The past 3-4 weeks

Finally, I'm settling into daily life a bit more... and I can write another update. It's taken a while for things to calm down a little bit, and it all still feels terribly new, but I'm slowly getting more and more used to it.

Well, let's go back to training in East Hiroshima (45 minutes away from the city center, out in the middle of nowhere!), which was three weeks ago now. There were definitely some stressful moments, and some I-want-to-run-away-so-I-don't-have-to-do-this moments, but in the end I made it through, I completed my final exam (teaching a 30-minute lesson), and I'm so glad it's all behind me. The highlight for me was getting to go out one night and meet up with Itou-sensei, one of my teachers (an intern; she's still in grad school) from Middlebury this summer! Conveniently, she happens to live and go to school right near where my training was held! I say my teacher, but she's actually two years younger than me. We're still used to being teacher and student so we use polite Japanese with each other, like we did at Middlebury. I'd like to eventually start using more casual speech patterns though... someday! Anyway, some of the trainers dropped me off at the closest train station, and she met me there and we walked to a nearby izakaya (Japanese bar and grill) and had some drinks and food. The conversation was largely Middlebury gossip. It was so much fun!!! I think we both had a really, really good time.

At training, I enjoyed getting to hear so many different accents. English, Australian, Irish... all so delightful. I agreed to go running with one of the Australians one morning before training, only to find out he'd been a gym trainer so he made us go through this ridiculous obstacle course and do burpees on curbs. IT WAS AWFUL. Mistake!! Mistake... but running around the rice paddies and such was lovely, at least.

Also, on Friday night after training was over and we'd all done our final exams that day, trainers and trainees all went out to an izakaya together and had a multi-course meal with all-you-can-drink. It was a lot of fun, although I felt that I had overpaid (3800 yen!) so I drank as many drinks as I could to make up for it, which was not a good idea!! Fortunately after that I just wanted to go straight back to the hotel, so I took a taxi back with some other people (including the head of the Hiroshima branch of my company, so the taxi fees were invoiced!) and didn't go to karaoke with a lot of people, who ended up getting totally gypped and everyone had to pay like $40-50 for a few hours of karaoke. Absolutely insane; so glad I wasn't involved in that mess.

At training I found out my school assignment: only one school, a junior high. Before I arrived I had been told my assignment might be one junior high, several elementary schools, so I had been mostly planning on that, and this came as a shock! But it's actually really good to only have one school, and junior high was sounding like a better fit for me anyway, so I'm happy with it.

Saturday morning after our night out, it was time for everyone to depart for their various locations. We were driven to the nearby station, where a lot of us boarded a bullet train for Okayama. Some people got off there, but a few of us transferred to various different things. Sarah, my fellow new teacher in my city (from England, but grew up in the US, where her parents still live), and I rode with one of the trainers who lives in the city next to mine, on the express train north from Okayama. It was a fairly good journey, I enjoyed the scenery (when we weren't plunging into tunnels through mountains that of course obscured all views!) although the trainer warned us that this train is notorious for inducing motion sickness, and I did start to feel a little stomach upset even though I don't usually get motion sick!

The view out the train window.

Finally, Sarah and I arrived in our town, which is a wonderful/ridiculous mix of old and new. I'm not going to name it, or my company, because I want to be able to be fairly honest here--though I don't plan to do any badmouthing, I'd just rather be safe. Anyway, it's the prefectural capital, and a former samurai seat with tons of history and traditional buildings and so on, it even has an old feudal castle, but the prefecture is very rural. (I've actually realized it's a LOT like my parents' hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.) Case in point: usually when you exit a Japanese train station, you feed your ticket into a machine. Here in my city? There is an actual person who takes your ticket from you. An actual person. I have seriously never seen that before. We are not in Tokyo--or its suburbs, even--anymore, kids!!! Where am I?!

Anyway, so we physically handed our tickets to a real live person, exited the gates, and were met with two Japanese women and one American, another teacher in our city. Each of us got one Japanese person to escort us around and help us buy daily essentials, take us to our apartments, etc, and the other teacher just came along for the ride because she's friendly and also has a good relationship with one of the women. I got her group. We all walked out together to a parking garage, and in the back of the other teacher's car was a giant bounty of hand-me-downs! Other teachers who had left had given this teacher all the things they didn't want, and we could now pick and choose what we wanted--for free! We divided things up and I wound up with a vacuum, a hot water dispenser, a blanket, clothes hangers, silverware and dishes and mugs, two pans, some tupperware, and a few other things I can't remember. Also, waiting at my apartment complex were two bicycles, one for each of us! All of this, for free! Can you believe it? It was magical.

An example of the type of bike I have. It looks basically like this, same color, except the basket is silver and not as nice-looking, and also the entire bike is a rust bucket, but hey, it was free. The brakes screeched terribly until I finally took it into the bike shop and a very nice older couple helped me; the guy just turned a wrench at the top and the squeak went away completely. Amazing! And they didn't charge me at all.

After we loaded up our luggage and new acquisitions, we separated and went to go shop and go to our apartments. My Japanese helper lady, the other English teacher, and I went around to the dollar store (Japanese dollar stores are infinitely better than American ones, and the best place to get simple home goods for cheap, so I really loaded up there), the department store (where I got bedding, a towel, a bath mat, a quality kitchen knife, and other essentials), McDonald's for dinner, and then the grocery store. It was exhausting! First a train journey, then before even going to my new home immediately setting out to purchase home essentials, so I have to think carefully about what I'll need and be mindful of prices. Oh, and we also picked up my car, which is on a lease, and I drove it (very nervously) back to my apartment.

Not a photo of my car itself, but this is the make/model/color I have.

The next day, the other English teacher agreed to take me around shopping again, so first we went to Uniqlo (sort of like the Gap, it's only in NYC in the US) where I was hoping to get some short-sleeved shirts but they already had all their fall stuff out! I did get a pair of black pants and a pair of khaki pants though, and I'm very pleased with both, especially the fact that the length is perfect for me off-the-rack! American pants are always too long. We also went back to the dollar store, back to the department store, and to another home goods store, and also met up with another English teacher and had lunch at a chain restaurant (overpriced). Back to the grocery store too. That night my largest suitcase was delivered; I had shipped it on ahead of me from the hotel in East Hiroshima where we had training.

The next week I had off; work wasn't going to start until the next week. But I had one day where another Japanese helper person, this time an older man, took me around to all of the various government offices and so on to get all my stuff registered and sorted. We went to immigration to get a new alien registration card, we went to the city office to get me registered as a citizen and signed up for health insurance, we went to the bank to open an account, and we went to buy a cell phone. We also had lunch at a ramen place! I suggested ramen because I knew the old guy would know a great place, and he totally did. That day was SO EXHAUSTING because all the typical Japanese red tape and paperwork was so cumbersome and frustrating, and it just never ended until FINALLY, it was all done!

The next day I went to city hall with all the other new teachers and we were introduced to members of the local board of education. Then I went to my school for the first time to meet the principal, one of the vice principals, and the English teacher in charge of me.

I spent the rest of the week, well, I'd like to say I spent that time getting fully unpacked and putting everything away in my apartment, but that didn't happen for another week after that. The cold that had been brewing since my arrival in Japan finally, thanks to an immune system weakened by jet lag and stress, turned into something that meant I needed to rest as much as possible (I busted into the supply of DayQuil/NyQuil I had wisely brought with me), so that's why I couldn't get to all of that. I even almost canceled going to the board of education and my school that day because I wasn't sure I felt up to it, but I went in the end. When I felt better, partly because I was still too scared to drive my car, I started riding my bike around places and familiarizing myself with my city and my neighborhood. I got my bike registered under my name (which meant some rules had to be overlooked... oops) and I went to a gym I had researched before coming to my city, a gym that had yoga classes, and liked what I saw so I signed up for a membership. The guy who runs the gym is really nice, the gym always plays eurobeat music, and women get a discount on the membership price, which makes it reasonable by Japanese standards (though a good $10-15 more a month than I paid for my membership back home, which was the cheapest around). It's also within biking distance! So far I've biked to the gym whenever I can (whenever it's not raining or about to rain--or stupidly hot).

The Saturday before I started going to my school, the local ALTs had a combination birthday party for four people/welcome party for us new people. It started at an izakaya with all-you-can-drink, and once that ended we made the rounds of a few local bars. One had a second floor that felt like a loft, and one is a "pirate bar" where you can be quite literally locked up in a room (we didn't do that). One is very popular with English teachers and has a lot of themed nights and events. It was really great to get to know everyone in the area better.

Then on Monday September 3, I began my first week at my school. My commute is only five minutes by car, it's pretty great. But that week was all taken over by sports day (sort of like our field day), and I didn't teach at all. I did a lot of sitting in the staff room! The first day, there was an assembly and I gave a speech in English which I'm sure no one except maybe the English teachers understood, and then that day and the next were all rehearsals for sports day, which was Wednesday. It was pretty brutal being outside all morning in the heat and humidity--my job was photographer, even though there was an actual pro photographer there, so I don't know what I was doing--even after I started hanging out mostly in the shade. I brought a 200-ml bottle of water, but it was not enough... I started to feel pretty faint and weak as we got closer to lunch. But I can't even imagine what it was like for the students who had to be out in the middle of the field under the sun, going through event after event. I didn't revive until the end of lunch when they passed out energy drinks and I had gotten myself a little more hydrated. Fortunately for me, at that point it started to rain and thunder! Everyone rushed outside to take down the decorations (giant plywood signs, one for each team--there were six) and all the afternoon events were canceled and postponed until Friday. I still had to be there until 4 though (I go to work from 8:30 to 4 every day).

That night there was an enkai, or formal work party where everyone blows off some steam, at a hotel downtown (which surprised me--usually they're held at izakayas, but there's a lot of staff so we wouldn't fit). Most of the food wasn't to my taste, and there was pretty much just beer to drink (I discovered the wine too late), and we all had assigned seats, so I didn't have a great time, but towards the end people got up and mingled around the room, and I was able to have some pretty good conversations with some of the other teachers. Oh, and they made me give a speech since I'm new, and I seriously credit Middlebury with my ability to do that (all in Japanese) and do it capably. I basically just talked about how I thought I might faint at sports day (which got a laugh, as intended), but I was inspired seeing the students out there working harder under worse conditions, so I was impressed by the students and the teachers, and I want to work as hard as them here, and I'm grateful to everyone for welcoming me, etc etc. It was very much a speech tailored to exactly what Japanese people expect and want to hear. I'm not above pandering if I know how to do it! It had been in the employee newsletter than I speak Japanese, and I'd had conversations with a few people, but the speech basically established to everyone "Oh, her language skills are actually legit. Cool" and that was pretty much what it accomplished for me. Afterwards I got compliments on the speech and my Japanese, and more people seemed willing to approach me and begin a conversation, though that could have been the alcohol too!

After an enkai there's always a nijikai, or second party at a different location (usually karaoke, or going to a smaller restaurant or bar, and about 50-75% of the guests from the first party make it to the second), which I would have liked to attend, but I had taken a taxi there because it was raining, and forgotten to bring enough money to get back home again (the enkai and the taxi were both expensive), so after the party was officially called to an end (how Japanese is that?), the English teacher in charge of me got up to leave and she offered me a ride home, which I gladly accepted!! I knew she lived fairly close to me, so it all worked out.

Thursday the school was closed (I think it had been open for class the previous Saturday, to accommodate sports day, so this was a compensatory day off) and then Friday we basically did the events that would have happened Wednesday if not for the rain.

And then the next week, which was this past one, went back to real classes and I started teaching. I visited every class in the school, which is 18--four a day Monday through Thursday, then two on Friday. In every class, it was me and the full-time English teacher, a Japanese woman (whose English aptitude is at varying levels, shall we say). I start off asking basic questions about the weather, day of the week, and date, and then this week I did a self-introduction. For every class I made a worksheet that corresponded to what I was talking about, and I had pictures. I think my self-intros were definitely educational, as every one incorporated grammar and sentence patterns out of the textbook, but I'm not sure how much the students enjoyed them. But I also don't know what junior high-schooler enjoys school. Well, whatever, I did my best! Most classes were mediocre to okay, not great but not bad. About three were bad, largely thanks to boys who wanted to look cool by making fun of me and imitating things I'd say, do, or even how I'd laugh. Those really got to me and I'm not looking forward to returning, which will unfortunately be every week. However, about 3-4 classes were very awesome and I enjoyed them a lot. I am glad the week is over. I had thought that from now on, I'd just be assisting the full-time teacher, pronouncing words, reading passages, etc, but already one teacher (unfortunately the one for the bad classes!) has asked me to make another worksheet and materials, this time on my summer vacation. I really don't want to... these students are not going to appreciate it... but, obviously, it's my job, so I'll do it.

The teachers at my school are very nice and the majority seem very capable. The students... well, the girls all love me, and comment "cute!" about me all the time, and I get shouts of my name or "Hello!!!" (pronounced the Japanese way) wherever I go, but overall, they all seem to be on the under-disciplined side. I think my school is a bit of a problem one. In Japan, students don't get sent out of the classroom for misbehaving, and there are no consequences if you don't do your work and even if you fail a class. You're still going to graduate. So the students who've figured that out just check out of class. And English, as a foreign language, is hard for them, so that's the one they're going to check out of the most. In every class, the teacher will give directions--write sentences, fill in blanks, etc--and there will be students sleeping, daydreaming, visiting with others, or walking around instead of doing the work. It's pretty appalling but there isn't much that can be done. My job doesn't extend to discipline. All I can do is try to be engaging and appealing, but I am new at this so I'm still pretty nervous and I might not be accomplishing that. And every time a smarmy middle school boy mocks my laugh or my tone of voice, that I am trying hard to keep energetic and upbeat (and therefore not "cool" and middle schoolers must be "cool"), my nerves and self-doubt increase, because I'm not confident or secure in my capability to do this yet.

My contract is until March. After that, I would really like to find a non-teaching job, since I have the Japanese skills for it, if I can manage to get a job like that--and I may not. It's going to be a gamble. But especially when I think about the hard parts of this job, and how isolated my city is (three hours away from the closest big city, Hiroshima), which I have been doing all this past week, I feel very motivated to try as hard as I can to make it happen.

On that note, I'm all registered for level N2 (second-highest one) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which is in December. Getting that certification will help me out a lot when it comes to job-hunting and my resume. I began studying out of N2 textbooks in January, and I study from them at school when I have free periods and no grading or preparing to do, plus I tested in that range on another exam this summer, so I think I should be able to pass it this time (I failed it in 2009). Fingers crossed! Oh, and I took an Oral Proficiency Interview while at Middlebury, and my result was low advanced. Yay!!! I've been upper intermediate forever (that was my level at Middlebury too) so it feels good to break into advanced, finally, in this one small way... even though I still have a long way to go!

For a little while, I was chafing at being here, where I will always look out of place and everyone will assume I don't speak the language, and being so far away from everyone I love especially my boyfriend, cat, and parents (except my sister in Beppu, of course!), but I am getting used to it little by little, as I get more familiar with the area and make more ties to people here. I am enjoying going to yoga (and working out at the gym too), and the Saturday morning yoga teacher is a parent at my school, as is another woman in the class! I have discovered an amazing cafe with wonderful coffee and desserts right by my gym, there is a weekly curry night with other English teachers (although the curry and naan there were among the worst I've ever had, even though actual Indian people run the restaurant and we can order in English from them!), there are a lot of sightseeing spots and restaurants/cafes/shops in this city I still want to explore (I went to the castle today!), and I'm slowly growing more comfortable and rooted here.

In one of my Friday classes, I mentioned I liked yakiniku (grilled meat, AKA Korean barbecue), and I think that inspired the teacher to invite me to a PTA lunch for the third-year students the next day with that as the menu. So I went to that after yoga, and it was really nice, and free! There were tons of griddles and they were cooking up meat, noodles, veggies (pumpkin!)... it was all so so good. As soon as I got there, a boy ran up to me with a plate of food! I think the students were glad to see me there even though a lot of them didn't approach me. I spent a while chatting with the teacher who had invited me, and we exchanged contact information, and will grab a meal together sometime soon! I also asked if I could sit in on the students' Japanese class sometime, because I have a feeling middle school Japanese is around my level in terms of Chinese characters, reading ability, and so on (maybe!!) so I would like to be able to learn along with the students if I can. It looks like I'm going to be able to! I hope I'm not too much of a distraction. That would be a really fun thing to get to do during my free periods, especially on Fridays. And, free Japanese classes for me! Haha.

First days in Japan

The past week has been so ridiculously eventful that it's really not even funny. In the span of a week I've packed up and left Oakland, California, where I was doing the Middlebury Japanese School at Mills College, spent a few days in Southern California with my relatives (went to the beach and Disneyland/California Adventure), finally came home to Texas for the first time in 9+ weeks but could only be there for two days and a night before I had to leave again, this time for Japan. My time in Texas was absolutely jam-packed and I can already think of several things I forgot to bring that I really should have, but oh well.

I arrived in Japan around 4 p.m. Tokyo time Saturday August 18, passed through immigration (receiving my new alien registration card there as per the new system--you used to have to apply for it at your local city office) and customs successfully, got my baggage and loaded it onto a cart, and once I emerged into the airport promptly sent off the biggest bag to the hotel in Hiroshima where I'd be undergoing teacher training. Delivery services like that in Japan are fantastic and very commonly used. From there it was time to make my way to Tokyo via trains while hauling my other two bags stacked on top of each other, which made for a very heavy thing to pull along behind me as I maneuvered through numerous train stations! This was also the first time I'd done this, as the previous two times I'd been to Japan, I was with a group or meeting a group and we all took the bus in together, and I didn't have to mind any bags.

So this was a new adventure! Took the Keisei Skyliner from the airport to Nippori Station, bought my bullet train ticket for the next day at the JR office there, rode the Yamanote Line one stop down to Nishi-Nippori Station, got onto the Chiyoda Line, and rode that quite a ways until Yoyogi-kouen Station, where Will was waiting for me. Yay! All of those things involved communication with various Japanese workers, and fortunately it all went well. I don't know why I thought it might be like people in shops or on the street and stuff, who will sometimes (in total shock at the sight of a foreigner) respond to your Japanese with English, but the station and delivery people were all ultra-professional and as soon as they heard my Japanese, (were probably relieved and) ran with it and just treated me normally. Probably hauling my stuff around was harder than that, really. I'm not sure I'd recommend making two train transfers while pulling a heavy weight behind you, but I also didn't have any good alternatives! Once I met up with Will we divided the bags and had a nice walk through his quiet neighborhood to reach his apartment, which is pretty great. He's renting it from an owner, which means it's better than direct rent places, and even has a specially added FULL kitchen with real countertops, which is super rare in Japan and especially in Tokyo. I met his girlfriend Mio there and after I took a quick shower (had gotten all sweaty with that journey) we went out to dinner. We had burgers in a cute little place nearby and it was fun. Then we walked through the neighborhood; a drunk salaryman attempted English with us! I let Will handle that one. After that though my energy started to flag fast and I passed out pretty quickly after that.

Of course, I woke up around 3:30 am. Will had left his iPad out for me to use, so I played around on it for a while, updating people, and then it started to get light outside so I sat on the balcony and took pictures, and once it got light I started to feel excited about being in Tokyo, in Japan, and about the day ahead of me.

View from Will's balcony. The tall tower in the background is in Shinjuku.

Then I started watching TV and found an amazing program that was literally just footage of various birds and animals in nature, annotated only with their name at the beginning of each segment, set to classical music. It - was - fantastic. Then I repacked my suitcases. I did fall back asleep but not until 6 or so. Got up again around 7:30 and Will escorted me to the station. Will was really the best host and I am so happy he let me stay with him! YES to old Japanese 101 classmates who now live in Tokyo.

From Yoyogi-kouen Station it was Chiyoda Line to Kokkai-gijidou-mae Station, transferring there to the Marunouchi Line which took me to Tokyo Station. I walked just a short distance to the first bullet train entrance I found and located a coin locker that could fit my bags. I left them there and went to ride the Keiyou Line to Shin-Urayasu Station, where my host mom and sister would be waiting in their car to pick me up and take me back to their house for breakfast! Ahhh, it was so wonderful to see them again!!! And to see the house again! Ahhhhhh, memories!! My host mom is now 42 (instead of 36) and my host sister is now 13 (instead of 7) so things have changed! They also have a Chihuahua now (named Milk) in addition to the Pomeranian, Koron, I knew before. We had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon (cut up into pieces, not strips), toast (also cut up into pieces), toasted (?) tortillas, and lettuce and tomatoes for salad. Definitely a western style breakfast, unfortunately my host mom knows all too well how picky I am...

My host mom thinks my Japanese has improved by leaps and bounds since the last time I saw them, and she's probably right. It's funny though that in that time period during which the Japanese improvement took place, I hadn't been to Japan once! But it was actually really nice because I feel like our communication has just opened up immensely. Before, I probably couldn't communicate a vast majority of the things I wanted to say. Now, I feel like I can say just about anything as long as the topic isn't too complicated (like economics, etc), even though I'm sure I'm making small mistakes. I like to think that if I could know how my Japanese sounds to native Japanese speakers, it probably sounds like how my friends' immigrant parents' English sounds to me. Which is to say, obviously not perfect but not bad or irritating by any means. I hope that's the case, anyway. So it's like the world has just opened up and I can be much more honest with them and have more real conversations about true feelings than I could in the past. I felt like I was finally letting a lot of my personality shine through, more than I ever had before with them, and it was wonderful. Of course, there were times when my host mom thought my Japanese was better than it was and she said some things I couldn't follow (which actually happens fairly often with me, with a lot of Japanese people...), and a few times when my pride wouldn't let me ask her to repeat them and instead I nodded along, but overall it went really well.

After breakfast my host mom drove me and my host sister around on a tour of Shin-Urayasu, mostly to all the places I used to go! It was so great, I feel so grateful that she indulged me in that wish. First we went to a park that was right on the ocean...

Host mom and sister on the Chiba coastline!

...then we went to Ito Yokado, a supermarket/department store with a food court on the ground floor. I had forgotten this completely, but since that place is right by Meikai University where my study abroad classes were held, I went to that food court with the other students several times. Before we got there I had told my host mom "Hmm, maybe I went here once..." and then once we got there and everything looked so familiar I had to revise that: "Wait, never mind, I've actually been here countless times!!" Then I noticed that there was shaved ice sold at a traditional Japanese food place, and my host mom decided to buy us all some. She got strawberry milk flavor, Na-chan (host sister) got grape, and I got melon. Yes! I love melon flavor in Japan! This was actually my first time eating Japanese shaved ice... well, unless you count the self-serve stuff at the Y's all-you-can-eat/drink place we used to go to. But I don't think that counts! Anyway, it was really good.

So we walked around the Meikai campus while eating shaved ice, which really helped with the heat and sun! We walked over to where the IES classes were held, and the building is still the same; we couldn't go in but we could see the signs. As always, it remains totally isolated from the rest of campus! Whyyyy? But, whatever!

The building where I had Japanese classes from Sept-Dec 2006.

At some point during the tour, we drove close to by the route I used to take to get from where I lived to the train station (which I'd ride one stop to Shin-Urayasu), and my host mom was like "Look! That's right near by where you fell off your bike!!" and I was just like "......I had hoped you'd forgotten about that..." haha. After that, my host mom dropped me and Na-chan off at the station, while she took the car back to the house since my host dad needed it, and rode the bus back to the station to meet us. In the meantime Na-chan and I visited the food court in the Daiei building by the station (which is where we all usually ate lunch after class--something that seems sooooo strange to me now, eating out for lunch EVERY DAY!! That was back when I cared a lot less about what I ate--so it was super nostalgic! Some places have changed, like the yakisoba place is replaced with something else, but a lot is still the same!). We also went to the 300 yen shop inside the station building, which I am so glad is still there! I loved that place, but it's a bit different now. The socks and accessories sections are smaller, while the home goods sections are much larger. There's also a big focus on "natural" type products (things that look simple, earthy, etc), which is a trend I'm noticing everywhere in Japan now as compared to six years ago. Then we went back to the Daiei building since Na-chan wanted to go to the pet store there. Kanako-san (host mom) found us there, and we got on the train and rode it one stop over to Maihama, which is the Tokyo Disney Resort station, since I wanted to go to Ikspiari, another place my host family took me to a lot. Ikspiari is like the equivalent of Downtown Disney, a shopping center right outside the parks. We went to the big Disney store there, and my host mom ended up buying us all these little wet towel things that absorb water but don't feel dripping wet, and you can use them to cool off in the heat. Mine is Minnie Mouse! Again, getting super spoiled by my host family...

From there it was time to head to Tokyo Station. I was fine going alone but my host mom said she and Na-chan would come along to see me off. In the end, I am glad they did. Because things got crazy from this point on. While we were on the platform waiting for the train, I pulled out my wallet thinking I'd show them my alien registration card. Only--it wasn't in my wallet. And it wasn't in my bag, anywhere. And I had no reason to think it would be anywhere else than where I'd put it, in a slot in my wallet. Then I realized what must have happened. When I got the card, I put it into the one empty card slot in my wallet, the one on the edge, which I had previously stuffed full of all kinds of reward cards, which I had emptied knowing I wouldn't need them in Japan. But because it had been stuffed with like 5-10 cards, it had gotten stretched out, so if you put just one card in it, that card would be likely to fall out. I had forgotten that, so I put the card in there anyway. (What's frustrating is that if I hadn't put a car insurance card into my wallet just in case I needed it while I was at home driving for those two days, and if I had remembered to take it out before I left, I would have put the alien registration card in that pocket instead, and it probably wouldn't have fallen out. Ugh! But I was so busy getting stuff ready and packing right up until the last minute, I forgot at least three things including to take out the car insurance card. Really, losing this card is a sign of how incredibly busy and stressed I've been and how forgetful that's made me.) Anyway, since that card pocket is right on the edge of the wallet--which can double as a clutch--a card in it could fall right out onto the ground. And that's exactly what happened the night before, walking around with Will and Mio, carrying only my wallet. Uuugghhhhh.

So, this is VERY BAD. As a foreigner in Japan you are supposed to have that card on you at all times and it's the one thing aside from my passport and money I should NOT have lost. But I did. So, on the train my host mom called the police for that neighborhood (probably--I'm not certain, but I think that she called the right one) and notified them; of course they didn't have it. And of course I didn't have time to go back and look for it, I had my bullet train to Hiroshima to catch. And THEN we got to Tokyo Station and it was crazy and nothing looked familiar, so it was impossible to find the locker where I'd stowed my luggage! Finally, I found it, but that meant I only barely made my train. We seriously had moments of running through the station, dodging people, first without the luggage and then with it, and after I said goodbye to them (in disbelief that my situation had gotten that bad and they'd had to help me out so much!) and passed through the gates alone I went up to the wrong platform and there was no down escalator to get back to where I could get up to the right one. By the time I FINALLY got to my train, it was minutes away from leaving, and I had emerged near car 7 and needed to be in car 15. I had to board it right there and begin walking through all the cars with all my stuff, sweaty and dehydrated, and before I got to my seat the train started moving. I was also quite possibly the only foreigner on the entire train; at least I didn't see anyone else, so standing out when I was already having a bad time was another unpleasant thing. Let's just say I was fairly miserable for the first half an hour of the journey... but I got water and a bit of food (I had planned to buy a lunch at the station but thanks to the locker search had no time), I rehydrated, I changed out of my sweat-soaked jeans, I calmed down... but I still just couldn't relax the entire time, which sucks because I had really been looking forward to taking the bullet train and having a long stretch of time to enjoy myself.

Then I got to Hiroshima Station and didn't see anyone from the company waiting outside the gates! I walked around for 10 minutes, again carrying the heavy luggage, and finally saw someone, and met up with a small group, and we got back on the trains to ride 45 minutes, and then a car ride, to this training facility out in Higashi-Hiroshima (east Hiroshima). It is like the middle of nowhere out here, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

Today was the first day of training, and it was all right. For some reason I was really panicky all morning, I think I've just been wearing myself too thin and the shocks of yesterday (losing an important thing, almost missing my train) really did a number on me. I had recovered by the afternoon, which is good because that's when we divided into groups and did a 5-minute lesson. I wasn't nervous, but I knew since it was only my second time teaching something it wasn't going to go very well, and I did get a lot of critiques. Basically, I need to smile more and appear more confident/comfortable up at the front, but I think that last bit can only come from experience and until then I have to fake it. In short I have to try and be a very good actor. Acting like an extrovert though I am not, acting comfortable with 30 pairs of eyes on me when I am not, etc. Before I tried the lesson I had been even a little excited to get up and give it a go, but now I'm just aware of all my shortcomings and how hard this is for me. I'm going to keep trying but it's just not something that comes naturally. I have no idea what the rest of the week holds (except that Friday is our "final exam" where we will each give a full 45/50-minute lesson in front of everyone else) but I'm sure it will only get worse from here, but I guess my teaching can only get better. Well, with any luck.

As for the alien registration card, I told the company about it immediately and it should be fine, but I'll have to go to city hall first thing upon arriving in my new home next week and hopefully be able to obtain a document saying my new card is being processed, and then use that document to do things like open a bank account and get a cell phone that I would have needed the actual card for. As you can see, the card is pretty important!! And I lost it! Ugghhh. This is the year of losing really important, really valuable things for me. It's like the third or fourth thing I've lost. I am sick of it!

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind. I'm doing fine jet lag wise, but I can't wait for things to calm down, and for teaching to be less stressful. Use simple English without rambling... control your gestures... smile... appear excited... get the kids engaged... so much to remember...

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 2, Jan. 16-20, 2006

Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 2, Jan. 16-20, 2006

japan update #4

Okay! Last night in this internet cafe place, and I have only 10 minutes left (unless I pay for more, hmm). Yesss, okay sooo, birthday. 20!! woohoo. After a day in which NO ONE MENTIONED IT AT ALL (except for my friends, because I reminded them) somehow at dinner they brought out Kirin beer and Coke and toasted me!! (the beer because Japan's drinking age is 20, although it's gross and I only had a few sips) what the heck people!! How could you let me spend the day all sad that no one noticed (I only mentioned it once or twice but still) and then RANDOMLY BUST OUT with something like that!? insanity!!

The Hiroshima Peace museum reallly pissed me off. It had an agenda and it was so biased. I was maaaaad. I'm not saying the bomb was the best idea around, but Japan was NOT going to give up unless some sort of drastic measure was taken. THEY WERE NOT! No matter how weakened they had become, they were determined to fight, and if the bomb hadn't been dropped, tedious fighting would have ensued for who knows how long because of their stubbornness. I researched this for a paper I wrote awhile back, so I'm not just making this up. And guess what, nuclear weapons aren't going away. Nope! Once again, not the best idea, and I hate the thought that they may be used someday for widescale destruction, but they're also important technology that we need to keep developing.

But then we went to Miyajima, the best place ever, and I got another arrow and petted some more free-roaming deer. And saw the floating torii and a bunch of cool shops. I wanted to ride the gondolas and see the monkeys, but alas, we did not have time. :<

Time to go! Tomorrow we go back to Tokyo and have the farewell party! But then I stay on in Tokyo starting that Saturday, and I also don't know about internet access then, sooo. I'll write... whenever!

japan update #3

What up, I am in Hiroshima. We are staying at the Hotel New Tachibana.

In an internet cafe, so I get more than the scant ~15 minutes I got at the IES offices before people lurking the computers made me cave in and finish up, though this means I have to actually pay to use it. Whateva, if I paid for an hour, I am using up that whole hour.

Kyoto was not all that great, but it's not the fault of the city, but our tour, which was horrendously boring and only took us to like five thousand temples. Oh god, make it stop! Make it stop! I don't care about temples! We didn't get to go to Gion, and we didn't get to go to the shrine with the bunch of red torii that Sayuri runs through in Memoirs of a Geisha. Honestly, if we didn't do that, what point is there to Kyoto?

Also, it is barely a city. It is nothing like Tokyo. Liek, seriously, it is more like a large village. I was most confused. Perhaps I wasn't seeing the right parts, though, I don't know.

Oh, but I tried the public bath in our hotel!!!!! I did it!!! Yessss!! Naked in a room full of other women! I did iittttttt :DDD Honestly, if you know anything about my modesty, you know how hard that was for me to do. And so I had a very nice long conversation with two of the other girls on the trip. While naked. So strange, so strange. And yet I am still proud of me. Public bath! yesss

Tomorrow, my birthday, shall be spent crying, as we are visiting the Hiroshima Peace Park museum & A-bomb dome and whatnot. I'm glad to have a respite from the TEMPLE FEST by going to a museum instead but seriously? Going to be depressed like what. Ah well. Janterm doesn't equal a good birthday for me, and I should just learn to deal with that.

Oh, and deer temple today in Nara!! Deeeeer temple!! :D The deer rocked, too. deeeeeeeeeeeer ♥

In Kyoto at Kinkakuji Temple I saw a guy who struck me as looking a lot like someone I knew, so I took a picture of him to show to that person later. Only when I looked at the picture later, he was looking straight at me. So I suspect he knew what I was doing. But oh well, I'll never have to see him again, I figured. WRONG! He was IN NARA at the deer temple at the same time today. What the heck, man. I can understand if he was following a similar schedule/tour type thing, but at the exact same time of day? At the same place in huge temple complexes for me to see him again? Craaazy. Kind of freaked me out, really. weird, weird things!

Time is almost up soooo, byebye!