Sumimasen....
Today I set out on my bike and decided to try to see what was in Sabae. With my trusty map in hand, and after clearing the icky frogs off my bike (they like to perch on the tires… I am soooo tempted), I was off to the center of town. I actually wanted to try to find the post office to extract a bit more cash from my ever dwindling funds. Can’t wait till I finally get paid (Aug 21)! HOWEVER, I had a flat tire so I had to try to get some air. So, I went to the gas station (isn’t that usually the place one can go for such things?). Being the prepared person I am, I had already spent the previous evening tearing though the books looking for the Japanese word for ‘bike’ to no avail, in hopes of asking someone for help. Apparently, no on considers “bike” or ‘ bicycle’ an important enough word to list in beginner books. Introducing you wife to your dentist , finding love hotels and renting cars seem to be the choice topics for language learning books these days. OK, so knowing that I didn’t know, I decided that I would employ my mad brilliant pictionary skills in my quest for bicycle repair and I brought a pen and paper. Heheh, I was also armed with one of the most important words I have learned so far… ‘doko’ (where).
So I got to the gas station, found an attendant, pointed to my flat tire and said the magic word. The guy was so nice… he tried so hard to tell me where to go and how to get there. He knew how to say right, left straight and under, thank goodness! AND he was even kind enough to draw me a map. So, I found the bike shop across the train station. Ha! That was another adventure too! The nice old man stopped what he was doing and started to work on my bike. He tried to tell me what was wrong in Japanese (deer in headlights look from me), then he tried to write it down (…), in katakana (....) and finally just motioned for me to come back in 10 minutes. 10 minutes later and 1,500 en lighter, my bike was fixed and I was on my way.
The center of town is actually pretty cute. I found a local book store (of course there were no English books) and considered buying some children’s activity books to help my writing. I also found a stationary store and a little clothing store (older ladies clothing but still fun to poke around). After all that, I finally found the post office and got some cash… yay! Then it was back to the apt. It was crazy hot. Hopefully I can check out more stuff tomorrow and possibly see my school again!
My Crib
After the drop off, I unpacked and arranged all my stuff. I must say the the new apartment is kind of cool. It turns out that it is not exactly a shoe box. I am happy to report that it has plenty of room for me and room for guests… hint hint, you all!
To describe, it is amost a complete square… with an all purpose room, a bed room, kitchen area, and a shower, toilet and washer.
The APR (for dining, watching TV, guests, chillin) is 6 tatami (straw) mats big, as is the bedroom. I’m still getting used to sitting on the floor all the time. My posture is going to hell.
I’ve been told that the mats and panels on my windows (the doors are panels with paper) are all pretty new. No pressure to keep everything nice!!! But still despite the newness of some things, I think this apartment is actually pretty old. The drier is ancient and the color scheme is terrible!!! Its all blue and yellow and then brown in the rooms! Eek! And my predecessor has left me a bunch of pink stuff! Bah. I like pink and was actually looking forward to my big pink chair (its actually pretty comfy), but it doesn’t seem to fit. So, I’d like to get new stuff. BUT as usual, it costs $$$ to do that. And I am not really in a position to be buying crap to decorate with (esp if I’m only here a year?). Priorities… FOOD!!!!
So, because I was up arranging stuff… and I was a bit nervous, I didn’t eat anything the first night I was at my place. (-.-;) Luckily I had more courage the next day AND the local ‘supa’ is right down the street from me. It was a real adventure though. I had no idea what anything was. I mean, there are something that look the same everywhere (bread, rice, fruit) but all the extra ingredients were more difficult. ESPECIALLY SINCE I’M ILLITERATE! Man, it took about 30 minutes for me to figure out which bottle was conditioner and which was shampoo. In the end, I think I walked out with $25 worth of $50 groceries. How will I ever save in this country!
First night’s meal was rice noodles and curry sauce… I didn’t know which bottle of black sauce was actually soy sauce. It was good but I nearly set fire to the apartment because the pots I was left were CRAP and the stove likes to play games with me (i.e. flicker in and out and then burst into flames again). At least there was baseball on TV... Ichiro is looking pretty good these days.
This is it... again!
So last entry I was living it up on the streets of Fukui…
After the crazy night (not really), the next day was filled with… wait for it… MEETINGS and LECTURES! Yes, joy of joys, we got to sit through all the formalities such as being introduced to the school board (stand up, bow, sit down, stand up, bow, sit down, etc.), listening to a cop talk about the traffic rules in Japan (as well as what is needed to start driving, speed limits, rules for bicycling, etc, etc), and stuff about our contracts, vacation time and taxes… BO-RING! I suppose this stuff must be said and must be heard, maybe as a disclaimer. Too bad I know I will be asking others about it all in a week’s time. I am still just really anxious to meet and go to my school. As I have mentioned before, I appreciate all this information but I am really ready to just get to school already!
Tonight we had a BBQ at the international club. Yes, there is a small group of people in Japan who form this group and they like to meet the new/ old JETs as well as other foreign language individuals in the area. If I haven’t mentioned this before, there are lots of other private companies that hire English language teachers in Japan. There are a bunch in Fukui (Nova and Aeon are the most numerous but there are also UFO? something like that). Good people too… pretty much doing the same thing as JETs are but privately and from what I hear the set up is not quite as good as JETs. Not sure… if any readers have heard otherwise, I apologize for the mistake! Anyway, I also found out there is a pretty decent size Brazilian population living in Fukui prefecture. Crazyness… I hope there are some good restaurants! I hear they work at some of the factories in the area. Apparently there were Germans before the Brazilians. Go International Fukui. So the BBQ was interesting. A bunch of people crowding up this tiny little street corner in the heat of the night (it was INSANELY hot and humid… the BBQ grills weren’t helping). Talked to a few people but I think I was still feeling a bit homesick (I miss you all already!) so I wasn’t really social. Perhaps I am just still a bit tired. Again, it seems that a lot of people are sort of still in the process of checking each other out (esp. us newbies) and scoping the scene for the coming year. I’m not really into it. But, there was a good turnout and plenty of yaki soba for all! That is, fried noodles with veggies & meat… yum! I was almost forced a plate of mushrooms but you’ll all be happy to know that in staying true to my dislikes, I took a tiny bite (to be polite) and then sloughed it off on someone else. It was a nice get together but I was quite glad just to get back to the hotel (I’m starting to dig my shoebox of a hotel room).
The next morning was more talks (guy/ girl stuff, so many of the chicks here are concerned with waxing… weird… & team teaching info) and then… hooray! We get to go to our new homes! I was pretty excited. A room full of JTE (Japanese teachers of English) supervisors and one of them was mine!!! FINALLY!
When I found my JTE and I wasn’t quite sure what to do… some people sat down and started talking with their sups but mine was ready to get going. Her name is Sugimoto-sensei (Soo-ghi- moto). At first she seemed a little cold shouldered (great, first day and she doesn’t like me!!!), but then I had heard that sometimes the teachers/ people can seem that way when really they are just busy. So, I will just say that she seemed ‘busy’. Anyway, we took off in her little pink kei car (it’s PINK!!!!! HOW CUTE IS THAT?!) and went off somewheres I have no idea where… my town I guess… its so confusing being in a new town. I am literally in a land where the streets have no names. Seriously. My apartment complex has a name but the street I live on has none. Apparently only the REALLY REALLY main streets and highways have names. Otherwise it’s, “first right and left after the first rice patty, before the metal shop). OH!!! And let me just say that for some strange reason, their driving on the left is not freaking me out! It doesn’t seem absurd or as radically different as I thought it would feel. But I do still try to get in the car (instinctively I guess) on the left side. (-__-#)
My new best ‘busy’ friend and I made our first stop at the bank where I opened up an account with a single yen! Haha! I have 1 yen to my name! I had to fill out a bunch of forms which I didn’t understand… because they were all in Japanese! So, my sup had to fill out some things, and I just signed where she told me to. And by sign, they do NOT mean signature. They mean “print it out in ‘romanji’ so that we can read, stupid”. I realized this after the ‘aaaaah?!?!’s and baffled looks I got when I ‘signed’ my name on the bank form. They asked “Waaaa! Is this English?! What is this?! Could you write it like this? [points to the passport]” Besides a signature, I also have a hanko or inka which is a stamp (like a Chinese chop) with my last name in katakana. It’s pretty convenient. Alls I have to do is put it in some red ink and stamp it, and its official! Woo hoo! Additionally, we set it up so all my bills would be auto-withdrawn from my account each month. Easy peasy. After that it was off to pay the land lord a BUNCH of money! I forget now how much exactly (its too painful to remember… I blacked out… I handed over a WAD of cash and I don’t remember much after that) but I didn’t have it all so, I have to come back on Monday with the rest… OR ELSE THEY WOULD DEPORT ME!!!…. j/k. It was all good.
Finally, I got my first glimpse of school. It’s up on a hill!!! It was a pretty quick tour (just got shown my office and the school office) but it looked like kids were still hanging around? WHY?!?! The poor tykes… but then I was informed that they are there to practice their club activities…. WHY?!?! Eh, I guess its my lazy side reminiscing about how far away from school I wanted to be during the summer and thinking these kids are nuts! I got to meet the principal too. Seems like a nice guy. We actually sat down and had some tea, with my sup interpreting for me. So, I figure if the principal thinks I’m OK, then the rest will be fine… I hope!!!
So after all that excitement it was about 4:30pm and my sup was ready to hit the road. She dropped me off at my place, made sure I knew how the essentials worked and then said she’d see me later (when? how do I contact you? please don’t leeeeeeeve meeeee!), and don’t forget to pay the landlord.
The Road to Fukui
(again to see it with picts email me)
On day 3 (Wednesday), we left the hotel and headed out to our prefecture. I think there are about 20 of us in this group (Group A arrivals) and then a few more coming the week after us. The Japanese countryside is really pretty and reminds me a lot of Hong Kong but there are also a lot of differences too. I think it’s a bit less jungle-y and there are LOTS more rice patties. OMG.. RICE PATTIES EVERYWHERE! Kind of interesting thought as I don’t think I have ever seen one up close so that was “an experience” (this will be my key word when things get rough.. so be prepared to see a lot of it). This is Hiyadeh and Chris fellow Fukui JETs. So, it is as it appears… the bus ride was pretty entertaining. I think lots of people were more excited than tired and jet-lagged. I was a bit tired but it’s a lost cause to try to sleep when your bus mates are quoting Monty Python’s Holy Grail and Space Balls! ;) We had about 3 stops on our 8 HOUR fantastic voyage and the bus stops here are pretty damn cool. All these little gift shop stuff to buy and presents to take back to your friends and co-workers. Gift giving is a very big thing here so all the places are set up for it. I guess whenever you go somewhere you’re supposed to bring something back for your friends and co-workers. Its not really an obligation and they are not expecting it but that’s just what you do. So, they have lots of food items all ready to go and wrapped up for you to buy. Its so convenient!!! And SO cute!!! I also learned that each city has some sort of mascot (I think Fukui’s is a crab?) and they make Hello Kitty key chains/ phone charms of that mascot (i.e. Hello Kitty dressed up as the mascot). So, some people try to collect the kitties from all the cities that they have visited. I think I have found my new quest and purpose in Japan. Forget the kids. Forget learning Japanese. I know what my true calling is and it calls to me in the form of a tiny cute pink cat.
On one of our stops I found these...
CUTE little pancake bears! Why must everything in this country be so adorable and well packaged! It was almost hard to eat something so cute but the first arm was so delicious….
We also saw Mt. Fuji on our way. It was HUGE. A bit ominous, but picturesque with the clouds. The JETs in Fukui (here after referred to as FJETs) are planning a hike to the top. I’d like to go but $$ and scheduling are a bit tight so I may have to forego it this round. But mark my words… “Mountain/ Active Volcano … you shall be conquered!”.
OK well, we finally go to our hotel and let me say that is definitely not the Keio Plaza in Tokyo… (regarde the size of my room!) BUT I did get free wireless for a bit. It still wasn’t enough time to update this thing but I did get to talk to some folks and email a little (you know who you are!). :D There were lots more workshops for the next 2 days but it was more relevant to our situations so that was good. I think that most of our questions were just about how to get started with stuff (e.g. phone lines, cell phones, internet, garbage, bills, etc.). If I have learned nothing else from this trip so far it’s that starting off on your own (especially in a foreign country) can be CRAZY expensive and complicated. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but in case anyone is thinking about doing JET, start saving cause you’ll need at least a couple of grand to start you off (the school may be able to help you some, but as they love to say “every situation is different” so its best to plan ahead). I’m not saying this is a huge downfall of this program (its still probably the best of its kind out there now), but I was caught a little off guard. Maybe I was just a little naive. Anyway, the orientation went well and the other good thing of it was that we got to meet a lot of the re-contracting JETs in the area. True, most of them happened to live in “the big city” AKA Fukui City (which is a short train ride away from me), but they seemed like nice enough people (Mom & Dad can vouch for that). It still felt a bit high schoolish though as my group is a pretty outgoing group and folks seemed to be having fun checking out all us newbies. I’ll see how things go in the coming weeks/ months…
Another nice thing was that our first night in Fukui, the re-con JETs (that can be the distinguishing title for now) took us out to dinner and then to a local pub. The restaurant was AMAZING. It served traditional Japanese food in a sort of traditional Japanese style (i.e. we sat a tatami- straw floors with cusions, left our shoes at the door and at low tables). There were a lot of fried items like tofu and tempura but they also had sashimi!! It was the best sashimi I have ever had. I think the squid and prawns were my fave (I won’t go into details too much for all you veggies and non-raw meat eaters). I must also add that it seems almost all the food here is served so beautifully. I think that it must just be a part of the cuisine. So dinner was great and I got to talk to new people more, and then we headed off to this pub. It was very cute and almost more like a café that served alcohol instead and it was completely empty before we came. Kind of interesting though is that the pub is on this street, Katamachi, where there are lots of bars and some clubs. Not quite as glitzy as Hollywood and Sunset but not seedey either. BUT there are LOTS of escort type bars… I’m not sure if they’re strip clubs per se (sorry guys but I don’t think I’m ready to tackle that aspect of ‘research’ for this blog yet), but apparently you can have female escorts hang out with you at these sorts of places. Some even have pictures so that you can ‘window shop’ before you go in. It was a bit strange to see that there isn’t really zoning like they have in the states, so these places were mixed with bars (that are really nice) and nice restaurants, convenience stores, and apartments. Come to think of it though, maybe its not so different from the valley. Anyway, we had fun but I was pretty tired and turned in pretty early, though I heard some others went to a different bar later and then went for karaoke. More to come…
WOOOOOOOOOOAH! SUGOOOOOY!!!!
Indeedy, they do exist!!! And behold the wonder that is the SQUARE WATERMELON!!!!!
Tokyo-A-Go-Go (Bring on the Rain!!!)
(same note as the last post)
Continuing from where I left off last time… I was just arriving in my hotel. It was pretty nice. The name of the hotel was Keio Plaza Hotel and I later found out that it’s a 5-star hotel in Tokyo (one of the best!!) so, JET really takes care of you!
It was in a pretty nice area, only a short sub ride away from some of the more trendy areas like Shibuya, Ginza and Harajuku. I didn’t do much the first night as I was kind of tired (yay not sleeping on the plane!) and I wanted to get over and jet lag fast. So my roommate and I got a bite to eat, walked around a bit and then just went back to go to sleep. Woo Hoo! How adventurous, eh? This is one of the little streets that was in the area.
Mmmmmm… some kind of fast food at the AM/PM (yes, that have 7-11 too… convenience stores are everywhere here too). “So Delicious! So Happy!”
Saw this along the way too at a clothing store… they are so cool and clever having English on shirts! I love that the L and the R are switched! Perhaps a certain governator would feel more at home with this?
A bin full of teddy bears. Cuddly? Cute? Creepy? You be the judge.
I was so busy for the next three days! Workshop and speeches galore. I have never been more bored. Okok. I really appreciate all the info they gave us but it was a lot at one time. The other small drawback was that for everything they taught us, they had to add the caveat that “every situation is different” so this may or may not apply to you. Great. It was nice meeting people from different countries (there were English, Canadian, Scottish, South Africans, Aussies, New Zealanders, Jamaicans!) and people that were going to different parts of Japan. It was one giant social fest. I think a lot of people went pretty crazy and just tried to live it up when they were there. I went Kareoke-ing on the 2nd night I was there. It was interesting. Pretty much like the ones that I have been to in K-Town, LA but I think the others were really surprised about having separated karaoke rooms. Now everyone that knows me knows that I am not really into karaoke BUT don’t think that I have found a new love in it, I just did it to be social. I still find it a bit weird an unsettling (especially in front of people I just met!) but I figured that while I was here I’d try to be game for new things. It was fun.
The next day was an adventure and a half. The weather was really crappy because a typhoon was on its way to hit Tokyo so there was rain and wind gusts all over. However I had to venture out because I had bought what I thought would be a power adapter at an electronics store but turns out it didn’t work so I had to return it. Also I had to go to the bank to get moo-lah… so me and a friend braved through the rain and gusts to find the place and return the plug and buy another one at a different store. Man, there was so much rain. And it came down in sheets! In the process of walking, BOTH of my umbrellas broke and my shoes got soaked. It took about 2 hours just to find the other adapter because they had us going up and down the same 3 floors about 3 different times. Apparently there is not a lot of communication even between the different areas of electronics (yes, there were 3 floors of JUST electronics!). By the way, I have to mention that they have a dazzling array of digital cameras, cds and mp3 players! Also, they have a huge selection of phones, but the phones are HUGE!!! I found out later that they’re huge because they have TONS of functions… e.g. they have camera phones that are 2.5 mega pixels! But I’m still not sure if I’m going to get a cell of not. The plans are terrible and VERY expensive (e.g. $40 gets you only 66 free minutes but features like voicemail, email and call waiting cost extra!). I’ll try to get internet instead… so everyone get a headset and Skype! Anyway, the typhoon was pretty weak so it was more of a nuisance than a danger. ( picts are from Shibuya)
The last night in Tokyo I met up with Shuji (friend from UCLA) and we went to dinner at traditional Japanese food restaurant. It was so good! We had a salad (lettuce, seaweed, white radish and some other things), chicken sticks, and an egg dish with mushrooms. After eating we went to meet with my prefecture people at a bar/ café in Shibuya but they had changed locations (due to the impending typhoon) so instead of meeting we just walked around the area and then went to a sake bar for some beer. It was good times and really fun to see all the trendy people in Tokyo. Crazy styles.
However, the crowning glory (besides meeting with Shuji!), was finding a square watermelon!!!! Get a load of that thing! IT really si square and it IS a real watermelon. AND look at the price of it! It was 12,000Ұ! That’s a little less than $120.00 for a watermelon! Believe it or not though, I found one that was even more expensive. Fruit is definitely NOT cheap in this country. Actually, after living here for the first week, I have come to the realization that there isn’t a lot here that is cheap. At least the humid and thick air is. Haha! But so far it has been a blast and I can’t wait to see more. Next installment… promises to Fukui! Ooh-wee!
The Departure
(small note... please email me and I can send you the word doc with all the pictures I am referring to here... haven't figured out how to add multiple pictures yet)This is It! (The Departure and the Arival)
I’m finally here in Japan! I have so much to catch up on this blog… I’ll have to make a few entries to give the full update… hmmmm…. But I am sure that it will be absolutely riveting information that ALL will want to know and hear so, here goes!
I left on Saturday morning at 12:55pm from LAX. There were so many people from SoCal/ AZ, that I think we had the whole back half of the plane!
It was a non-stop flight to Narita so, all in all I think it took about 10-12 hours? I forget but that’s not really any important info (unless anyone is thinking of visiting, in which case don’t be scared away… it didn’t feel that long). I sat next to two very nice JETs, one who was even going to the same prefecture as me! Joy of joys, there are others!
As for the flight, it was fantastic. There was hardly any turbulence the entire way and the food was actually decent. I just have to say that ANA airplanes are the BEST I have flown on in a long while. I thought that I had enough space but the really great part was that there were little individual TV screens in front of us! So, you could choose what movie you wanted to watch (I saw Robots and Meet the Fockers but they also had Million Dollar Baby, Miss Congeniality 2 and some other French movie as well as a Japanese news program and some Pingu cartoons). The other really cool thing was that there was a game mode so I also played Super Mario 1/2/3, Street Fighter and Punch Out. I think I only slept for an hour the entire way!
The last hour of the flight was pretty crazy because I was really excited to finally get there. The last hour of any flight is always the most exciting since you’re finally getting to your destination. But wow. After we got off the plane everything almost seems like such a blur. Things happened so fast. Basically we got off and had to go through immigration (not a big deal) … haha but check out this sign! Its either really funny or I’m just too immature! It took a while for us to figure what was wrong with the first person and the second seems to have something growing out of his chest!!! Quickly! To the Priority Lane! One other thing was that people had so much stuff!!! I only had 2 big suitcases and a carry on bag (the inflamous big G pink bag! Haaaay!) but others had a roller carry on and then a bag on top of that! Yay me, for packing light. After collecting our bags from the baggage area we were guided by JETs in orange shirts (yes, insert oompa loompah joke here but in this airport they were the signal of order in a mass of confusion and Japanese). They landed us on some busses that took us to our hotel in Tokyo. It was a couple of hours but it was really cool to get the first glimpses of our new home. The vegetation reminded me a bit of Hong Kong but the cars reminded me exactly were I was (some were so tiny!!!). We also passed Disneyland Tokyo.
Well, I think that’s about all I can squeeze onto this entry… but part II to come! Hotels, lights, people and watermelon…TOKYO!!!
OK so, I guess its time for more pre-departure thoughts from yours truly. I have just gotten back from a week long trip in Boston (very good, very good) and not its time for the last minute scramble before I’m off to Japan. As usual, I have a lot of crap to do and a little time to do it! Who wants to see some of the list??? Anyone? Well you get to anyway.
1) Finish my ‘tour’ of LA with pictures
a) Still to be immortalized in pictures= Santa Monica, Venice, KTown, my back yard and dogs and Watts?
2) Finish Packing
a) Note* this should actually be #1 but I think EVERYONE knows me well enough to know that this will probably be done the night before I fly
b) ALSO the essential question is WHAT DO I PACK?!?!?!
3) Pack “winter” box
a) “Winter” a largely outdated word in my vocabulary. It has come to be replaced by “low 60s”… what are “winter clothes”? I shall have to investigate further…
4) Bother all the pals
a) That’s right! If you are the unfortunate bearer of the title “friend of Tina” and you live in my area (you HK people are safe for now… but not for long!), I am coming for YOU! What cruel bastard would refuse to see their “friend” who will be gone for the next year?!
I think that’s the big 4. Because I love lists so, I could break this down further but I think that it may be the last straw for those still reading!
By the way, I’ll bet you are all wondering how my Japanese is coming… OR if I know any at all. Well you will be pleased to know that I have not done a THING in terms of learning. At least not any more than I had with Nao & Daiuke (Arigato!). Yes, I think that this is quite unfortunate but I am still trying to be optimistic about this predicament. I keep telling myself that I will pick it up when I get there. Hooray for positive self affirmations. I just hope I won’t be too broke to afford lessons!
Speaking of money, I don’t think I have mentioned at all about the cost of things when I go there. Let me just start by saying that I think I was a little naive to think that EVERYTHING would be taken care of for me, at least in terms of cost. If anyone who reads this is considering JET, let me just tell you that moving over there is like relocating for a job. An initially VERY expensive relocation that is not covered by your employer.
Now, I have to admit that this program is VERY organized and extremely helpful. My predecessor has been amazing about keeping contact and replying to my constant emails and worries. Also, a lot of this info is different for all assignments (some JETs don’t have to pay for housing or utilities at all!) so, I won’t complain too much. JETs in larger cities may fin themselves paying even more than me. I don’t know. But for me, the grand totally that has been suggested to me to bring with is about $4,000USD! Barnacles! Fortunately I have enough to cover buying furniture and a car (YES I will have my own mini mobile!!!... pictures to follow!) and the bank of Mom and Dad have just approved me for a loan to cover the rest (Merci mille fois!).
How could it be this much you ask? Well, I think that it will cover most of the cost of my apartment down payment, car and furniture. I don’t know about utilities and the rest but I hope it will be OK. My predecessor said that the school may be able to help if I really need it too.
