Squid on a Rock

Aug. 3-Aug. 7

This week at work has actually been slightly more busy, even if some of it was errand running. We’ve practiced driving to our different schools, we’ve met important people (including the mayor), we got cell phones (mine is shiny and green!), and we picked up the final two JET arrivals to Himi from the airport.

Tuesday night Alex and I ate spaghetti in his apartment and then went downstairs to go help Cory celebrate his last night before moving out and forfeiting his apartment to the new CIR. I had a lot of fun and got to meet many of the younger Japanese people that he works with. He also gave Alex and I some of the leftover stuff that he couldn’t take with him. Don’t worry, we left plenty for the new guy!

Wednesday is when we went to go pick up Katie and Joe the new ALT and CIR respectively. It was fun being the one holding the Welcome sign (which is now decorating my wall until I can find some better stuff to personalize with) and pretty crazy that after only a week I’ve already become possessive of Himi. Both seemed exactly the way I felt when I was picked up: nervous, excited, still jet-lagged, and really hot in the business suit every JET was told to wear. So far they both seem really nice (even though we don’t see as much of Joe because ALTs and CIRs have different jobs) and I’m sure everyone will settle into a new routine.

That night we took the newbies (HA, I can relinquish that title after only a week!) out to a sushi place called Manyou. Apparently this is a Wednesday night tradition for the JETs (we didn’t go last week because it was closed) and Masa, the owner, speaks good English and does a lot of stuff with the JETs. For example, he told us that on Mondays he picks up anyone who is interested and drives them to the gym. Since there were so many first timers to his restaurant he made us a very delicious sample platter. I can’t wait to go back next Wednesday!!

Thursday was when we met the mayor. He asked us questions about where we were from (in Japanese) and had us show him on a map. I’m pretty sure I embarrassed myself with my Japanese but it’s the thought that counts. While chatting we were given the local Himi barley tea and told about how research is being done that shows that it can help prevent cancer and make the skin smooth. Then before we left we were given a can of the latest Himi tea product that was supposed to make you a “pale skinned beauty.” I actually really like it and will probably drink it again in the future.

The rest of the day was spent attempting to get phones-a frustrating process that I wasn’t even able to complete in one day. This apparently sets the record. John says the previous longest amount of time was 6 hours. Regardless, I finally got it the next morning!!!

Dinner that night was the Group B Welcome party. While waiting for others to show up at the station we explored the decorations they set up for the tanabata festival. We wrote wishes and tied them to a tree.

These are wishes people wrote down and were then tied up. John snuck into the right hand corner of the photo.

John and I taking a goofy festival photo op.

Me posing with my wish. I was trying to make the same face as the smiley I drew on the paper. Hopefully, even if you see what I wrote my wish will still come true!

For the dinner we went to a different place than for the Group A one but I actually like it better. The restaurant is known for (at least to JETs that had been before) their ika no ishiyaki or squid on a hot rock. The raw squid comes out to you on a large heated stone that you then use to cook the squid with. It was really good!

Ika no ishiyaki! Squid on a hot rock on a salt brick on a cute wooden serving dish.

Friday consisted of another formal meeting, this time with the superintendent. We had a short ceremony where we were officially handed our contracts. That night all the Himi people went to the beach and then out for okonomiyaki. The beach was fun again but Katie got stung by a jellyfish…at least we don’t know what else could have caused the welts on her leg. Luckily she is fine. The food was a lot of fun because you get to cook it yourself. Completely by accident we showed up on the one year anniversary of the restaurant so we each got a free drink and all the toppings for the okonomiyaki were only 100yen (about a dollar…well actually about 83cents but close enough).

Beach photo! No real waves because we are in the bay.

Since I'm already in love with Himi, here is another beach photo but this time with mountains too.

Me, Cody, John, and Katie cooking our delicious okonomiyai at one table...

...and Tamaki (not a JET but she works with the ALTs), Alex, and Joe at the table next to us.

Today we went to the beach again, this time farther away because we met some of our friends from other towns. The bike ride was pretty intense but the water felt good and we all had a good time splashing around and throwing the Frisbee. There was this kind of awkward time when this really drunk guy came up to the group and started trying to get us to go to his company’s party a little further down the beach. We managed to play it off like we didn’t know Japanese but instead he brought a cooler up to us and made us take some drinks. He was harmless but definitely odd. Not one of the better adventures I’ve had by standing out. After that we left and found a spot to eat a late lunch.

A festival just for me? Aw, you shouldn't have!

July 31-Aug. 3

So far my free time in Himi has included a lot of unpacking, sorting through the stuff in my apartment (there are a ton of useful things left), and cleaning. I’ve also gone biking around town a few times with Alex and/or Cody in order to start getting a feel for the place. John’s parents have been visiting so he hasn’t had as much time to hang out yet. We’ve found some interesting places around town. My favorite so far is definitely the indoor gymnasium that has this amazing net playground. Naturally I had to stop and play in it and I had so much fun!

I probably had way more fun than I should have up there.

Unsurprisingly, I seem to have the same luck with bikes that I do with cars. On the first bike they gave me to use, the front brake cable just snapped suddenly as I was trying to stop. Luckily I didn’t crash or anything but it’s been less than a week and already my mode of transportation has had to be replaced.

As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend was the Himi-matsuri. This particular festival doesn’t really seem to have any deep meaning, it’s really just a chance for the town to get together and celebrate…I like to think of it as my Welcome to Himi Celebration! On Saturday Alex and I first went and explored the vendors that were lining the main street. We decided to split a bunch of the food so we could try as much as possible. We ate many things including takoyaki (octopus dumpling), okonomiyaki (a sort of pancake with cabbage and meat), yakitori (chicken), kakigouri (shaved ice), some sort of meat on a stick...oh and we had beer because Japan doesn’t have open container laws so you can just walk around drinking! We also watched taiko drumming and shishimai, the lion dance.

As delicious as everything was, the kakigouri was the most appreciated in the heat. Mine was melon flavored.

The taiko was cool but the lion dance was amazing because I had never seen anything like it before. I’m going to attempt to include a video at the very end. From what I understand the lion represents disease so by fighting the lion (I’m not sure if they killed it or just tamed it) they are trying to ward off disease and illness for the town. One of the best parts was that one of the older gentlemen helping with the festival saw a large group of gaijin (John and his parents and the CIR who will soon be leaving had all joined us at this point) and had us go sit in the very front since we had come from so far away. Sometime standing out in the crowd has its upsides! We had an up close and unobscured view of a very cool traditional performance.

The children taiko group.

The adult taiko group.

Here is part if the shishimai. You can see that they've subdued the rest of the lion but the tail is still moving so they are going in for the kill.

Success, they've gotten the whole lion down!!

Sunday morning Alex, Cody, and I went to the beach! The water was really nice and because we are actually in Toyama Bay (though technically still part of the Sea of Japan) it was more like swimming in a salty lake than an ocean. After playing around in the water we went shopping. The highlight of this was going to a store that specialized in foreign food and beverages. Really though it was just a big liquor store that happened to have some pasta sauce and coke. Naturally, I got some wine and cheese for myself :3

That evening we went back to the festival for the fireworks. One of the Japanese girls that works with us came over to my apartment and helped me put on my yukata. She wore hers too and Cody also had one. You can believe we drew some stares but that’s pretty much expected at this point. The fireworks themselves were amazing!! They were shooting them off of a boat out in the bay and the display went on for an hour. We had found a nice waterfront spot where we could sit and watch. We were so close that the bang from the bigger fireworks actually shook us. Also, never before had I seen shaped fireworks (there was a heart and some cute characters) and the finale was just so huge!

Cody, Machiko, and myself all in our yukata ready to watch the fireworks display.

I also videoed some of the fireworks but they didn't come out that well.

After all the excitement from the weekend you wouldn’t think I’d have anything cool to share about work but actually Monday was special because Alex and I were taken to a driving school for an hour long driving lesson. The lesson entailed driving around Himi and then this little obstacle course at the very end. I was pretty nervous because in Japan they drive on the left side of the road and many of the roads are very narrow and it’s often hard to see people coming. However, as long as you pay attention you get used to it pretty quickly. I’ll just have to be extra careful when turning and make sure I go into the correct lane. Actually, probably the hardest thing to adjust to is that the turn signal is on the right side of the wheel. Both Alex and I kept turning on the windshield wipers the first few times we went to signal a turn.

Well that’s all for now! Here are the videos to go with my stories and pictures.

This is a small bit of the adult taiko performance.

Unfortunatley the shishimai didn't film as well as I was hoping. We were actually too close to get good shots (not that I'm complaining about the priority seating). For most of this you can see the tail end of the lion. Here he is being cornered with fire and eventually he sort of entangles himself. The film doesn't do this awesome performance justice at all.

First week back in Japan!

Today is Friday July 30, 2010 (yeah I know I'm posting it Sat. morning). I will begin my blog and cover what has happened since my arrival in Japan five days ago. I won’t get internet in my apartment for awhile (though there is an unencrypted signal that I may be able to use from time to time) and there is no wireless at work either but because I have so much free time and no internet I will probably be taking really good and detailed notes for my blog…hopefully I won’t bore you when it all finally goes up!

Here I am, back in the land of the rising sun. We arrived Sun. the 25^th (mom’s birthday!) and had a free night before Tokyo Orientation started bright and early the next morning. My friends from Wake, Jenni, Jeannie, Diane, and I took advantage of us all being in Japan together for the first time ever to go get kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi). For those of you who have never been it’s a lot of fun. The different sushi is put on a plate and set on a conveyor belt. You grab whichever plates you want and depending on the color of the plate is how much it costs. You have to be careful you don’t grab one of the pricey ones!

Orientation itself seemed pretty useful but that might have just been my jet-lagged brain’s wishful thinking. Surprisingly many of the speakers were actually interesting enough to hold our attention and try to prepare us for what we would be experiencing. However, as they are so fond of reminding us ESID-every situation is different. Therefore, much of the information had to be just a broad overview of what we might experience.

The girls and I made sure to enjoy our time together and we went out each night. We went to Shibuya (not far from where our hotel was in Shinjuku) in our evening free time and sang karaoke and ate sukiyaki. It was sad saying goodbye Tues. night but I think we were all pretty excited (and nervous of course) to start our next adventure and see what the heck we would actually be dealing with!

Wednesday everyone left with their prefectural groups. Luckily the Toyama group had one of the later departures since we were flying from Tokyo to Toyama and that just required a one hour bus ride and a one hour plane flight. In Toyama airport the 15 of us headed to Toyama prefecture were picked up by our different people. Some people had signs and students waiting others had a more quiet reception. Alex (the other new Himi ALT or Assistant Language Teacher) and I fortunately had a big sign and John, an ALT who was on his 5^th year, and Araya-sensei, our supervisor, waiting for us. We then drove the rest of the way out of the “big city” to our town of Himi. The population is 55,000 but it’s very spread out so it doesn’t seem even that big. It’s hard to describe exactly what Himi is like but so far the best I can come up with is that is like what a small town in NC Piedmont area would be like if you smushed the mountains and coast way up close towards you. Himi is right on the ocean (Sea of Japan side) but there are mountains everywhere too. Everything is gorgeous!

On our arrival day we went and started our registration for our gaikokujin touroku shoumeisho, the alien registration card fondly known as the gaijin card that you must get if you will be in Japan for more than 90 days. It also lets you do things like get a cell phone and keeps you from having to carry your passport everywhere. After starting that process and picking up our luggage and bikes, John took us out for dinner. Another ALT on his second year in Himi named Cody joined us. We went to a local izakaya (bar) and John treated us newbies to dinner. We also found out that two more new JETs will be coming to Himi next week including a CIR (Coordination of International Relations) named Joe and another ALT named Katie.

We went back to our apartment building which is rumored to be the tallest building in Himi…it’s a whopping 9 floors. I’m on the 6^th floor and I have hardly unpacked because I’m still trying to adjust to jet lag. My apartment is pretty small but I think it will be good enough for me. It has two rooms and a bathroom and a bathtub/shower. In Japan the toilet is typically in a separate room from where you bathe. The first room has some closets, a refrigerator, a stove, and a microwave/convection oven. The other room has a bed (though not quite like an American style bed), a TV, some more closets, an AC, and a small table with cushions to sit on. The best part is the view of the sea! I even have a little balcony with a chair :D

Jenna (my predecessor) and her husband left a lot of things so it is going to take a very long time to go through her stuff while simultaneously trying to put my stuff up. I wish I could be doing that right now rather than sitting around doing nothing in the board of education office. Sitting around from 8:30-4 doing nothing is what I will probably be doing a lot of the first month while the students are still out of school.

That is a bit of an exaggeration there will be some things to do. For example, on Thursday we got a tour of town and set up our bank accounts (which took 3 trips to the bank and one trip to city hall). We also went to the grocery store and bought some supplies. My goal was to purchase at least one thing I had to cook, not just microwave. I figured I would start small so along with my ready made meals I bought pancake mix and the eggs and oil and milk but I forgot to get anything to put on them! I will probably pick up some local honey because syrup in Japan is supposed to be really expensive. Also, on Monday Alex and I will go to get an hour long driving lesson. It will cost some but I am glad for it because I am so nervous about these narrow roads and adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road.

After work on Thursday and a nice nap Cody met Alex and I to go to Takaoka for a meeting of the Takaoka region (one of Toyama’s four regions) JETs. It was our first venture onto the Himi-sen (Himi train line). It’s an old train but it is nice to ride right next to the coast-very scenic. We are at the very end of the line and to get anywhere we have to take it all the way to the other end into Takaoka (which take a little bit more than half an hour) but from there we could get a train to pretty much anywhere we want. Once there we met back up with some of the other new arrivals we had met during orientation and we also met some old veterans who took us to another izakaya. Unfortunately the last train left for Himi around 10:40pm so we were among the first people to have to leave.

We had a really good time hanging out with everyone and trading first day stories. Hearing about some other people’s situations makes me so glad for both Alex and John because they have helped with the transition. John came to Japan with no Japanese knowledge but is now fluent so he knows the ropes of Himi and has been infinitely helpful already. Alex is also very good at Japanese and he can commiserate with me on being the newbie in town. It’s also really nice that we all live in the same apartment building because I know someone I can ask questions to is right downstairs.

Today Alex got to go to one of his schools to help with a speech competition but I am sitting in the office with John and two younger Japanese ladies (I think a little bit older than me) who are also teaching assistants being paid to sit here until we have something to do. I will try to take advantage of the time. There are some Japanese studies books left in my apartment and I will continue to write down all my adventures in the pre-blog word document. Also I can work on my self-introduction lesson and even read some books for fun!

My next update should be much more interesting (and a lot shorter) because this weekend is the Himi-matsuri (Himi festival) and there will be lots of fun and fireworks. One of the Japanese girls has offered to try and help me with my yukata (traditional summer wear) and some of the people we met last night might try to come. It sounds like a lot of fun for all of us!

Jeannie, Jenni, and Diane doing a crepe kanpai in Shibuya.

First engrish of the trip. I wonder if I would like bunanas better than bananas?

Look at the eager people waiting to greet us at the airport!

Here is the sign made for me and Alex. They also had a little welcome bag with snacks, a much appreciated water bottle, and tons of useful information.


I am already in love with the fresh fish in Himi. I think I'm ruined on sushi from anywhere else already.


Speaking of Himi's delicious fish. This is buri, the yellowtail that Himi is famous for. It's technically not in season right now but it was still sooooooooo good!!!!<-- look at how many os and !s I had to use to emphasize this :)

The Takaoka region group at an izakaya. I sort of failed to get most people in this picture...which is ok because I don't know most people's names yet.

What my apartment looks like so far. You can see my yukata hanging up in preparation for the festival this weekend. All things considered it's coming along pretty nicely but I really want to get some stuff to make it feel more like my own place.


The view from my apartment. Hello Sea of Japan! I'm only about a block away from the water.


Also taken from my apartment. Here you can sort of see what I meant about having both ocean and mountains right in one place.


And to finish off this extra long post is a zoomed in version of the last picture.

Test

I just want to try this and make sure this old blog is still up and running for my second Japan trip!

Slowly but surely I will catch up!

Man it really is a bad idea to wait so long because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be leaving stuff out. Oh well, at least all the big stuff I wrote down in my planner.

7/16

After class I met Naoko Fujii. She's one of the Japanese people I know from Wake. We met at the Starbucks right by my station home and hungout for a few hours. She said my Japanese has really improved. I left just in time to get to my appointment at Espoir. Since the competition was on the 22nd I went to Espoir for them to practice almost every day the week prior. I even let them shave my face like they wanted (man did that feel weird). Daisuke and Yumi had to be able to get my hair and make up done at the same time in 30min.

7/18-7/19

Laura came home with me to spend the night. She wanted to get a haircut so I had previously set up an appointment for her at Espoir. We had a lot of fun talking to all the employees and Daisuke-san let us sit by each other and talk during out respective appointments. Afterward we came back and she met my hostparents (my hostdad was home for the weekend since Monday was a national holiday). I felt really bad because apparently there wasn't another futon just a folded up blanket and my hostmom hadn't given me a fan for my room yet, so I don't think she got the most comfortable sleep.

The next day we went to sento, a public bathhouse. This was so cool. The place we went was huge! There were indoor baths, outdoor baths, and outdoor baths that were co-ed where everyone had to wear bathing suits. There were so many different types of baths: a tea bath that smelled really good, a collagen bath that was bright pink, baths with water jets, etc. We spent several hours there relaxing and chatting. When we got back my hostparents insisted that she eat with us even though she just wanted to leave and not bother them. My hostdad said he had already made enough curry for us all so she should just stay, and in the end it ended up being really fun. My hostparents especially liked laughing at us when the two Americans would speak Japanese to each other.

Not too many pictures for this post and most of them are of me:

The two halves of my face are done in different color schemes since we wouldn't know what color clothes I would get. I really liked the left it was yellow and orange eyeshadow and they gave me a few fake eyelashes (they were a pain to get on) including some colored ones. There's also a little bit of red hair spray in a few places.

This time you can see the brown side more. You can also make out the fake eyelashes better.

Laura's pretty haircut.

Another picture of me because, well, why not? This time you can see the curls they gave me before doing anything else. Daisuke-san was funny, after curling my hair he kept saying that if it wasn't a hair arrangement competition he would just leave it like that since it was so cute.

Kyoto Day 3: monkey see, monkey do, monkey fall on face

7/13

After grabbing a quick breakfast from a bread store we met Naho to go to Arashiyama monkey park. First, we stopped back at Kyoto station to change our shinkansen tickets because we realized that for three more dollars we could ride the nozomi which is the fastest train in Japan! Then we headed out to go see some monkeys. We weren't really sure what to expect at a monkey park but turns out it was exactly what it sounded like. After hiking for a while (it was way too hot for that) and seeing signs everywhere that warned not to touch the monkeys, not to look them directly in the eye, etc., we finally got to the top and saw monkeys everywhere. They were just sort of hangout doing their monkey thing. There was also a building with open windows that were covered in chainlink fence. Inside you could buy food, put you hand up to the window and the monkeys would take the food directly from your hand. I had a slightly clutzy moment and ran directly into a bench and cut my leg pretty badly. It was really frustrating because I was so sweaty that my band aid wouldn't stay on my leg. After cooling off inside and feeding monkeys for a while we went and explored outside. It was really neat because you could just walk right there with the monkeys and we even went and played on a playground that was for them. (If anyone cares I think they were Japanese Macaques)

After our monkey experience we asked Naho for recommendations and she said she had never been to Nonomiya Shrine so we (minus YR who went back to the city to meet a friend) walked there. This shrine is famous for its bamboo forest which was very pretty. Afterwards we went to a crepe shop and then this store where I bought a souvenir because everything there was made by handicapped people and the money went to help them. After resting there for a while we went back to J-hoppers to get our stuff and headed out. Everyone (including Rie) met at the station and I bought some more souvenirs, including this famous Kyoto sweet as an omiyage for my hostmom. Then we rode the fastest shinkansen in Japan back home! This was really fun and instead of sitting on a bus the whole night we got to speed back in comfortable seats on a ride that was only about 2.5hrs.

The Arashiyama area.

Me feeding monkeys. Shortly after this I tried to walk forward without realizing there was a very sharp bench right in my way. It's funny because I ran into the bench, said ow, fed the monkeys I was walking towards, realized my leg still hurt, looked down, and then realized I was actually bleeding...

One of the people working there brought a monkey to pose with us. (Naho, Zac, me, Kevin, YR)

The view from the monkey park (there's even a monkey). Hiking up there was really painful in the heat.

Me posing with an uncooperative monkey, he wouldn't even face the camera with me.

Another uncooperative monkey and the boys doing the hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil pose. (Zac, YR, Kevin)

Naho playing at the monkey playground. On the left you can see a monkey wondering why the humans are playing with its stuff.

Bamboo forest and Nonomiya Shrine.

Bye-bye J-hoppers my first hostel experience was fun.

The train approaching from the right is the one we rode. We had really worked ourselves up about being able to ride a shinkansen and it was pretty sweet.

Kyoto Day 2: more shrines and temples

7/12

Well actually we did see more than just shrines and temples on this day. We got up and went to the same hole-in-the-wall place for breakfast and then left straight for Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. This was much more impressive than the Silver Pavilion considering it wasn't under construction. Along the path there were was one place where you could try to toss coins into a little bowl by a statue of Buddha for luck or to make a wish or something and I actually got one in! It was only my second or third try too. None of the boys were able to hehehehehe. I also lit a candle for family safety and bought TC a traffic safety charm, since apparently she's starting driver's ed.

Next we walked to Ryoanji, the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon. This Zen temple has the most famous rock garden in Japan. It was pretty relaxing to just sit there in the relative cool of the shade. Next we decided to leave Kyoto briefly and head to Osaka. On our way to the train we got on the wrong sort of bus that didn't take our bus passes but since it was the last stop the guy just let us off for free. We had lunch at the station again and got on our train (though there was some confusion-YR had blazed ahead and got on the train right as the doors were closing and the rest of us didn't make it). We didn't do too much in Osaka but we did walk around and we went to the Umeda Sky Building. We went to the top and had a really good view of the city and we had fun taking goofy pictures. The building itself looks like two towers that are connected at the top and they had lots of interesting little features including fountains, a room with musical seats, and clear escalators spanning the two towers.

After exploring a bit more we headed back to Kyoto so we would have time to clean up before meeting Naho and her friend Rie. For those of you who don't know Naho Maruta (or Maruta Naho if you want to be Japanese about it) she was our Japanese TA from Wake. After some more traveling confusion we finally met them (it's okay though because while we were lost we saw many people in yukata and some people practicing for the festival on giant floats) and we all went to a restaurant. I'm just going to call it a stick restaurant because I don't actually know what it was, but basically we ordered a bunch of little kebabs. We also ordered some other things that didn't come on sticks as well as several pitchers of beer. After a few hours of drinking, eating, and being really loud we managed to convince Naho to karaoke with us (it wasn't that she didn't want to karaoke, she was just worried about getting home before the trains stopped). This was actually the first time I had been to a karaoke parlor and it's a lot more fun than just using the machine. You and your friends get your own room with some couches, a big TV with the lyrics, and a couple of microphones. We sang some fun songs including Bohemian Rhapsody (according to Zac you have to sing this when you karaoke), Barbie Girl, Tainted Love, and a bunch others. Naho and Rie left to catch their last train home (we had missed the last bus so we just walked) and the rest of us went home and promptly went to sleep (though we had agreed to meet up with some other people from the hostel to hangout again, there was nobody there by the time we got back).

It should be apparent that this is the Golden Pavilion.

We actually left this picture (since it was one of our few group ones) on the computer at the hostel. They will print it and put it on a wall with a bunch of other pictures of previous people who had stayed there. (Zac, Kevin, me, YR)

I actually tossed a coin into that stone bowl (not the little one in front but the bigger one in front of the two metal rods). I'm going to assume it gave me good luck or something equally nice.

The rock garden at Ryoanji. You can't really make out the patterns in any of my pictures.

The Umeda Sky Building in Osaka.

A closer view. Those two slanty upward things (good use of my words I know) are the glass escalators.

Me unintentionally (I just wanted my hair out of my face) practicing my modeling skills on top of the building.

We were being goofy and took a picture of our reflection across the big circle (see the picture 2 above this one) at the top. (Zac, Cynthia, Kevin, YR)

Us at the restaurant. (Cynthia, Kevin, Zac, YR, Naho, Rie) Everything was good but the most memorable parts were less the food and more the hanging out (especially teasing Naho)

Karaoke afterwards. Probably one of the less lively songs since everyone is sitting down. (YR, Rie, Kevin, Naho)