More Goodbyes

I have recovered from the Tamagawa Tour Guide. Sorry if I freaked any of you out. Haven't been to that beach since, so no worries.

After being invited on a date with a girl called Michiyo and John (don't ask), Saturday Dan, Rosie and I headed to Fukuoka for Jo and Selene's last night out there. We met up at our capsule hotel, which was quite nice. I didn't feel like a vampire at all, as I slept in the coffin sized capsule. It was a pleasent experience and I would do it again. We did some shopping, Paul and I bridged the gap at some festival by buying some beer and sauntering down the street while drinking. We went to an izakaya at first. We treated this time as nomihoudai, and already things were getting crazy. Kilby and I put on quite a show being perverts. I am sure many of you will see pictures from that. At dinner we got the fried chicken cartiledge to eat, but both Kilby and I hate it. So while Kilby was away at the toilet Paul, Yukiko and I decided to throw it in his rice. Well this wasn't good enough, we continued to use our fingers and bury the cartiledge in the rice, so he would be shocked. His reaction was priceless-he was . After that craziness we headed to the Happy Cock. It was empty when we arrived, so we drank and waited for the place to fill up. We hit the dance floor and tore it up. I was shocked to see Tom and Chris getting so into it. One thing about Japan is the lack of attention paid to us western girls. We are just going to shrivel up in a corner and be ignored. Western men love J-girls, J-boys would rather dance with their guy friends, so that leaves us lonely. So after a while I got sick of this and Jo, Louise and I headed for Sam and Daves. Same scene, different club. At this point I would give anything for a dirty old man to hit on me. But alas, it didn't happen. So after some drama about Tom and Yukari, I headed home. Jo and I hit the onsen and then passed out in our beds. It was a pretty good night out. Sorry to see Jo and Selene (among others-Paul, Laura, Jenny) go.

Well I think that is about it. I have been doing my best to avoid going into work recently. So just a lot of swimming, some bike riding, and TV watching. We get some new people today, so this will be interesting. DING DING-round two!

Korea

Last weekend Bren, Chris and I went to Korea. I am just going to list what we did and things that impressed me.

Thursday:

-We took the Beetle from Fukuoka, it took about 3 hours and was really convenient. I recommend it.
-We arrive in Pusan at our hotel, the Diamond Hotel, which has the biggest night club in Asia. The rooms were very nice and VERY cheap (about $18 bucks per person per night)
-We go to Beomeosa Shrine in the mountains. It was lovely and there were lots of monks worshipping. They do it in a peculiar way where they go from standing and down to their knees with their heads on the ground over and over.
-We went to the beach where there were many people playing sports, relaxing and just enjoying life.
-The next day we went to Seoul and met up with Bren's Aunt Hae (who is Korean)
-I attempted to talk to her daughters (who were 6 and 9) but completely forgot how to speak English to children that age.
-After a mishap we ate a traditional Korean meal. It was devine. About 20 different dishes to choose from.
-We went shopping in a touristy area called Insadong. Lots of nice Korean chachkes. I bought a fan, some earrings and cards.
-Then we walked around the night markets and shopped for crap like DVDs and trendy stuff.
-The next day Chris and I took the DMZ (demilitary zone) tour. It was themed past, present and future.
-Past: The Freedom Bridge, the last road that leads from S. Korea to N. Korea
-Past: The Third Tunnel. A tunnel that N. Koreans tried to use to penetrate S. Korea. We got to go in it and it was really cool.
-Present: Observation of the DMZ. One of the most untouched areas on earth. Many rare animals and plants live there. No one has set foot there for 50 years.
-Future: A train station built 3 years ago waiting for peace. It is the last stop in S. Korea before N. Korea. They want it to go from S. Korea all the way to Europe.
-That night we went to some clubs
-Korean men are Hot and they actually asked us to dance and danced with us all night long
-The biggest white trash military man hit on Christine. He was checking our fingers to see if we were married. He wanted to take someone home with him that night.
-I messed with some other military men telling them that I was the military police and they were out past curfew. Then he told me about his sex life with Korean women, very intriguing.
-The next day we went to Insadong for lunch and more shopping
-We visited the castle in Seoul
-And then headed back to Busan

It was a good trip indeed. Thanks girls!

The Tamagawa Tour Guide

There is a man that lives near Tamagawa that I have seen riding his bike up the 191. I was intrigued with him the first time I saw him. He is very tall and very thin. Picture Skeletor and that would describe how thin he is. His skin is dark, like an Indian man who has worked outside for his whole life. His hair is long and faded whitish, greyish, yellow to be precise. He wears shorts, tank tops and a trucker hat. He looks about 35-40 years old. I was riding in the car with my supervisor last summer and I asked her about him and she said 'Sarah, stay away. Scary man. Strange man.' I figured it would only be a matter of time until I would have a run-in with him. Well a whole year went by and I was in the clear. I had seen him when driving but never a face to face encounter.

Yesterday I went to the beach and Skeletor was there. He was talking to some office workers so I just mosied down to the water for some privacy and swimming. After a few minutes of swimming I saw that Skeletor had made his way down to the water and was sitting remarkably close to my stuff. Then he goes and sits in the only shady area of the beach (where I intended on moving once I got out of the water). So I swam for a while and then I sat in the water and waited for him to get bored and leave. I waited for 1 hour until my fingers were pruney and he still didn't leave. So I got out of the water and moved my towel to the shady area (about 10 feet from where he was sitting). I knew he wanted to chat with me so I immediately laid down, put my head phones on and pretended to sleep. Can you ever just feel someone's presence? My eyes were closed and I knew he would be still sitting next to me when I woke up (about 30 minutes later). I woke up and he, of course, was still there. Then another man (I got a story on him too) gave us ice cream. This was Skeletor's invitation to talk to me. I was doomed. The reason I call him the Tamagawa Tour Guide is because he informed me about when all the fireworks would be happening this summer. And I saw him talking to EVERYONE that would go on the beach, pointing things out, making recommendations etc. He told me he comes the the beach everyday and other things. Then he started talking about my shoulders which were sunburnt. I assumed he was asking about the sunburn. I was telling him that they were OK and they didn't hurt. Next thing I know this man was massaging my shoulders! He was digging his twig-like fingers into my back, his dirty fingers nails were scratching my sunburnt skin. It was painful. Then he got down on his knees and massaged me more and more. It was the weirdess experience of my life. I told him that it hurt and he said it was supposed to hurt, that it would feel good afterwards. He said it was traditional massage from Nara. I asked where he learned it while he was grinding his fingers into my shoulders. I couldn't think of a polite way to get away from him and his massaging. (I think he has some mental problems so I didn't want to be too harsh) So eventually after about 5 minutes I said, 'Ok, time to swim. It hurts I have to go swim...'. He asked me if I came to the beach everyday and said that he would give me a massage everyday. He said he would give me a foot massage too. I was so extremely weirded out! I went right in the water and was grossed out and then cracked up that that actually happened. I couldn't believe it. In a country where no physical contact goes on, not even a hand shake, this complete stranger thought it would be OK to massage my back. Oh the weirdness of it all. I have goosebumps just thinking about it.

Part II. So the man that gave us the ice cream was hanging out on a more secluded area of the beach. When I was swimming after my massage I could see him through a few rocks. He was digging some sort of hole in the beach. The next thing I knew, this man was standing by some rocks with his swim trunks on and then he drops his shorts. Butt-naked. He turns around, I see all of his manhood and he plunks himself in the whole that he dug. Apparantly he dug himself a nice little onsen on the beach. Now, Tamagawa onsen is about a minute up the road so I have no clue why he was inclined to get starkers on the beach that day. Afterwards, Skeletor walked me to my car, asked me if I would be there tomorrow to which I answered 'I don't know' and drove away. So that ends the weirdest day at the beach.

First Impressions

Well I am about to wrap up my first year here in Japan. This blog is to sum up my feelings and opinions on Japan. (I probably should have written this and sent it into the yearbook or zenzen but I guess it is a little late for that) Warning- I am going to try and put this honestly, so if I seem like a complainer I am not, I truly love it here and would only change a few minor details!

The People: Let's first start with Japanese people. I would like to say that Japanese people are the most kind, giving, well mannered, and patient people I have met. Since I have been here I have never heard a complaint out of anyone's mouth other than atsui! or samui! (hot or cold). When you are in line at the supermarket, or sitting in a restaurant waiting for your food to come there are no complaints no matter how long it takes. On the road I have never heard anyone (other than myself) toot their horn. If I ever have a problem or a favor I can guarantee that it will be solved or attended to. I have heard instances of people recieving wonderful gifts such as an i-pod or a gameboy just for being themselves. On the other hand the politeness can turn into dishonesty or just a pain in the neck. Rarely do you hear someone's honest opinion on a subject (at least with my low level of Japanese). The hierarchy of trying to get something done is ridiculous. When my parents came to Japan I asked my JTE if they could come to school with me, then she asked the kyoto-sensei who asked the kocho-sensei who asked the kyoiku-cho etc. The list goes on and on. They are also extremely nosey but wouldn't dream of sharing a detail about their personal lives. My neighbor told me that she watches me. She will knock on my door 30 seconds after I have arrived home with a question or a comment. She loves to ask about the 'green car' that is often at my house and she went through my trash to figure out whose it was when it didn't get picked up on garbage day. To summarize, I like Japanese people, they are kind and nice but Westerners have the advantage of being outgoing, outspoken and out of their mind!

The Food: Stuff I have to eat. Kyushoku, my school lunch everyday. I feel like after I eat it I do get a balanced meal, which is the most important part. When eating dinner I will throw together whatever, it may not always be balanced, so kyushoku is my savior in that sense. It is also my arch rival every time I sit down. The minute I walk into the lunch room I try to get a glimpse of what they will feed me today. There is always a huge bowl of rice, milk, some sort of salad, some sort of soup and maybe a fried treat. I am getting better at eating it, I only physically gag about once a month now. The last time was soup that tasted and had the consistancy of phlegm and umeboshi salad which tastes like a chemically generated flavoring. Almost like eating salad dressed with old ladies perfume. Stuff I chose to eat. There are many other tastey creations outside of kyushoku. First I must add that they will take anything out of the ocean and eat it. All types of seaweed and creatures. I have mentioned this before. Besides that the portions here are a perfect size, things aren't cooked with tons of butter or creamy sauces. They do fry a lot of food, but I don't seem to mind it. There could be a whole other subject of different varieties of snacks and candies, but I often skip over that section in the supermarket so I won't talk about it. I will note that many things are seafood flavored, they have edamame flavored puffs and other various goodies. I have actually lost some weight since I have been in Japan, so that is miracle (not really, I used to eat TERRIBLE when I lived at university).

The Job: The reason most people go home after one or two years. The lifestyle that us JETs are living is wonderful, good pay, decent vacation time, low rent, lots of friends our age etc. But the job can be what ruins it all. I am not saying it is a miserable time all the time but if you step back and generalize what you do, it is pointless. It is boring and at jr high schools we feel useless and ignored. Teachers don't often talk to us, our lessons plans aren't taken seriously or used at all. But you gotta take those lemons and make some lemonade. Here is my own recipe for lemonade. I have given up at the jr high. My teacher plans all the lessons-no stress, no worries. I just sit back and enjoy the ride. I take time in between classes and at various breaks during the day to bond with my students and try and teach them some useful phrases. As for the ignoring teachers I have become friends with one or two people in my office that will actually talk to me. All the others (mainly the men) F-em! They can go out and smoke their cigarettes and kill themselves, I will just sit back and enjoy reading my book. Don't get me wrong I am not a total slacker. In my opinion I kick ass at elementary school and my eikaiwa. I kick so much ass that I actually enjoy my own lessons (and I am teaching the simplest of vocab). When on the playground with the kids I see myself as one of them. Never does it cross my mind that I am a 23 year old woman. I swing with them, wrestle them, play in the dirt, look for bugs, play games etc. I love it and wouldn't change a thing about it. As for my eikaiwa my students want us to get together more often so I guess I will take that as a compliment.

The Climate: Four seasons. Did you know that Japan is the only place in the world with 4 seasons? Can you believe it? Well they lie. Not about them being the only place in the world with 4 seasons, but there are 5 seasons. I am experiencing the 5th right now. It is rainy season. They weren't kidding when they say it rains everyday. It rains a decent amount too, not just drizzling. Unfortunately there aren't many thunder and lighting storms which makes it all worth while. So I arrived in July/August which equals HOT HOT HOT. Not just HOT, but humid as well. The kind of humidity that you can breath in and almost drink the water content in the air. All you do is sweat, all you can do is sweat. After living ehre i have realized that I hate the heat worse than the cold. Then comes fall. It is gorgeous with the changing leaves and nice tempuratures. Good time for hiking and doing things outdoors. But watch out, you have to be careful of the millions of typhoons that happen in September and October. Then comes winter. It takes a long time for it to finally get cold. The worst part about winter here is the lack of indoor heating. If we had that luxury I would be fine. Cleveland winters are way colder and way snowier than Japanese winters, so I have nothing to worry about. I never had to dig my car out of the driveway or risk getting frostbite when going in and out of buildings. However, I did get frostbite on my toes just from living in my house. They still haven't fully recovered. Some set backs to the climate here. One I just mentioned. My feet are schmang dangled. One toe got frostbite and is still red. It was pealing until just recently, even though this happened months ago. My toe nails are a mess, and I haven't painted them in ages so I can't blame it on chemicals. Another thing to do with feet is the mold. All of my shoes have a fuzzy layer of mold on them. If they don't have the mold than they wreak like rotten vinegar. I can't get them dry for the life of me. Next is spring which is wonderful, just like fall. The sakura blossom, people come out of their shells. We BBQ and play outside, it really is a toss-up between fall and spring.

Thick skin: I have developed quite a thick skin since I have lived here. I constantly have people insulting me and pointing out my weaknesses. Everyday at school I get ridiculed by my students. It's like I am living through middle school all over again. But this time I am the weird foreigner that everyone gets to make fun of. I have been outright insulted by adults and kids. Famous insults by adults-mainly they comment on weight and general body size. When being fitted for a yukata or kimono they constantly remark on my big stomach and hips. I have actually been asked when I am due. My students often call me buta (pig), beef, pork etc. I think if you eat a lot of meat than you will become fat in their eyes. It would be like ragging on someone for eating fast food all the time. I actually don't eat that much meat here, so I don't know what they are on about. Just so you know this isn't killing my self esteem, I don't think I am fat. I could do to lose a few pounds but I am not taking any of this to heart seeing as the average body size of women here is about that of an American 12 year old pre-puberty girl. Another insult I get is about how big my nose is. Yes I have a bigger nose than you. It is a characteristic of being western, sorry, can't help it. My little kids ask about my red face. I just ignore it. Some kids the other day told me that I am chocolate chip, due to freckles on my arms. I have been asked by my pottery teacher if I was often mistaken for a boy when I was younger. Since I am so loud and outgoing I guess that is characteristic of little boys. So if there is a girl that speaks louder than the sound of a mouse squeaking I guess they are considered masculine. On top of that stuff, I am American. I don't get much flack from the Japanese people, but I do (or did) get it from other Westerners. I think the JETs are over the fact that everyone is from another country so it is cool. But at the beginning or when traveling to other countries man do Americans get it. 'Hello! I can't help where I was born...and if I could I probably wouldn't change it'! To make matters worse, now I live in Japan. A country that many other Asian countries hate. When in Hong Kong my friends aunt was talking bad about the Japanese. Now I am going to Korea, who equally hate the Japanese. But I guess I am used to it, being American.

Everyday Life: Or, everyday annoyances. The biggest annoyance is the garbage system. I kid you not I have 8 different bags of garbage going on right now. 8! Not one for food and one for recycling, basically I have to separate EVERYTHING I want to throw away into a separate bag. I get so nervous when garbage day comes around (about once a month for each type of garbage) because if you don't separate it correctly than they won't pick it up. And if they don't pick it up you have to have it in your house for another month. It is my least favorite thing about Japan. Next is cats. I have never liked cats but now I downright hate them. There are 3 cats that live outside of the house behind me. They meow at the most obnoxios hours everyday. 5am, 6am. One morning I woke up and there was a lovely pile of cat puke on my back porch. I hate puke as much as I hate cats, so you can imagine how mad I was. Climate control. Everyone has mentioned it, now it is my turn. So Japan is an advanced nation, right? More technologically advanced than the US. Why is it that there is no indoor heat or AC? I will pose that question now and not go into further detail about it. Things I do like about everyday life in Japan. I like taking my shoes off before entering my house. It just makes tons of sense. Why would you want all that outdoor dirt from your shoes in your house where you are comfortable and clean. I like tatami mats a lot. They are cool in the summer and pretty. 100 yen stores are pretty cool, however I got over them after my first month there. I live pericura or the little sticker pictures. Karaoke is the best! Taxi drivers aren't sketchy foreign men but middle aged, clean cut men. Speaking Japanese, though it may be difficult is a lot of fun. Shopping in big cities is amazing. ummm...

Things I have missed out on: Meeting my brother's fiance, I will miss Daina's wedding, which is my first wedding and the first wedding I would have been a bridesmaid in. Two Irish Cultural Festivals. Gramma's 80th birthday. Christmas (just for one year though). Small cousins growing up (and forgetting who I am). The presidential election. Fun times with friends. New music and movies. And American Idol, though I got to watch it, I didn't get to vote.

So I guess that is my year in a nutshell. It is probably about 5% of the things I have experienced and done, so take it as a grain of salt. Had I not been here I would have missed meeting an excellent group of people, that are so like me but so not like me at the same time, it is amazing. I would have missed out on the soccer tournament, many themed parties, Japanese festivals, meeting the hottest Japanese man ever (Kengo), visiting amazing cities and countries, having a whole house to myself for the cheap price of about $135 a month, hanging out with Japanese jr high kids, learning flamenco and pottery, and eating jellyfish. How could you go wrong with living in Japan

Sayanara Baby

This past weekend was the leavers party. I was a little concerned that it would be a very sad event however it turned out to be just a lot of fun. We arrived at the leavers party that was held at a beer garden. Of course there was nomi and tabe houdai, so you know the night would turn into something interesting. After eating and drinking a few beers I think it hit people that this was going to be the last time they would see some very familiar faces of Yamaguchi-ken. People started standing up, taking pictures and generally just mingling. I had a nice chat with Kirk, gave Osamu Japan's largest soft cream cone, drank a few beers and ate a stick of daikon. Then we loaded a bus to head for Susie Wongs in Tokuyama. Susie Wongs was a very classy place with trendy decor (red walls and comfy sofas) and a dance floor, to boot! They served my new favorite drink- Mango fizz, boy was it tastey. We all gathered around to hear who won the coveted Zenny awards (superlative awards, kind of like in high school). Who would get the biggest slacker ALT award? (Gerard) Who would recieve most likely to become a wierd 3rd year? (Tom) Who is the faffiest ALT? (Rei) And who has the best pulling technique (I think Neal won that, but I have to say I think Louise would have been a better winner, because I think hers actually works and is successful!) Bren, Chris and I won for 'Best Halloween Costume', we were ghostbusters if you don't recall.

After that we headed to Tikita to set up for the dance party. We posted pictures of leavers all over the place and Artenze blew up balloons. Now being on AJET, Lauren, Gillian and I had to sit outside and take money. I regret to tell you that this isn't really fun at all. Especially being the dancer that I am. Neal, Kat and Jimmy did a fabulous job DJ-ing by providing a nice mix of songs. Then was the time to count the money. All 3 of us being fairly tipsy, I took the liberty of playing the 'sober-est' part and worked out the figures. Hope Tikita didn't get cheated, or worse, the opposite. After more dancing I retired to my room at about 3am or so.

7:45 came around all too soon with a knock from Angela on the door. Although I am glad she did it, she was my first REAL goodbye. She is actually home right now. Kirk was with her and little did I know it was our real goodbye too. Being half asleep I didn't put much effort or emotion into it. That is fine though, because I am sure I will see them again, I am NOT bullshitting either. I can't guarantee it will be any time soon, but it will be sometime. So, if you are reading this, Good Luck and See You Angela and Kirk. I also should say another goodbye while I am writing on here. Goodbye to Tori, I think you leave really soon. I will see you in Tokyo this coming year! Adios, Ciao, Sayoonara, and Bye...

Cruisin'

First and foremost I would like to announce to all of you avid readers of my blog that I passed the Japanese Drivers test, on the first try! For those of you that don't know this is quite a miracle. Now I will share with you my stories, not to bore you but to help future test takers.

First of all this is only a requirement for Americans and South Africans. I believe the reason is because when foreigners come to America they must take a drivers test, so basically Japan is retaliating with the same torture (times 10). The reason that it is times 10 is because it is nearly impossible to pass the first time. In America you could be blind, have 1 leg and no brains and still pass it.

Friday of last week I went and had my preliminary review. They asked me a few questions and made sure I had the proper documents. This took about 3 hours of waiting and going to and from the counter to complete. It was nice because I had a Japanese person with me. I found out that day that I would be unable to complete the test and had to come back again.

Flash forward to the following Wednesday. I had to be at the driving center at 9:00am. I arrived and luckily everyone remembered who I was. I had to show the proper documents (passport, US license, gaijin card, a photo, and translation of US license) and was asked a few more questions. Then I had an eye test, which was easy and a piece of cake. Then I sat and waited about 45 minutes to take my written test. Luckily the people were treating me like a baby and checking up on me every 5 minutes, so I never felt lost or ignored (like I often do at school). I took the written test, 10 T/F questions that were so simple. 'If the light is red, can you go through it?', 'Are you allowed to drink and drive?' etc. Then I got about an hour lunch break. I returned to the place and was allowed to walk the course for my driving exam. You don't take the test on actual roads, you take it in a glorified parking lot. With that in mind, you think they would allow you to pass easily, but they don't. Finally at 1:00 I was able to take my test. I BS-ed with my test administrator about where I was from and my name. I think it was to my advantage that I made friends with the man. I took the test which lasted about 5 minutes, you must pass a broken down car successfully, go through very narrow streets, figure out what to do at a stop sign where your view is obstructed and other things. He corrected me on a few problems, I didn't stop long enough at the stop sign and I curved out before going on a narrow street. So then I waited and found out that I passed and paid some more money. Then I waited again to get another picture taken. Then I had to watch a dumb video. Then I waited again to get my license. I finally finished at 2:30. Let me tell you, I have never been so happy to pass something in all my life. Including all university exams and such. What a relief. My condolences go out to those that must go through this hell, some people more than once. You are saints and deserve a merit badge.

Like the Prom

I have been spending a lot of time in Yamaguchi City recently. Friday Chris and I went with our Japanese mom, Watanabe-san to try and deal with our drivers licenses. We headed out around 10 am to Yamaguchi only to find out that we didn't need to be at the driving center until 2. Watanabe-san wanted to take her girls out to lunch and then shopping, you might as well take advantage of a day off. We went to the 100円 sushi restaurant and went to a few cool shops. We got to the driving center only to find out that it was just our preliminary screening. I got all nervous for no good reason. I should mention that only Americans need to take the driving test (because America makes foreigners take a test when they come to the US so Japan is retaliating and taking it out on me!). So needless to say, I have to go back on wednesday to take the actual test. What a pain in the neck. That night Chris and I went for Chinese food in Masuda. It was awful. We had sweet and sour pork type dish and the sauce was like the slime of natto. Yuck.

Saturday we headed back to Yamaguchi for the Yukata (summer kimono) party. We decided to go early and shop for a little bit then stop by a coffee shop. We went to Jenny's to get ready and dump our stuff. Earlier in the week Chris and I went to the Watanabe's to learn to tie our obi (the big belt thing) and that day Chris and I were the only ones who knew how to tie it. Japanese girls didn't even know how. I have to say, I was quite impressed with us. It reminded me of the days when I was on the drill team and I would spend the whole time french braiding hair before the big game. This time, I was tying obi. We went the La Francesca for dinner which was lovely. We were in the back garden, it was nice to eat outside. It reminded me of prom, everyone all dressed up, taking pictures and eating fancy food. Although at my prom their was no nomihoudai (all you can drink) so that was much better. Everyone looked really nice. Let me know if you want me to email you some pics... No funny stories from that part of the night because I think everyone was trying to be on their best behavior. After that we headed to karaoke. It was alright. There were a lot of people so I only got to sing one song (man in the mirror). A bunch of people left and went to another karaoke place (a lot those people being my favorites to party with- Selene, Paul, Tori etc...) so that was a bummer that we didn't get to hang out. But over all it was a good night.

The next day we awoke to more pouring rain. (The rainy season has come a month late, and in full force) Chris, Bren and I went for sushi and then to the movies. We saw Batman Begins and it was great. It was my first time going to the movies in Japan (it costs 1800 yen or $18!!). I do recommend seeing it. I think I would say that Batman is one of my favorite super heros because he is real. No fake super powers. Just strength and the help of movie technology!