Story

A Weekend of Estrogen and Tofu

WE CAN'T KEEP THIS SECRET ANY LONGER!

A Weekend with Goats

Bali : There Were Excursions, Also

Bali, Hotel Days

Bali, day one.

New School Atmosphere & Hanami

Goodbye, lovely teachers!

Just to Clear the Deck, I own no Monkeys.

Phew

Journey to the North : Day 4

Journey to the North : Day 3

Journey to the North : Day 2

Journey to the North : Day 1

London and Emotional Rollercoasters

November Blog

Hooray for Wood

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

New Friends.

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

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

Long time, no write

A haircut of destiny/chemical burns

Gaijin muck around, plant rice

Rachel is prodded in the eye for medical purposes.

Laura visits Nippon 2K8

My Parents Come to the Japans

An Enkai, an Illness, and a Dog.

Hm.

偀介君Supermanz dat Ho

Party in Honjo/Ine/Inaka/Your Mom

School Year Ends; Teachers Wander Off

Rachel Appears to be Musical Prodigy, Isn't.

Sumo Wrestlers hold Championship, are Fat.

Teachers Prepare for Migration

Last day at Ine JHS for the Year, Keima Came

St. Patrick’s Day Acknowledged, Rachel Forgets Anyway.

Curry is Always in Season

Rachel cleans kitchen, Hell freezes over.

Graduation Ceremony Day, Some People Care

一日中泣きました。 I cried the whole day.

Dinner at the Boss’ house, Reminder that I don’t speak Japanese.

Bike.

Another weekend in the cities

Odorii Heppubaan

Weekend with my Japanese Homies

Monkeys!!!!!!

Stupid need for human contact.

Instead of party snow. Alas.

Stupid omelette-grabbin' stairs

Hokkaido Part Four: The long way home – how did it get colder?

Hokkaido Part Three: Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

一日中泣きました。　I cried the whole day.