Conversation Class

In attempts to keep this blog a little more current, a quick note about one of my weeknight hightlights each week. My English conversation group!!
It's made up of 4 ladies from Neo and area that come to my house each week for a few hours of food, tea and english practice in some of the most random topics ever!
This week was pretty tame, but exile, political asylum, pedophiles, and Oshiri Kajiri Moushi did come up (the Butt Biting Bug Song) and that was quite interesting and comical! Japanese people really do have a whole different perception and attitude towards the human body than most North Americans I think. First example: onsens and feeling comfortable being naked around each other. Second, the butt biting bug song-- it's not that we wouldn't have a song like that at home or anything, but it's hard to explain just how it is different here. Third, interactions between people-- ie) in class today I had grade 9 boys fixing each other's hair and clothes in the middle of class, my teacher gave one of the grade nine boys a nice little football style smack on the butt folloed by a friendly butt squeeze (I wouldn't even want to think of the overblown reprucussions back home that would follow that one!).
One of the things I've found interesting lately in convo class, is the random idioms and expressions that come up that are so similar across different languages. Last week we were talking about proverbs and "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" came up, but in the Japanese version it is something counting your racoon skin before you have it. (Torranu tanuki no kawazanyo for those who speak Japanese).

These ladies have taught me so much over the past few months that really give me a better inside look into the lives of ordinary Japanese well at least Neo'jin people. They have taught me so many things about Japanese culture (traditional like the tea ceremony, and popculture icons too) and language as well. Even with my ridiculously miniscule usage ability in the Japanese language, I know so much about the linguistic points now-- and a little about regional dialects, syntax and speech patterns as well.
They also surprise me each week such as tonight when our most senior member (age ~73) was talking about the transition that she remembers when she was in elementary and English was absolutely prohibited because it was seen as the enemy lanuage (at time of WWIIish) to her Junior High days when there were many Americans in Japan and there was a strong push to learn as much English as possible. By the time she was in high school, they were reading and memorizing Shakespeare (which she still remembers and quoted some to me!). Yikes I thought old English was difficult enough to translate for a natural speaker of English. They also have similar old-Japanese-- I couldn't imagine even trying to decipher that!

Ooh and other randomness from my world-- my grade 7 students now know really do know why we celebrate Christmas and that Santa Claus IS NOT Jesus' father! Ooh and my low-temperature, intense burn on my stomache (uhhh from my chemical shakey handwarmer thing (which I still love despite my injury)) is finally scarring over and has stopped giving me too much grief. I held off on going to the doctor, which was potentially not a wise decision but saved me some embarassment and even more paperwork. However, I found out today that in the new year I have to undergo a Japanese mandatory physical exam-- I have been fortunate enough so far to by-pass all medical institutions but what I;ve been told there are less clearly laid out lines of 'personal space' and even less confidentiality).

In any case, the countdown to going home is still on 9 sleeps until I go home for Christmas!! This is the first time ever my countdown isn't going all the way to Christmas Eve, because I think my arrival at the airport in Edmonton is going to be even more exciting for me! Whooo can't wait to see everyone!!!!

Hope all is well wherever you may be found in the world.
~Julz

P.S. Sorry I am still having troubles putting pictures on blogger since my computer and I still are having issues with each other, but please add me to facebook to see all my latest pictures! : )

Random Japanese thoughts of the Day
do: as in ju-do, ken-do, being the study/practice of a skill by taking time at it
kani: crab
sutra: special book like bible
magi: slang for 'really?''
turtle necks are called babshirts (grandma shirts) and t shirts can be Yshirts

Random Thoughts from Julz in Japan

So I was realizing I only usually blog about big events but not the daily events and occurrences that now seem common place to me. In the future I'll try to include more of that stuff too! Wow I didn't realise how long it's been since I've written much other than Korea; Ok, I guess I lied, a little bit about some recent trips because they really are the interesting stuff I’d say anyways.

Halloween was a blast! I taught Halloween stuff to my elementary kids for 2 straight weeks! It was awesome! Lots of fun games, songs, dances and more! I also had a party with my Eikaiwa (which also was a belated welcome party for me), and another one with my teachers, and then I went to a Nagoya International Friends Party with some of my friends from around Gifu. It was quite the party as all Japanese ones seem to be Nomihodai---= all you can drink. I dressed up as Hello Kitty and went with my friends Superman, My Melody, the Wayne’s world crew, pacman, Cinderella, a bumble bee and new found friends Winnie the Pooh and Salary man. Good times had by all! Especially trying to find our way back to the hotel room which would somehow hold all of us!
The next day we took a very very long train ride to Nara. Nara is gorgeous!! It was the perfect season to visit as the leaves were red and orange and yellow.. Nara was the ancient capital of Japan between 710-784Ad before it was moved to Kyoto (and then Tokyo).Nara flourished under the influence of Buddhism, leading to the creation of an enormous number of cultural assets, buildings and books, many of which are preserved today. Nara has the largest number of buildings designated National Treasures in Japan. It also has many deer wandering around the city who love to harass tourists for food. They are pretty adorable when they bow though—and uber tame! My highlight was Todaiiji Temple with it’s massive wooden Buddha statue and wooden post that promises enlightenment to anyone who can fit through the hole in the side of it (by the way you now know a truly enlightened person right here!)
Another trip was hiking with some friends and my Eikaiwa up a mountain a few hours away. It was a great hike with stunning leaves that offered us a chance to meet new friends, practice some Japanese and English combinations, and also was a challenge for us not so avid hikers.

Daily Life:
Call me a wuss, but it’s darn cold living without central heating—even if it’s still above 0 outside. It just seems wrong to be able to see your breathe inside your own house! I’ve been drinking more tea than ever before and just hope I will not poison myself from the Kerosene heaters too! School is probably the worst because we have a rule where if the temperature is above 8 degrees--- no heat. If it’s under 8, we are allowed to turn them on just until it goes back over 8. eeks. It really is chilly. Luckily hand warmers are cheap. I bought a pack of 30 shake and use handwamers, 10 feet warmers and 30 sticky ones. They last forever and have been my best friend in the last few weeks! I use them everyday!! Yesterday however…. I had a nice little incident where I left one on all day stuck to my rib cage--- and when I took it off last night, I realized I had burned myself on it!!! I had a full few layers of skin ripped off and it was painful as!! Seriously, who does that?? Oh well, lesson learned—don’t enjoy the heat too much! Take it off after 10 hours, and don’t apply directly to my skin!
In other reports about the climate--- Neo is absolutely gorgeous right now. I am told Spring is the time to come here, but the leaves on the trees are still on and so all the mountains around me have yellow and orange patches. Gorgeous!!! Although, the one mountain has snow already—I’m told after the 3rd time it snows on the mountain, it will snow in town… today is the second time it’s snowing on it—but really I can’t complain, it’s already a week into December and not a flake of snow yet! Just rain rain rain. Canadians really do enjoy talking about the weather don’t we? Random.

Anyways, onto other things, I am really getting on well with my teachers now. I’m living in the teachers only apartments and we have parties once a month altogether for the 12 of us or so that live there. They are heaps of fun and the random thing is that they usually occur on a school day and involve lots of drinking and bring out a whole different side of your staff! The next morning seeing each other at work is also quite interesting! I really do like living there. It’s great to know your neighbors (most of the time) and it’s super close to both my schools.

Other news regarding daily life…
School is going really well minus the cold. I really do enjoy spending time with my students! I can’t wait until I am a teacher back home though and can have more in depth conversations with them! Teaching Christmas is pretty fun and I even bought a Santa costume and got my teacher from the JHS to come to the Elem and team teach in it with me for a day. Lots of fun! The kids were adorable!! And so impressed that Santa knew Japanese!!! ZZNow I’m his best buddy and he comes up to me all the time and hugs me and is just awesome. He was the one kid that took me a long time to crack but also it is the most gratifying to have made contact with. Yippeee!!!

I’ve got 10 days from today left in Japan before I go home for Christmas break. Life truly is sweet right now!- although a little stressful as it always is around holiday time. We have lots of Bonenkais (year end party) going on which always makes for a great time though. Yesterday I went to my friend Rika’s house for a Sukiyaki dinner party. I love cooking on the hot plate at the table—and then with Sukiyaki you dip the meat/cabbage/udon/seaweed etc into a mixed up raw egg. It was actually really good! Her family is so incredibly kind to me!! This time Narin and Kiri came as well, and also her uncles, aunts and cousins were there. They are definitely the closest I’ve got to a Japanese family over here—I love the Devon-Neo ike enshi (I don’t think that’s the right word, but it is something close—meaning connections and friendly relationships).
I can’t believe how attatched I’ve gotten to my little village town. I am actually really excited to see Usuzumi Sakura in the Spring now (our famous cherry blossom tree) and I am going to all the town parties, trying to make it out to more school events, and I get all defensive of my town too now when people dis it. It really is adorable and beautiful!

Wow I just realized how long it has been since I last wrote! So much has happened! By far the biggest thing from home that has happened while I’ve been gone lately is one of my best friends, Heather, getting ENGAGED! It is still unfathomable to me that we are actually at the age of getting engaged and married and all of that! I still feel like such a little kid—even like I am just one of my elementary students some days! But I am super happy for her and Jason. They truly are a great couple! Speaking of great couples—hehe Duane and I are still doing well and have been dating now for 1 year! Wow how fast time flies.

In Japan, my last month or two has quieted down on the traveling trip taking activities and more into finding places closer to home. It was Narin’s birthday in November and so of course a party was in order and very much in ALT fashion, we made a trip to do Karaoke!! We are really obsessed! Last weekend we went to Little World, a cute little tourist attraction in Inuyama that is a 2.5 km round path showcasing houses, food and clothes from various countries around the world.. It was made to teach Japanese people about foreign cultures—but we also had a really good time there ourselves! Also this weekend I went to Ogaki and helped out with an AJET International Festival. It was also a good time and neat to see so many JETs together again.

A few weeks ago I finally managed to get myself to an English speaking Catholic church (let me tell you, not that easy to find!) I went to Nagoya with my friend from Ireland for the first week of advent. It was really funny at the time to offer each other the sign of peace, Carol and I shook hands, and then turned to the next people (who were actually Portugese anyways) and they looked at us as if we were crazy--- low and behold we forgot that Japan is a culture all about bowing! Even then! Lol. Silly foreigners we are sometimes!

I’ve also been out to Seki a few times for paper doll making classes and hope to make a few more for Christmas this weekend! They are lots of fun and I’m pretty impressed with myself considering my complete and utter lack of any physically artistic bone in my body when it comes to being creative.

As in Japan when Auld Lang Syne starts to play to signal the closing of restaurants and stores, a big Otsukaresamadeshita for reading and keeping in touch!

A few Japanese phrases
Nekokabori= dissembler/ a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Seachicken= tuna
Yukimi daifuku= snow desert—YUM!

Historical background of Japan: Shinto brings Japan its gardens, leaves, torii (gate), and shrines where as Buddhism is the reason for the flower arranging, tea, ceramics, paint, calligraphy, and martial arts.

Sorry if this was a little disjoined but I really will try to keep this updated more in the near future!! : )
Ooh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE!!

Korea!!! Nov 15-20, 2007

First my analysis, then a bit more of a narration of my trip. It's a long one so look out!!

Japan Versus Korea: A pretty shallow and uneducated surface analysis
Please excuse the gross assumptions and generalizations. I am just writing my observations for my own reminders of my personal experiences and to share with friends. If you are looking for expert knowledge you will def not find it here so please take everything lightly!

On the train home from the airport in Nagoya I’m very glad to be home in Japan. After living here almost four months now I can finally call it that.
I left for Korea Thursday and returned to Japan Tuesday. In my short visit to Seoul, South Korean countryside, and North Korea, I took note of various things. Keep in mind, also living in Japan as my first Asian country has definitely made my biased towards what I think is normal in Asia too.

In general, I find Japanese people much more quiet, reserved, and willing to help foreigners. Etiquette is huge and as a whole, they are EXTREMELY polite! In Korea on the other hand, attitudes and impressions slightly differ. Sandi and I had several encounters with people being more forward, pushy, and even rude. (From our cultural standpoint of course). Whether it be waiting in lines and suddenly having old ladies shove in front of us as if we weren’t there, or being cut off by Korean tourists when in the middle of a conversation at the information desks, having to fight your way on or off a bus, or general behavior in the onsen/spas, we were continuously shocked by the differences in behavior. On this note, I would like to add that in Korean (as well as Japanese) culture, old people are treated very well as they are highly respected. (And largely it was the elderly women who were ‘enforcing’ their superior position over us unworthy young blonde foreigners. So maybe in their eyes we were the ones being extremely rude by not automatically stumbling over ourselves to become more humble and automatically showing that we were undeserving of our position in the situation). On the other hand, like everywhere, we also did meet genuinely kind people who (potentially because we did look so lost and foreign -did I mention neither Sandi or I knew a word of Korean?) were nothing but helpful to us. (As you can notice I think my mastery of English grammar is slowly slipping away). I’m not sure if I mentioned anywhere in my blog yet my ‘celebrity’ status in Japan. It’s a lot like what I read about before I left—people staring on the street (although you do get used to it) and asking to take pictures with me. I guess it’s just cuz I’m blonde but it still seems bizarre to me, coming from a truly multinational country, that people would want a picture of some random foreigner in their pictures. I get stopped at least once a trip I would say for random pictures with strangers. This trip Sandi and I also had Korean men stop their cars, get out and invite us to come with them for drinks. (This is where Japan is different, they are not quite as forward like that usually). We also had a man on the bus (who was probably very nice but too old) practically beg us to go out for lunch/dinner with him or let him take us to our hotel—this is where the yes it is nice but way too creepy factor came in. Don’t worry! We were good! Don’t go with strangers—lesson learned in elementary! : )


In terms of fashion, we noticed that Japanese people have much more detailed, accessorized looks to their outfits- even in the inaka. They also wear more stylized hairdos (ie clips, curls etc) while Koreans looks seemed to reflect a preference towards flat hair or simply have it pulled off their face (rarely fringe or decorations). The clothing styles (especially shoes) were notably different too and soon became one of the main ways that Sandi and I could first decipher who was Japanese versus Korean.
The thing that I was most glad to be leaving behind in Korea was the stench of kim-chi everywhere. Perhaps it is an acquired taste but for me, I think I’ll pass for a little longer and see if maybe in a year my taste buds have changed. Korean food is quite difference from Japanese food. It is much more spicy too! I’m still getting used to eating foods in both Asian countries’ traditional breakfasts that are very non-traditional for Westerners to eat in the morning. Each day soup, rice, some sort of pickled veggies, tofu and seafood morcels are just not quite working for me as replacements for cereal and yoghurt. At least food is decently priced though! In either country a typical full meal you can purchase for about USD$10. Ooh and fruit in Korea is so much more reasonably priced!
Moving on, speaking of foreign smells, I noticed an overwhelming odor in some Korean washrooms. Because of their sewer systems, you should not put toilet paper down the toilet, but instead must always throw it in the waste pail in front of you in the stall. It is understandable since the sewage problem really was an issue, but the resulting smell from the sometimes overflowing garbages full of used toilet paper=- and I mean very used complete with all of the loveliness that you could expect to find in a women’s washroom that should have been flushed down the toilet in most cases. Eww is all I am going to say on that one. It was quite the relief to find the sign in Nagoya airport indicating which disposables should be placed where (in the traditional flush the toilet paper down the toilet fashion.). Anyways yes I guess I should get off of my washroom rant soon.

So on to transportation. I think it’s quite comparable to Japan and miles ahead of Canada. Both Japan and South Korea have very extensive public transit systems that go anywhere and are always on time! They also have wonderful services online and through people to help you navigate through the subways and busses ahead of time. So lovely! I often think of how much more difficult it would be to freely tour Canada without arranging an organized tour or having to rent a car. I don’t feel qualified to compare landscapes too much , but when I was in Korea everything was brown and autumn was well on its way to becoming winter. Japan on the other hand is still green and so has many more aesthetic charms about it at the moment. I think Japan also has more beautification projects underway as they seem to fill many roadsides/hills with some design or decoration, where as I didn’t notice anything similar in Korea along the highways. Both places are very clean, despite the lack of garbages (that drives me crazy about Asia!)

Housing in Korea is much more Western than Japan. Although in both country’s major cities there are inevitably rows of mass identical stock apartment complexes, Korean ones were more colorful. Outside of the city core, Japanese homes on the other side are much more distinctly Japanese-traditional styled where as Korean homes shared many more Western looks to them. Ooh and did I mention that Korea has heated floors and beds everywhere! Ahhh that definitely makes me jealous.

Another aspect that Sandi and I discussed was which country was more Westernized as a whole. We noticed more white people and English language used on Korean commercials, advertisements, and television, but also found it more difficult to find English romanji signs and people to speak English with us in many Korean places. For us tourists, this is pretty important as everyone knows our Korean is not quite up to par (aka non-existent). How lucky are we that we speak English as our native language and have most countries in the world learning it as a second language! It gives us travelers so many more opportunities! I thought about commenting on my observations regarding friendliness and people talking to us, but it is very hard to compare because we were in different circumstances in each country.. but… well no I can’t make any assertion but I just really appreciate how friendly so many people are to us obvious foreigners.


Few things I loved when first returning to Japan
-Bowing: Oh how I missed it! Along with “dozo”- my translation: after you, go ahead please! So polite! I wonder how I will feel when I go home for Christmas after living here for 6 months…
- Toilet sign in Nagoya airport—I already talked about it but yes, just happy. Haha you guys know I really do have a fascination with toilets, and when Sandi and I were driving to the airport in Seoul we saw a sign welcoming the International World Toilet Association Conference. Haha too funny!
-No kimchi smell or smoking! I know that Japan has it’s fair share of, um interesting smells and I’m sure the Tokyo fish market ranks up there pretty high, but in general there’s not as much smoking in restaurants I have found and to be free from the constant kim chi smell- funky spicy cabbage thing for those who don’t know, was quite the relief!

Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time, and loved my surface exploring of an obviously cultured country, but for now I’ll stick with Japan! Yeah JET!


Well I just realized I finished my bit of analysis between South Korea and Japan but didn’t mention anything about the trip itself really! The real reason we were going… the trip to North Korea! Woot Woot!!

Being the Social Studies geek I am, of course I have a fascination with North Korea and the way the country is run. When I found out we could go into the country with a tour—even past the DMZ I was totally in!

So we flew into Incheon airport, a really cool futuristic place built on its own island that also has an accompanying nearby airport town (complete with a Korean spa which of course Sandi and I had to visit!) On Friday morning we got up from our hotel in airport town and headed to Seoul city where we encountered many many many South Korean soldiers. It was really intimidating at first, but everything turned out ok. I think they were just down for the weekend away from training duties, but just soo many men in uniforms and half with guns was quite a shock—and we were still well into SOUTH Korea! We kept thinking—uh ohhhh what are we getting ourselves into!? Sandi and I took a 3 hour bus ride to the eastern coast of South Korea (on a bus where there were only about 4 other people who were not wearing army uniforms) and arrived in the town near the North-South border where we would start our tour. It was a little scary getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere—to a bus depot that was closed—with few lights anywhere—not knowing the language or having Korean cell phones (luckily my Japanese one occasionally got service). But Sandi and I are great body language communicators and approached the other civilians who got off the bus with us and called our tour guide in Seoul who was supposed to have a car waiting for us at the bus stop. Interesting start to our adventure we decided. Soon though, a man was there to pick us up, who took us to an endearing little condo right on the sea. We could see the ocean from our room- ah if only it wasn’t so late (the sun sets soo early here—I wish they would adopt daylight savings!).
Anyways Saturday morning Sandi and I met up with the only two other English people on the whole tour, who were two sisters from Australia. They were really fun and so helpful too since one of them was in Korea on a University study exchange and knew a bit of Korean. We passed through all the checkpoints and slowly made our way to the final border and immigration into North Korea in the early morning. We were quite wary at first, as we just found this tour on the internet, and everyone knows North Korea is not exactly the best of allies with North America and little blonde white girls who cannot understand what they are saying. But in the end, we were quite relieved as there were about 25 busses each with about 40 people on them who were going with our tour to an area which we found out later was heavily fortified in order to be a Tourist Only Zone. It was basically built up by South Korea and was comparably very safe. Although, that being said, it still showed signs that a whole different world was not that far away.
We entered the DMZ (demilitarized zone of 4kms between the North and South borders) along a road near the ocean where we could see barbed wire along all of the beaches and alongside the road on either side. This barbed wire continued throughout the rest of the tour alongside the road, accompanied by numerous guards and gates.
Our tour was to explore North Korea and all of its beauties by hiking up the mountains and visiting selective sites. The tourist only zone included a lake which used to be a date spot for lovers, then was turned into a meeting spot for families to have 3 days together to reunite after the country was divided, and now is only for tourists and North Koreans even in the town can’t access at all. Also in the tourist zone is the mountain we climbed Mt Kumgang (the Grand Canyon of North Korea), Onjeonggak town (which means Hot Spring House) and its accompanying hotspring, and an acrobatic show to impress the tourists. The town was about 15 or 20 minutes by car into North Korea from the immigration area on the border. I learned that there are only about 3 entry points throughout North Korea that outsiders are allowed in. This is the only one with a special designated tourist zone.
In order to go on our tour we had to submit documents weeks in advance (pictures, application info, copies of passport etc). The tour company then set up our Visas that allowed us to go on the organized tour with minders and restrictions on our mobility. I would’ve loved to explore more of the real North Korea but getting access is very difficult and even more dangerous so for the time being our tour that gave us only a glimpse into the country had to suffice. Some of the rules about the tour included restrictions about what we could bring into the country. These included: no cell phones or cell phone chargers, no GPS, no binoculars with certain amount of zoom, no inappropriate literature or any literature to share with others (political, religious, including no magazines, newspapers or detailed maps etc). Cameras were allowed if their zoom was minimal which luckily mine was as well as Sandi’s personal video camera, but what we were allowed to film was very limited. We were not allowed to take any pictures of North Koreans or pictures that even had North Koreans or their daily lifestyle/home/buildings in the background. North Koreans posing as civilians (but distinguishable by their pin of the Great Leader of course) would inspect to make sure that rules were being followed and Sandi and I had to delete pictures and video even when something inappropriate got in by accident. Another limiting rule was that we were only allowed to take pictures in certain designated areas and absolutely no pictures were to be taken from the bus. This meant pretty much limiting us to the things they wanted us to show when we went back home—nice scenery, fake built up tourist zones only and their images that would portray North Korea favorably to the outside world. It was so difficult for me not to take pics of the things I really wanted to capture—like the soldiers standing on the hills, and the homes, and the people in the field etc. More rules included no talking to North Koreans unless they initiate the conversation and that we could not talk about sensitive issues like politics, religion, or the outside world really. We were always being monitored. We were even warned that places may be bugged such as restaurants, our hotel room etc so don’t say/do anything you wouldn’t want a North Korean official to hear or see.
Anyways, so back to everything. We entered North Korea and Sandi and I felt like refugees (or maybe more like cattle) for the first time in our lives… hoping we would get in, practicing what to say to the guards, triple checking our paperwork, waiting endlessly in line (haha very similar to on the way out hoping everything would check out too!). There were guards everywhere and a big photo of the Great Leader and music playing out of the speakers on repeat which apparently was welcoming us and saying nice to meet you (translated by a Korean on the tour with us). Sandi and I originally chose to interpret the folk song as some hailing of their great leaders still. It was awesome. So out of a movie! And the lady singing the song sounded like Glinda off of the Wizard of Oz. Such a funny voice—even when she spoke later at the acrobatic show. We got a kick out of it and are currently searching for it online (you know that North Korean civilians don’t get have access to the internet right?).
We passed through immigration and were herded back onto the bus. Constantly reminded not to take any pictures! We soon arrived in the town in the tourist zone and were told to change all of our money into American dollars (ironic no?) as South Korean won was only sometimes accepted in the places we would visit. The tourist zone was quite like what you would expect for a tourist area, but there were always signs that would remind you that you are actually in the dictatorship of North Korea. Even the tv and music we were exposed to were from South Korea (I was quite disappointed as I was really looking forward to watching North Korean Tv—but I suppose I understand that they don’t want us seeing it.) The Tourist Area is fenced off from the neighboring North Korean village of On Jung Li and was created at the cost of tearing down an entire village and displacing its residents. According to an article I found, “Hyundai Asan, an offshoot of the Korean car company, built the resort. It paid the North Korean government US$1 billion for 50 years of exclusive rights to the region and other business interests in North Korea. It spent an additional US$400 million to build the five-hotel resort, which opened in 1998.”

I wish that we could have been on the English tour (we hear they run at least one bus with a fully English guide at least once a month) to get more information, but I suppose we were fortunate enough to get to observe most everything with our own eyes anyways. I suppose the tanks hiding in the bunkers on the hillsides and guards with weapons ready who are holding the red flags that they will hold up if they sense any problems/us taking photos is obvious enough though.
Anyways back to a few more observations. The landscape: lack of trees and much soil depletion. Although apparently the South Korean man who could speak limited English sitting next to me translated that South Korea is now helping North Korea learn some farming techniques and that 20 years ago their landscape looked very similar. The hills were largely bare as they had chopped down many of the trees because Korea is largely still running on burning wood as a source of heat. The area we were in was mountainous and quite pretty minus the brownness and guards everywhere. At every hill, bridge, new ditch, town through road, or entry point you would see armed guards just standing there. We saw very little wildlife or even domesticated animals. I think I saw about four cows in the field and 2 herds of goats—with an actual man with a Sheppard looking pole tending them. We didn’t see a single civilian vehicle. Potentially because they were not allowed near the tourist zone, but I have my doubts at how many vehicles there would be anyways. It’s quite the third world country in places –which is just so unbelievable when you contrast it with South Korea. I say this because we saw what looked like cows pulling wagons and even people, only 2 old tractors in terms of mechanized farming—everything was human hand land labour. A few military jeeps/trucks carried soldiers and vendors working for the tour in them but nearly everyone was walking and maybe ¼ of the people we saw were on bicycles. Also, we observed that our tour bus license plates were covered over with tape or cardboard- still uncertain of the stated reason. I think I was hoping for more huge portraits of their president to be mounted throughout the towns we saw but I suppose not all of my 1984 Big Brother ideas about North Korea were true in the area that we visited at least. After the sun went down and we were driving back to our hotel, you would not even be able to know that there were towns in the places we had observed them earlier that day—there was not a single source of light. It was only about 7 in the evening so we weren’t quite sure where the people would be and how they would cope without light. Past the town we saw 3 soldiers repairing a guard overhang (I think) at the side of the road—almost fully in the dark. I think one guy may have been holding a flashlight (could have even been a candle but I just can’t imagine not even giving the soldiers something better than a candle, so I’m going with flashlight.) As I mentioned earlier we also spotted tanks on the hillsides in bunkers and more tanks pointed out at sea. We got to drive by a school and see some makeshift basketball nets standing up in the courtyard. The kids were cute and waving to us (it was a Sunday and the kids weren’t actually going to school or anything, but they were nearby).
As you can imagine the style is quite different in North Korea (at least from what we could observe.) Think 80’s looking jackets and old shoes. Even comparing with the not always so fashionable parts of South Korea it was quite the step backwards. The housage, signage and road condition comparison I think is just so noticeable when you realize the contrast with South Korea only a few miles away. This is probably the thing that stood out most in my mind. When I think of other nations around the world who are living in similar conditions I think of the geography and wars etc associated with it, but with North Korea it’s so bizarre how two sides of an imaginary (well maybe not so imaginary any more) border can become so different in such a short time period.
One of the highlights about our mountain hike was seeing the massive stone engravings in the sides of the mountains. They were everywhere! Written in Chinese characters mostly they dictated the glory of Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Song, and Kim Jong Su (Kim Jong Il’s wife who is also Kim Il Song’s mother). Another highlight was going to the acrobatic show! It was so awesome to see! The performers were incredibly talented and the costumes were hilarious since they were so old school! I know this blog entry is getting incredibly long so I will try to wrap it up soon. One of the other Asian crazes we got a chance to try in North Korea at the tourist spa was the Dr Fish treatment. Basically you would put your feet/hands/ full naked body if you were brave into a warm water bath filled with hundreds of tiny fish who would then eat off your dead skin. It was such a weird feeling! It tickled so much and was hard to stay still. Eventually I think Sandi and I both enjoyed it and we loved the feeling of our feet afterwards!
Sunday we drove back to South Korea and were warmly welcomed by a South Korean guard on the other side of the border (what a contrast from the North—this one was smiling and waving!) and we felt much better about soldiers than we did when we were first on the bus full of them! It was yet another sign of the differences. Sandi and I were both sad and relieved when we did not receive a stamp from North Korea is our Canadian passports. We did have our own personal North Korea visa/passport but they confiscated that when we left the country. L
In Seoul we did a walking tour and met up with our friendly Aussie friends by chance at a gorgeous palace in the city. We went for lunch with them, did some shopping in Insa-dong and went to the only Starbucks in the world that has a different signage on the outside, walked around the canal, and got a little more shopping done before the snow really came down and limited the rest of our evening. The North Seoul tower was therefore shut and we had to return to our hotel. Our hotel was quite interesting as it seams anything that isn’t crazy expensive is often quite dodgy. This one had a mirror on the ceiling, condoms on the dresser, and a broken (and by that I mean physically broken in half) lamp next to the bed.
All in all we had a fantastic trip but were about ready to return home to Japan. We had a nice warm welcome from Japan as it was the first day of the new immigration security procedures and we had to get fingerprinted and have our pictures taken as all foreigners entering Japan have to do from now on. When we reached the other side of the gate we were met by about 8 government officials and news reporters who interviewed us about what we thought of the new security procedures. We may have also been on national television yesterday! NHK channel! Although I’m not sure for how long, since there were many other foreigners holding large protests in Tokyo yesterday and we weren’t overly opinionated! That’s all for now! 2 days of school and then it’s the weekend again : )

Hida Weekend

So this weekend (posted a few weeks later) I was fortunate enough to go on a completely free weekend to a beautiful spot in Japan. Kiri was approached by a tour company a few weeks ago to invite her and some of her foreigner friends on a test-run tour of the Hida region in northern Gifu for foreigners. The only catch was we had to let them take photos of us which they may use for promotion material, and fill out a survey at the end of the tour! It was wicked! We had such a wonderful time!
The bus picked us up Saturday morning from Gifu station and took us north to Hida where we met our fellow tour mates then went apple picking. On the tour with us were people from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Thailand and of course my friends from Australia and America. It was a really cool and diverse group of about 20 of us.
Hida is famous for many types of food; including apples, peaches, beef and milk. After apple picking (and many photo ops) we headed to a nice little restaurant for a welcome speech from one of the government employees and a traditional Japanese lunch. We then headed to a Samurai house that was rebuilt using traditional Japanese architecture. It was gorgeous! I love all the paper walls and the designs in the architecture. It was also really neat sitting by the rock gardens and realizing that we were looking at the same views that people would have five hundred years ago who visited the grounds for fancy dinner parties would have been looking at. The house also came equipped with also very cool hidden sliding doors where “ninja-like guards” could jump out and surprise people who attempted to attack the master of the household. (You know we couldn’t resist taking pictures in that place!)
We then were supposed to go on a big trek through some country trails but because of the rain earlier in the morning we went for a walk around some paths in town instead. They were so gorgeous! Twas a very picturesque little town that Kamioka of Hida city. The leaves were enormous and so colorful. For you physics people out there the town also won a nobel prize for some mining particle thing (I’ll update when I find out more).
Since the train stopped running to the town a few years ago, some of the people in the town decided to use the rail lines for bike trails. They created quite the contraptions that allowed us to ride on the tracks through the gorgeous scenery. The Bike Rail Ride was lots of fun and quite original! By this point we were quite tired and getting chilly. We then went to an Onsen in the area. Onsen’s are sooo relaxing especially as the weather gets cooler!
We then went to our hotel and had an official welcome reception and dinner party with many of the people from the tourism department of the city. It was so nice of them! A deluxe dinner for all of us, of course filled with many delicacies from the area. The night was, as many are in Japan, surrounded by speeches, songs, dancing, and endless sake and Asahi beer. : )
Our accommodations were really nice. We stayed in a cute little hotel where half of us were in Japanese style tatami rooms and the other half in Western style beds.
The second day of the tour we had more traditional Japanese breakfast foods and then got to try making soba by hand. It was really neat to learn and quite the art form. We also got to sample our masterpieces! The only thing that wasn’t fun was cooking in the freezing cold. Oh how I miss indoor central heating! And hot water in taps!!
Lunch was a traditional hot pot in a cute little restaurant in Furukawa Town. We then went on a few tours of museums in Furukawa like the shrine museums where they hold 3 of the 9 shrines used during the Matsuri festival. (I def plan on going back for the festival April 19 and 20 with the huge parades of shrines and midnight rite called Okoshi Daiko where young men in loincloths parade a giant drum through the streets and compete to place small drums on a stage. It looks like a riot! I’ll try to add video later!) The craft museum and exploring the architecture in the town was very interesting as well. Furukawa was a very cute little town complete with multiple old school sake breweries, a store with a man making candles in the window display (whose family had been doing it for many many generations), a picturesque temple, canal lined streets throughout town and heaps of trees with all the beautiful fall colors Japan has to offer. We of course also sampled the local specialty foods from each area and did some souvenir shopping. My Hello Kitty phone danglers collection is getting pretty massive at this point! Twas such a great weekend and the kindness was overwhelming! I heart Japan!

The latest update

Hello one and all

I decided since I am sick and spending the evening at home under the covers anyways I might as well try to pass along a few words of what’s been going on in my life lately.

Since the school posting, I’ve gone through a range of emotions and events. Reading my brother’s blog inspired me to share some of the events that I might not otherwise talk about on this blog.
Earlier this month I lost two people in my life. Although I wasn’t as close to either of the men as I could have been, it still affected me and was really sad to lose each of these people. Ryan was always smiling and up for adventures. Ross, was like part of the family. I always respected Ross because he would go after what he wanted and was full of so much information. It was hard dealing with each of their deaths, so close together, especially being all the way over here, but I was lucky because Duane was visiting during that time.
Duane’s visit was something I was looking forward to since August and we had a wonderful time together! It was strange to have two different parts of my life overlapping but at the same time I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I think we both gained a little independence while he was here since he had to make it to Gifu Hashima on his own, and I had to learn to survive on my little Japanese and reliance on other people’s English as opposed to having Kiri and Narin around all the time to translate. I think we also grew together as well, when we traveled and found our way around foreign places. One of our highlights was Kyoto, where we saw many temples, shrines, gates, pagodas, and even a few Geisha. On our second weekend together we went on a water rafting trip where we camped out in cabins with 40 other Jets. It was cool for Duane to meet all my friends (ooh and come to my school and English conversation class) and I think it probably helps that he now can put a face to a name when I tell him all my news and stories. We also had a Karaoke night which was heaps of fun—lots of blackmail pictures came out of that night! *For these and more check Facebook : ) * I made sure to take Duane to a few different Japanese cultural experiences including taking the Shinkansen (bullet train), eating Sushi made right in front of us, an onsen, and a Sumo arena. We weren’t able to actually watch real Sumo but we saw lots of them on the street and we wandered into a children Sumo tournament right across from our hotel which was really interesting to see. Our third weekend winded up being in Tokyo before Duane headed back to Canada. We went to Asakusa, Akihabara, Shinjuko and Harajuko as well as other neighborhoods. We saw the old culture and the culture-less areas of the massive city and were pretty proud of ourselves for ‘mastering’ the subway system with only a few missed stops!
Duane left on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, which made it extra tough for me to say goodbye and be alone for the holidays. I was able to talk to my parents, cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunt via webcam though which was awesome! Although I was jealous because I was not in Jasper with everyone having the big meal, I did get to share that day with my best friends here when Narin cooked a Thai stirfry for six of us. Speaking of holidays, I am now confirmed to go back to Canada from Dec 21 to Jan 5th. Hopefully I will be able to catch up with as many people as possible in that time!
Before my Canada trip I’m also going to Korea with another Canadian girl who is doing Jet. We are getting pretty excited. I am taking advantage of every weekend I can to travel around Japan and soon to be other parts of Asia. Hey, when’s the next time I’ll be able to fly to Thailand or Korea for so cheap right?
I refreshed my perspective and attitudes about being here when Duane left. I am taking learning Japanese more seriously now and have renewed my original idea of talking to as many different people, learning as much as I can, and seeing everything out there. I feel I have fully settled in now so there are no more excuses, time to get my butt in gear!
One of the things I did since Duane left, was go to a Sake festival in northern Gifu. Narin, Jess (both from Aus) and I met up with Jordan (from Calgary) in his new hometown of Shirakawa. It was so beautiful and had UNESCO World Herritage sites right in the village. We went to the festival (I LOVE JAPANESE FESTIVALS AND RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE!), drank some moonshine Ume-shou, slept under his Tokatsu (heated table), went to the onsen, bought more Hello Kitty charms (I really am getting quite the collection now!) and of course did more Print club stickers! (they are just too much fun here!)
Other highlights lately have been my weekly English conversation class (made up of four ladies from the area who come to my house where we eat, drink tea and practice English), learning Japanese with Sandra and Narin (followed by Grey’s Anatomy on Narin’s computer!!) and lately I’ve also been really enjoying my job. I’ve gotten the chance to do more activities and become more involved in the school which I’ve really enjoyed. I absolutely love playing with the kids (esp elem) at recess, lunch, during cleaning time, and while waiting for the bus. Even in class lately I’ve had a blast and feel like I by far have the coolest job in the school –especially getting to teach Halloween and bringing stickers, a stuffed pumpkin, blow up ghosts and lots of games to school. I can’t believe I get paid for this sometimes : ) …. Although, at the same time re-contracting emails have been sent out and papers should be on my desk tomorrow. The option is there to renew with Jet and stay in Japan another year but at this point I think I am just going to enjoy my 9 and a half months left here and hopefully start teaching back in Canada in September.
I’ll leave you with a quote found in the Gateway I was reading online the other day. “When you live in a place for a number of years, the strange becomes normal, the amazing becomes ordinary, and the unusual becomes commonplace”—so… Shake it up people! : )
Hope all is well! I love hearing from everyone via email, msn, snail mail, skype whatev! Thanks for reading and keeping in touch
~Julz

Japanese School Life

Well I figure I’m still not exactly qualified to critique the Japanese Educational System but I figure it’s about time to make a few comments to help everyone back home understand my daily life here.

I’m teaching in a Junior High 3 days a week and an Elementary School 2 days a week. Again, remember I am in a tiny village of less than 2000. Unfortunately for my town, it is difficult to sustain many school with such a small population and being so isolated. Our Junior High has a whopping 34 students and our Elementary has 84. There is no High School in Neo so most students take the train an hour everyday to Ogaki or else have an apartment in Ogaki to stay at during the week. So….

Junior High
At the Junior High I usually teach about 3 or 4 classes a day. They are a whole different world from JHS back home!! Some of the differences you would notice right away:
1. Teachers move from class to class and students stay in one room.
2. Students wear (and love by the way!) their school uniforms. In any one day you will see them all in their gym clothes, formal school outfit and often winter school sweat suits too. And they will change in the middle of the classroom too! Just strip right down to their gym clothes and hang up their formal outfit in the clothes rack in their classroom. They will also wear them at random times on the street/at the mall on a Saturday—you name it—you may just see your students in their school clothes there.
3. Respect- Students bow to their teachers along with a standard greeting at the beginning on what they will learn today, closing comments about how they enjoyed learning about __insert review here__ today, Thank you- you are dismissed said by the student leader of the day, a check with the teacher regarding the class attitudes of the day, and a final bow before leaving the classroom. It is all very disciplined and sets the tone for the class. Bells, announcements and precise schedules ensure that everything is planned and carried out to a T.
4. Students are always tired—maybe this isn’t that different from home but I can’t get over how tired they always seem to be. Perhaps it is because of the morning study school some go to… or how early they are always at school… or how far they bike to school each morning… or the fact that they “study” until late at night. Oh and have I mentioned I’ve never seen so many kids with grey hairs who are only in Junior high?!?!
5. No goofing off or talking or eating/chewing gum/water during class.. like I said- discipline. When answering a question it is always: Raise hand “Yes- stand up behind chair, push in chair, answer, ask others “ok?” wait for response, sit.
6. In the Staff Room/Office- all the teachers have their home base (since teachers rotate between classes) Students also are always coming and going—but of course enter with an “Excuse me, bow, thank you, come up talk to the teacher, Excuse me for bothering you, thank you bow, leave”
7. Teachers live at school. Here before 8 absolutely everyday (usually 7:30ish I hear- but I am never around – or else am driving by to drop off my morning garbage and get a twinge of guilt when I see the principal outside waiting to greet students) even in summer, and stay until at least 5:30 without a doubt. They are dedicated there is no doubt, but not always necessarily the most efficient I have realized. Again this coming from a family of teachers who live at the school by choice preparing and everything but it’s still a totally different attitude here. One thing I have learned from team teaching is that sometimes simple activities are better than complex elaborate plans. I find students here especially like order and a routine structure. Also the tremendous disparity in language levels does make a case for independent study learning at their own pace from textbooks.
8. Students live at the school—club activities at 7:30 in the morning until 5pm, even on Saturday mornings students and teachers go. Oooh and don’t forget all throughout summer they are here studying or just hanging out.
9. School Lunch - No gum/drinks/food in school at all except for lunch. School lunch is prepared by the school dietician and planned out months in advance with a precise calorie count. Everyday it is a box of milk (3.5% fat), a big bowl of rice, miso soup of some type, a funky saladish thing, and a meat/tofu or most likely fish dish. The students do all of the serving and cleaning up and wear cute little masks and serving outfits to do it. Everyone waits to eat together at their assigned table and does not touch any food until the whole group says “Itadakimasu” (rough translation- let’s eat) Students eat every scrap of food and don’t leave the table until they are dismissed as well. Lunch is quick and accompanied by lots of announcements, a reading of what we are eating, and occasionally classical music.
10. Cleaning. Students (and teachers) clean the entire school everyday. There is a janitor type lady but she doesn’t do any cleaning—just every other random thing. It’s funny cuz kids are completely responsible for that stuff here but still don’t know how to make their own beds or anything at their homes. Anyways they do everything from sweeping the floor to scrubbing it with rags (every single day) to emptying garbages, wiping down the chalkboards and every desk, cleaning the washrooms, and mopping the gym (after every time they do pushups, play sports etc)


Highlights/Frustrations/ Things that Blew My Mind
Team Effort—maybe this is more so in my school and has to do with the fact that we have almost 2:1 ratio for students: teachers—but everyone chips in—or at least tries to look like they are helping even when they are completely excessive. Even the principal is constantly walking around the classes, participating in Sports Festivals and can be found helping clean or water the flowers outside.
Sports Festivals- Wow wow wow. This is huge in Japan and you will not stop hearing the kids talk about it for the entire month of September. I will be sure to post pictures and have surely rambled on and on about this in my personal emails to you all but geez louize I can’t say enough. At every school in Japan there is a school Sports Festival day that takes place on a Saturday in September. The kids absolutely love it and practice their butts off for it the first 3 weeks of September. At my schools it was every single afternoon (classes all cancelled) from 1-5 (or later) and the team leaders had been working on the cheers since early spring. It was quite the sight to see—preparations and the hubaloo throughout the school is something I am now finding I really miss during my quiet afternoons in the office. It was really cool but also a little too serious for my liking. The teachers would be yelling at students and disciplining them during the pointless, monotonous, never ending drills. There would be marching drills, practice stand and sit together at the blows of different whistle patterns, marching into different formations as strict as an army, a whole 2 days of learning to pass a baton—I could go on….. Actual Sports Day was awesome at the Elementary school—they had a dance all the kids did, and lots of activities where the whole community came out and watched and got involved (like line dancing Japanese style and tug of rope), also the whole school played their marching band song they’ve been working relentlessly at—too cute! I really enjoyed my day. Junior High Sports Day got postponed cuz of the rain but the original day students and teachers and invited guests still came to school, practiced inside and then had an ocarina concert (have I mentioned every kid in the school plays) and lunch with the guests. The rest of the festivities got delayed until the next Wednesday but all went well. My favorite time was the cheering section, ball net toss game and funny relays where in one part kids had to put their faces in flour to find a candy. Also the eye of the hurricane relay race was cool too! Remind me to post pictures/videos if I don’t get a chance now.
My team at both schools won the competitions! Yeah Red JHS and White Elem! They each got a trophy with their names on a ribbon. We of course afterwards had a debriefing session where every student and every teacher gave comments. Also at the Junior High School a few days late we had another hour assembly where students volunteered to stand up and say what they learned from participating in Sports Festival. (teamwork, dedication etc). And bien sur we watched videos of their cheering for the entire next week during lunch time (most kids had lost their voices from practicing so hard anyways)!

3. My grade 9 students are writing essays about their trip to Canada (my home town) and reading their perspectives—plus the fact that they actually lived in my town of 5000 for a week is pretty cool. One student’s essay is about food and how Canadian food is all beef and potatoes and how he feels sorry for us because there is no variety in our diet and he thinks he is very happy to live in a country where there are so many very different types of food to enjoy. PS remind me to pass along some tips to the homestay families next year from a Japanese point of view to help portray certain impressions and clear up some wrong assumptions that kids are making. Another talked about freedom and how she thinks people in Canada have a lot of freedom but also that means that they may make mistakes and live on the street or become fat- she is undecided on whether freedom is good or not to that extent.

4. Although I am starting to learn more and more Japanese, it is still sooo frustrating going to meetings and getting piles of paperwork everyday that I cannot even begin to understand. I always ask my Japanese English Teacher afterwards but I think he is getting annoyed. Sometimes I make up things in my head about what people are saying when I don’t understand, but soon I think I’ll be able to pick up on enough words that I will at least be able to guess on the topic. Pretending to look busy all the time is also a new concept for me—but I am actually starting to master it by doing side projects--- ie this blog today.

5. Not having my own class/ classroom. I can’t wait to go back home and have complete control of my own class as well as be able to have my own classroom (eventually anyways) to store things/decorate! Now all of my teaching supplies have somehow managed to be crammed in/on/under my desk and I bring them back and forth from class daily. Although I think I am learning things from team teaching- I think that the position of an ALT is better for someone who doesn’t have an Education degree because I want so much more responsibility and chance to plan/mark etc. Especially for someone who just finished school and has all of these idealistic notions—it’s difficult not having much of a chance to implement your own ideas and style.

A FEW EXTRA FUN THINGS ABOUT ELEM SCHOOL
Highlights of my day: The chicken dance obviously!! Lol. No but seriously, singing with them can be fun. Their eyes light up and all come up to hug me and wave—how can you not love Japanese children?!? Lunch with them can be fun too! Playing Janken (Rock Paper Scissors) for hours and letting them pull on my “Segoy!!!” (Wonderful!!) hair and watch their “western eyes” imitations are pretty classic too! Teaching is always interesting to come up with as many games as possible using flashcards. Kids are absolutely in love with Karuta or Slapjack! I also love taking them to the bus and hanging out at the end of the day. Too fun! We also clean together—but if you can imagine a 6 year old with a broom—yah it’s not exactly productive—but I guess it trains them early. Not sure if I already mentioned or not but kids clean the school vigorously even up in high school but still don’t make their own beds or do any cleaning at home—interesting, no?
Listening to the school marching band and kids picking up random bugs are always other interesting points to my day too. Haha but at least I am not a boy who teaches Elem or pre-school because there is an interesting phenomenon sweeping the nation—the game of Kancho if you don’t know what it is feel free to Wikipedia search it—but think making a gun with your two index fingers and then trying to put your fingers up your friends (and apparently teachers) bum. Haha I have yet to experience it luckily!!
Elem kids always leave me smiling but ever so exhausted.

Well time to go do some teaching! I’m sure there are lots of things I missed but I have another 10 months to update you on the comings and goings at the Shogakko and Chugakko!

First Day Teaching Elementary

Omg, how adorable are those elementary kids! They were all over me the second I got in the school yard. I just love them already!! First thing was watching the students practice for Sports Day-- they have some intense cheers! lol I will have to video them! I swear the leading kid almost fell over backwards and his voice squeeked everytime he did the cheer! lol too funny. Intros went well today and in some of the classes I think I will be able to have a bit of flexibility in the schedule. All the kids loved the Canada pins too : ) There is only one girl in the grade 1 class and she is absolutely adorable. I think she is my fav so far in the whole school. Kawaii!!! The grade three class was funny because they kept making "big eyes" at me-- pulling their eyes tall (just like we do with squinting Japanese eyes back home.) I tried hard not to laugh. The fifth grade class was a nice change because we got past the "Hello, How are you?" stage. They were lots of fun and their teacher is pretty relaxed. Lunch time was quite the sight with everyone in white coats, hats and masks. The kids all serve themselves/each other lunch and clean up afterthemselves. After lunch it was free time and a cutie in grade 6 toured me around (dragging me I should add) and showed me pictures of when the people from Devon came. It was so neat because they kept pointing to people and asking if i knew them- Chantelle Hawkins and Brittney Ostanal (?) were favorites among the kids. They also pointed to the Discover Devon pamphlet they have hanging in the hall-- and guess who was in it at the swimming pool? Half the guys in my grade from junior high. It was funny seeing Jon and Cassidy, Mike, Keston and a few others! Now I've got an hour break until I take the little ones out to play and then to the bus. I think I am really going to like Tuesdays!

The Week From Hell (Partially Written the Week After So As To Be Not Entirely Pessimistic and Grumpy)--It's a long one!

Monday:
Well today is not a good day. Actually it's really crap. This morning while the other teachers were having a long meeting I decided to go to the library and work on my introduction Canada Powerpoint. I proceeded to plug in a LAN cable into my computer which somehow totally f*d up my computer. Seriously, it's taking my all not to start crying right now (I think I already woke up on the wrong side of the bed). I called Duane and David on my cell phone but both say I may be screwed. I hope I have my Windows CD with me but knowing my rush packing job I am sure I was lucky just to back up some of my files. Therefore I left it in Canada and even if mom and dad could find it= weeks/months to ship.... maybe someone here has the same copy?? I'm so clueless about these things sometimes. I can't even think about how much data I will lose-- since the beginning of August I have been working on lesson plans, presentations, videos and a master game/activitiy database. Think 8hours x 5 days x 3 weeks.... argh.... all gone! Makes me wish I had spent more time on facebook putting up pictures---because those are now all gone too. Ouch. ahh and the videos that I had taken all across Alberta during Wynchemna this summer... it pains me even to think of them all! Grr, okay I guess it is my own fault so I'm going to stop complaining now. Aww I guess I have to cancel my Skype date with Duane too : (

Tuesday: Days of Actually Working During Summer Vacation
Now Japanese people have multiple reasons that they are willing to list as to why teachers work during their summer vacation. (Probably the most reasonable is the claim that they are government employees and no longer have to work on saturdays so have to make up the time). Still..somedays I am skeptical that any work actually gets done. Sometimes (heck a lot of the time) I think that the whole summer system is pointless and backwards (ooh there goes my cultural sensitivity). However, usually those are the days that I am watching the clock and surfing the net. Today however, I am going with the mindset that Canada should incorporate a little more time for teachers to get ready before classes start. I am not actually saying we should cut summer vacation-- but I wonder what would happen with more mandatory prep time? Then again, I have come from a family of teachers who practically live at the school on weekends and evenings anyways at certain times of the year.
So today I made and then mastered my Japanese alphabet flashcards (2 different 46 character phonetic systems). I cannot resist the plug here for Michael Rowley's Kana Pict-o-graphix Mneumonics for Hiragana and Katakana as well as the Australian Hiragana and Katakana in 48 Minutes Sets. Just can't say enough good things about them!! I also got some teaching work done by making more English alphabet flashcards and photocopying out of my ESL books. Quite productive I was-- not in any way am I saying that my laptop crashing on me yesterday was a positivive thing-- but I probably got more work done today than most days.
Last night when I was leaving school I found Simon (a 2nd year ALT who lives nearby) waiting outside with his brand new-used scooter. I didn't recognize him at first and was wondering who the heck kept honking at me (1) in Japan people don't use their horns much at all 2) Simon's family is from Asia and with the helmet I couldnt tell he wasn't just a local Japanese man). His scooter is really cute (not the word he likes me describing it as mind you)--but at the same time it sure made me glad that I gave up my original plan of driving a scooter and bought Kaki's old car. His scooter cant go over 40 clicks (km/hour-- apparently only Canadians say clicks) and is only for one person. Since Simon was in an accident and was caught driving without a valid international licence when I first arrived-- he was just happy to have wheels again.
We went down to the river and went swimming and jumping off the rocks until the sun started to set. It sure was nice to cool off and get my mind off of my broken stuff (ooh did I mention when I tried putting in the DVDs last night that I rented, that my DVD player is broken? ah lovely). Anyways we drove to his place (oh so slowly with me following) and then he got in my car and we went for some eats and cruising around the (new to me) city of Ono (closer than Maleria-- yeah!!) We also found a video store selling $1 Video casettes from the 80s so I gave into the temptation and got some interesting classics-- in English! yeah!!!
When I got home I got a call from Duane which totally made my day! It is crazy how fast time flies by when talking internationally!
Tonight I am off to badminton and tomorrow Simon, Narin, Kiri and maybe some other nearby ALTs are going for a meat buffet where you cook things for yoursef in a boilinh pot of oil-- Shabu Shabu (I think it is Korean). Also pumped to try to get my computer working again!! Please! Fingers crossed!
I heard from Camille the other day-- she seems to be having a rough time so far--really hoping it improves for her! Different cultures make the world of difference in your life when choosing a job teaching overseas. She just arrived in Qatar and the culture shock is pretty extreme I think. My friend Matt starts in Vietnam n a few days- wishing him luck too! As of now my plan is still to go home at the end of the year.. but... after talking to Simon I've gotten both inspired to keep doing this ESL thing and seeing the world (he's lived in US, Korea, Africa, Australia, China and Japan) while at the same time I'm learning to really appreciate what a good deal I've got going for me with the whole Jet Organization Setup.. No frets yet people (MOM!) the plan is still Canada (at least for a little while) in August 2008.
Well a 3rd Welcome party has been planned for Monday! And I may go up to the Hida region in Gifu for the weekend with some friends. Everyhing is lookin ok-- kids start monday!
Writing Monday the first day of school
Ok I survived the crazy awful week which was last week. The awful part I am going to try to minimize because I just want to put it behind me. In short, the computer wasn't working no matter what I tried but I found a Jet who is a computer expert-- although lives over 2 hours away. He agreed to meet me in Gifu city if I would drive him home afterwards because the trains don't run much to the country. So I agreed and decided to venture off into the big Gifu city with Narin and Sandra by my side. We were going to meet up with Kevin try the computer thing, and have dinner with a whole bunch of Jets. Plans got sidetracked however when we were just about to the station and I had a minor car accident. No one was hurt and the cars were only scratched-- like very tiny that we didn't even know if we actually touched and had to pull over or not. But... in Japan nothing is that easy! We pulled over and thankfully I had Narin who speaks Japanese with me! The man in the other car was nice but we had a big long procedure to follow. In Japan if there is even the tiniest accident you have to go to the police station. Luckily I had amillion trillion insurance and shaken and international licences with me--- however--- left my passport in Neo (we were told we didn't need to carry them once you have your alien registration). After a big caffuffle at the police staiton questioning my licence, validity of being in Japan, travel dates to Japan, detailing the accident, insurance shaken etc etc they decided they wanted me to drive back to Neo right then to get my licence (an hour an a half away). It was already 8 by this time and I wasn't looking forward to driving all the way back and forth and was so overwhelmed that I started to cry (at least it made them realise I was sorry and really didn't want to drive back.) After callng our supervisor because we couldn't understand and wanted to try to get him to help us sort it out over the phone, the supervisor and his wife drove to meet us in Gifu (he lives a half hour away). The fun continued from there when it wasn't until 3 hours later that we finally could leave the police station with the promise of coming back the next day so they could make a photocopy of my passport. Just as I was about to pull away however I got phone calls from my 3rd in command at my school, my Japanese English Teacher and messages from my vice principal and principal- geez goodnews travels fast. To make a long story short(er) we met up with some of the Jets at a Mexican (one of the few in the country I think!) joint and then I drove Kevin home and left my computer with him for a few days. I didn't make it home until about 2am and was going to get picked up by my Vice Principal at 8. Ah lovely. First I got a knock on my door by the OTHER vice principal (of the Elementary school this time) coming ot check on me because he had heard the news too. I think they were all trying to be nice and make sure I was ok but it just seemed embarassing and long! So I got passed from my Kyoto sensei to my Supervisor in Motosu city and then taken to the police office again in Gifu city where they wanted not only my current passport but copies of my previous ones too! Took awhile to explain that I had to give my other one to the Canadian Gov't in exchange for the new one. Next we drove back, made some phone calls to insurance and then I crashed on Narin's couch for a few hours (I was not allowed to drive my car and didn't feel like going on 2 hours worth of trains for 2 hours). (Oh yah and did I mention this was the friday that I had booked off for vacation!). Anyways at 4 I met with the supervisor, one of the head guys from the Board of Education and my Principal opf the Elem school (who had to leave his Golf Game early-I was reminded of multiple times). I got a lecture about being more careful and how accidents look bad on me, all JETs, Canadians and all teachers. More lectures pertaining to how a Jet got killed on a bicycle 10 years ago and how there was a teacher in Gifu City that got caught drinking and driving last month and that I would get fired if that ever happened. (Remember mine was just a tiny scratch!). After half an hour of lectures and me apologizing, I got to go with them to buy apology gift cakes and bring them to the office of the man who I was in the accident with in order to apologie to him formally and to his family. pff like I said nothing is small in Japan. I was reminded a million more times of "ahh you are so lucky, you hit the most kind, most gentle and nice man in ALL of Japan! ah yes he is such a gentleman!" True, the man was nice, but he was approached my 4 of us all dressed up in suits offering multiple apologies, cake and my offer to fix all the damages.
After that whole deal I was pretty much ready to go home and so I took the train home, walked in the dark to my apt and was a bum watching VHS for the rest of the night.
Oh yah-- and I got a phone call from Kevin (the computer guy) confirming my computer most definitely was screwed up and that I would lose all my data and would need a new harddrive. ah lovely. Did I tell you my friend Katie decided to pack it in? She leaves JET and Japan tomorrow : ( I guess I'm a survivor!

Monday Night:
Life is finally turning around! : ) I found out that I can get the accident paid for by insurance and my premiums don't go up until next year--- when I will be out of the country! Whooo! Free accident! (Though not necessarily something to brag about!). Sunday was also fun because Rika and her father took me around to temples in our area, out for cheap sushi and then to meet Kevin to fix my laptop. I was pretty proud of myself because after Kevin helped me put in my new harddrive I set up the internet all by myself-- in Japanese! Boo yah! Ooh and Rika and I make some Print Club stickers-- they are so intense here! Like editing and all! Good times. Tonight I just got back from my welcome party with the people of my apartmnet building. There were 8 of us in Kyoto Sensei (Elem)'s apartment downstairs. Although I never understand much when I don't have Murachi sensei or a translator around, these guys were hours of entertainment! It was about a 4.5 hour party and you can imagine how much drinking went on! hehe too fun. Kocho sensei and Kyoto sensei (both Elem) are absolutely hilarious! Too akward and cute and dorky and funny for words! Can't get enough of them when they are drinking especially! What characters! Also tonight Murachi sensei came in his new Spiderman mask from Osaka and was in a fun mood too. We're thinking of having parties once a month in alternating apartmnets! Could be some fun times ahead! Not really sure why we all got drunk on a monday night--- oh well, I am sure I won't be as hung over as the bosses tomorrow!
Oh yah I keep forgetting to write-- I finally saw monkeys! Twice at the side of the road in Neo! Whooo for wild monkeys!

Saturday August 25 Day 1 Osaka: Go Hard or Go Home

I came to Japan due to perhaps a different motive than most of the JETs in Japan. I knew that when I graduated from Uni I wanted to get out and go. See more of the world. Travel. Period. When the Jet Programme presented itself I am going to be honest-- I was clueless about Japan-- and still was pretty uniformed even until the day I stepped foor on this island. It's now been one month since I've arrived in Japan and already I've learned so much! The culture and attitudes surprise me everyday. I decided from day one to have an open mind and try everything at least once "when in Rome (Japan!)" as they say!
This weekend I went to Osaka with the Neo JHS teachers. There were 11 of us on the trip and even by the first evening I knew I made a wise choice by coming. It's so nice to see everyone relaxed and out of the school environment. Good bonding time for sure to break the ice! We took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Gifu Hashima (which reminds me to mention that train stations and malls often have vending machines at the restaurants that you pay for and choose the item then give a ticket to a cashier) and after a series of JR train transfers (I'm very thankful for all my Japanese navigators! ooh and they have women only carriages on the trains in Osaka!) we arrived ta our lunch destination. We made Okonomiyaki-- which is like a cabbage, egg, pork, squid, shrimp pizza/pancake type thing with bbq sauce, mayo, mustard and of course fish flakes (shudder*) on top. We also drank lots of beer and had yakisoba, sides of raw squid, scallops, and soime funky (in this case quite not my thing) soybean powder jelly like substance of a Japanese desert.It was an experience and I'm glad I tried it all once....
Next we headed to the aquarium and saw a massive Whale Shark, some otters, turtles, penguins and sting rays. Think of North American Japanese tourist stereotypes and crowds and times it by 100. Ridiculous lines and slow moving but very enjoyable all the same. (Although looking at the big aquarium from all angles I couldn't help thinking back to Sydney aquarium with Kristen, Adam, Todd, Stian and Jeremy. ahh good memories! )
After that we had some Japanese version of snow cones and then headed onto one of the "World's Largest Big Wheel". It was a massive Ferry wheel that took about 15 minutes to go around once and was 115m high. After that we headed to see the lights of downtown. It was just wicked! Reminded me of Vegas or Tokyo and was very exciting. Since it was during the World Track and Field Championships the streets were so packed and the whole city was filled with life! We stopped off for some carnival version of Takoyaki (Octopus balls). I wasn't a huge fan but gave them a shot again 10 minutes later when we went to a famous restaurant in Osaka where we met up with the whole group fo teachers again and had dinner. The meal was huge and went on for a few hours! Food just kept coming (like it often seems to in Japan!) We had crab, octopus, miso, pickled raspberries, pickled seaweed, incredible cook in front of you in a pot rice, fish flakes everywhere, raw beef salad, sashimi, more squid, and a large fish head which I could hardly handle. I am fine with the Aiyu (small fish) that I have had many times where sometimes you eat the bones and the whole tail and head and all but this fish head was the size of a cereal bown. The eyes were still in it and everything and my teachers kept pointing out parts-- ooh yes eat the cheek bone, mm i like the mouth (complete with teeth mind you). It was not quite enough to turn me into a vegetarian but *shudder even remembering it. Desert was also good and after our pictures we had more cocktails and hot saki (with a plumb in it?) and green tea.
We headed back to the hotel soon after (nice and again really fun poppable pillows) and I got to experience my second public bath experience. This time even wearing only a yukata (bath robe) to the bath. They make it seem so natural to bath naked together and they were constantly asking me questions to as why we don't do that in Canada-- "not even with your brothers and sisters?" I told them that we did when we were little perhaps but they couldn't understand why not now. Cultural differences I suppose. I have to say, the water is incredible though and I'm kinda excited to try the Onsen in Neo!
Day 2 of Osaka
Get up insanely early for breakfast- Japanese/Western Style-- Rice, Miso soup, fish, yaki soba, salad of course, but they had toast, mini sausage things and canned fruit- whooo!!!
Tsuchi (Dietician), Sugiyama (Counsellor), Murachi (English Teacher) and I went to Universal Studios Japan! It was so cool! I really enjoyed myself! My favorite ride was the brand new Hollywood Dream Roller Coaster-- you could even choose your own music during the ride! A close second was the Spidermna ride-- although it had a line which ended up lasting over an hour-- ouch! We also toured the Backdraft set and saw how they film fire scenes--as if it needed to get any hotter that day! More attractions included Jurasic Park Water Ride and Jaws-- both helped us cool off a bit-- along with frozen pineapples on a stick. One of my other definite highlights was seeing *Wicked!* If you asked anyone back home before I left what my new broadway obsession has been this past year-- they all would say Wicked. I absolutely loved it live in Japan although it was half in Japanese but I am still dreaming about the day I can see the New York version with Kristen Chenowith and Idina Menzel!
After buying heaps of souvenirs and eating some good ole Moss Burger (Japanese fast food chain) we left the grounds and went for more souvenir shopping! LOL. Everyone seems to think I should buy so much halloween stuff for teaching but it's crazy expensive and hard to find-- so I will just get Duane to bring some from Mom and Dad when he comes : ) I love visitors!!! I did give in and get some Hello Kitty stuff-- including the optimal Osaka Japan souvenir-- a Takoyaki (octopus) Hello Kitty Cell Phone Charm! What a find! Also bought some Spider Man trivial Pringles chips-- what will they think of next?
We met up with the rest of the group. Most went to the World Track and Field (reminded me of Edmonton 2001 and performing in the opening ceremonies-- ahh the memories) and others went on a bus tour and to Osaka Castle (I will definitely think about that for next time I go to Osaka!).Wte took the Shinkansen (bullet train) back home, stopped at Maleria for supper, picked up some groceries, garbage bags and then had yet another detour when two of the teachers decided it was time I got a video rental card. I found some cheap ones but man were they old! It takes forever for movies to come out on DVD here! I couldn't stop laughing when I was at the till paying because the man obviously knew that the others filled out my form and I couldn't speak Japanese, and they had both just rented their own movies, but he still gave a five minute speech on all the rules of the video store-- just a formality but he looked at me every 20 seconds for my "Hai" (yes). I couldn't hold it in, perhaps I was just giddy.
The way home we talked about me doing some English tutoring and conversation groups so perhaps that will keep me busy in the months ahead once we get into the swing of things in September.

Life at Work

So much has happened since I last wrote. Although there are still new surprises everyday, I am settling into a bit of a routine here now. I go to work Monday through Friday 8:30-4:30 (even though students are on summer vacation, teachers work almost everyday. Apparently since they are government workers, when a few years back they stopped going to school on Saturdays, they needed to make up time—alas summer at school). It’s interesting because sometimes kids come for clubs but most of the days it’s just the teachers sitting in their desks in the common staff area reading newspapers and pretending to look busy. Sometimes I really believe they are getting work done, but then again the other day a man was asleep at his desk for a good hour or two. Many are also away at conferences. Me, I just catch up on emails, do a little bit of planning, and mostly make flashcards. Although this time is nice and slack, it’s kind of pointless for me because the Japanese English teacher that I am supposed to work with everyday is in Seattle right now on vacation. Next week I have some presentations on Canada to give at a few English seminars, speech competitions and conferences so preparing for that has kept me from going crazy. The other day we also had a stray dog at school—soo cute- I wanted to adopt it if the owner wasn’t found!!! I also work on my Japanese if I get through the rest of my slack day. Speaking of learning Japanese, this weekend I turned into a first grader again as I could finally read all of the Katakana characters. It’s neat because Katakana is the character set they use for foreign objects such as many foods. So for me, when I can sound it out and recognize the character sounds---all of a sudden I can actually read and understand it (as long as you try to say it with a Japanese accent). Think of it as playing MadGab and trying to say the sounds in different ways. It’s very very exciting for me—whoo reading!

Well mid August now and still hot as heck out here. I imagine this heat will go on for another month or so. However… I made a magnificent find this week when I discovered a place that reminds me of one of my favourite summer activities back home--- the river! The river that runs through Neo is quite shallow but has some cute little waterfalls and is very clear. There are always men fishing there and is my newfound favourite place in Neo. I’m going to buy some inflatable tubes or something to go floating next weekend I hope.

Another thing that August in Japan means is more festivals! This week is Bon. It is a time where families all get together, have a feast and pray for their ancestors. I’m not sure I understand all the intricacies yet, but I am invited to Rika’s family’s Bon Festival tomorrow night. Tonight there are also fireworks in Neo that I am going to go to. Fireworks here are one step up from home- they have multiple colors in one burst and are sometimes in the shapes of soccerballs and smiley faces. Not sure if Neo’s will be quite that extravagant but should be a good evening none the less.

So other than go to school everyday, I also play badminton at the Junior High Gym twice a week with an adult club. Also I may join the Junior High Badminton club and help the kids out at practice—yes I shall be a badminton master soon! It’s funny because they use a lot of English (at least when I am there) with counting the score, and calling “in-desu” or “out-desu.” Everyone is pretty dedicated to their sport here. Even the kids practice in the morning for a few hours—although much of the time is not even hands on, it’s athletic training like running lines and doing pushups—in that heat, yikes! There is another night activity I may try called Indiaka which is apparently a game similar to volleyball but where the ball has feathers attached to the end. Also I have heard there is a tap class at Maleria--- oooh how I miss tap dancing (Yes I know you all think it is cheesy but it’s so fun!) so who knows—perhaps I will go try it out too.
Other things that have been keeping me busy are learning how to work all of the Japanese appliances and looking through my dictionary to understand all of the Kanji! Successful with the rice cooker, vacuum, washing machine and even microwave now! I also made a collage of home to make my apartment seem just a little more like home.
Last but not least I watch some CRAZY Japanese television –mostly BIZARRE game shows. Yesterday I saw West Edmonton Mall on one of the tv shows which got me soooo excited! Apparently I do miss home and am a proud little Canadian! I watch some English dvds and videos too that I brought, Duane burned or Kaki left. Yeah for English sometimes!!! I also have gotten into a great book called “Lamb” it’s the hilarious story of Jesus as a child as told by his best friend Biff. I definitely recommend it!

Random Food Observations:
Japanese people drink anything hot and anything cold. You can buy cans of cold coffee or MICROWAVE! the cans, saki hot or cold, lemonade the same.
I finally figured out where the artificial grape flavouring comes from—real Japanese grapes! You don’t eat the skins and they taste just like grape flavoured anything! (unlike at home—wow I hope that made sense)
Bread, margarine, pancakes, milk and pretty much everything is sweeter here than at home

Other Randomness
The other day I was walking home and got quite the fright by a scarecrow in a garden of my neighbours house. I will attach a photo but at night it scared the bejeezers out of me! And the next morning there was a second one!
Japanese children love bugs and beetles! They all want them as pets!

New Japanese Words
Chugakko- JHS
Shogakko- Elementary School
Seito- my student
Kore wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka.- What is this in Japanese
Sumimasen, mo ichido onegai-shimasue- I’m sorry, could you say that once more please
- still my favourite saying “ a so desu ka” oh I see/is that so—in whatever inflection you want in order to change the meaning


Anyways, time to go to the festivities!!! Bye for now! Thanks for all the comments and keeping in touch!!!

~Julie
P.S. I am still in love with all of the different Japanese toilets! I will write a whole blog on them one day!

P.P.S In one of the pics I have this funny little colorful thing next to me-- it's called a Babloon and I will write lots more about that later too!

A few days in and first weekend out

I feel like I’m settling in quite well now for sure. Still in the honey moon stage but I am coming to appreciate my situation more and more each day.
I still doubt I will ever get used to the humidity and typhoonish weather but am coming to love my apartment and the idea of living in a village community. It is true you really cannot beat the people and how much they are willing to go out of their way to help you and make sure you and comfortable, happy and shown a good time as a new member of the community.
Friday I went into Motosu to Malaria (Actually Malera but we have already assigned a nickname for it) on my first train trip (get this on a one car train! So cute!) . A sweet lady from the town office accompanied me and another man from the town office drove along in the car later as well. They were a little overprotective and worried about me but they were very helpful and cute. They also helped me open a bank account. We went for lunch in one of Neo’s 3 (?) food establishments and while we were there a prominent person from city hall came and secretly paid for all three of our lunches. So sweet. After lunch I walked to the elementary school and also visited the junior high where I learned that Murachi sensei would be going on a trip to Seattle next week and Monday would be my last day with him there for quite a while. I could be in for a shock/very quiet week!

Anyways, I went to Malaria and met up with Narin and we found a Starbucks (what luck!), I did some grocery shopping then went to his place. Narin and Kiri (new ALT’s from Melbourne) live in the same apartment building and only a block away from Malaria. It makes it quite convenient!! Then we ventured off on our own to find Gifu City and meet up with the regional ALTs. Keith (our regional prefecture advisor) set it up for everyone to meet at the train station in Gifu (which is about 40 minutes by bus out of Motosu (which is an additional 40 minutes outside of Neo)). It was great having our first group night out in our new home area and getting to swap horror and new Jet stories. Although JET always reminds us not to compare ourselves with each other, it was quite inevitable and made me feel quite reassured that I got a great set up. Not to brag but I have way more space, a much more competent and friendly supervisor, less rent, and a fantastic Japanese Teacher of English (JTE). Whooo!! And the three of us were pretty much the only ones with Ketei’s (cell phones) so far. I also don’t know what I would do without Kiri who speaks almost fluent Japanese! ‘Tis fantastic indeed! We went out to a cute little bar/pub a block or two away from Gifu station. I think we might end up there quite a bit! We caught the last train home and then I stayed over in Motosu since Neo trains stop running at 9:30 on weekdays and something like 4 on weekends!! Craziness eh? Makes me glad I bought the beast of a car (hopefully I will have insurance on it tomorrow and can start learning to drive here soon!)
I also called home to Mom in PEI and Duane in Edmonton to let everyone know I am still alive and well after Tokyo. It’s good that I’ve been kept so busy lately but I eagerly await my internet connection so I can post these blogs, and catch up on emails and hopefully Skype with everyone.
Saturday we had another Gifu Jet activity in Gifu city. This time I invited Rika (whose father had a welcome party for me on Thursday night). Rika met Narin, Kiri and I at Malaria and then we took the train back to Gifu. We went on a walking tour around the city, I tried shopping for a yukata (summer kimono) with no luck, we had lunch at a cute café (have to admit I’m really enjoying Japanese food and experimenting with things I would never have tried before!) Afterwards we walked for another 2 hours (not even joking) through the massive crowds of people in yukatas to the Gifu fireworks to meet up with all of the JETs who had come from all over the prefecture. I still cannot believe how many people were there and how many fireworks there were! I heard an estimate of 50+ JETs, 250,000 people, and 30 THOUSAND fireworks!!!! I couldn’t even imagine how expensive it must have been! Luckily there were companies that sponsored each part, but still, ahh pollution! Apparently each city has a major fireworks festival each year. My favourite part was called “Niagara falls” where they had a line of fireworks all across the river and they were the kind that slowly started to drip as well. Hard to explain and the pics didn’t really turn out but it was so cool! Plus everything was set to music. I think it was my first moment when I really looked around at everyone and realised I was in Japan. (I know it sounds silly but it’s hard to explain what I’m going through because I’m the sole foreigner for 40 km but at the same time I meet up with the other JETs so easily that it seams like we are all there on some big trip together.) I have further fallen in love with Japanese babies and have decided if I ever am looking to adopt I want a cute little Japanese child! *there’s my completely random thought of the day but they are adorable! Maybe I’ll post some pics later). To end the night Rika’s dad picked us up from Gifu (so nice of him) and drove us all home.
Today I woke up to a phone call from Murachi-sensei saying that my neighbour the vice principal of the junior high school would like to meet me and would be by in a few minutes. I rushed to put on clothes and pull my hair back and two minutes later I was standing outside my room giving my self-introduction in Japanese. The rest of the day was quite slack as it was Sunday and I finally had some time on my own to really settle in. I am completely unpacked now and have been going through loads of paperwork and things that Kaki (my predecessor) left behind. I’ve had many lovely surprises of household items, movies, and Japanese books that will be very helpful I think. As Keith (from Gifu) was saying I think I really lucked out on my apartment because Kaki kept it clean and organised. Pretty immaculate actually. Oooh and I found an air conditioner today thankfully!!! So today was a relaxo day where I just cleaned and organized pretty much the whole day. In the afternoon I decided I needed to get out of the house and took myself on a walking tour of the whole village (yes it is that small!) I saw the famous Usuzumi Sakura (oldest cherry blossom tree in Japan I do believe) and oriented myself to find the grocery store, town hall, and the two schools I will be working at. It was my first time really on my own and I got a few odd looks of “who’s the gaijin (foreigner).” When I found the grocery store just as it was closing (at 6pm) I popped in and decided to buy something, anything just to see if I could do it. Anyways I ended up walking home with a bushel of 8+ bananas (first thing I knew what it was!) and hoped that the monkeys wouldn’t find me. The walk home made me feel like I was in the jungle as there were many scary sounds (mostly of birds, bugs and monkeys), heaps of spiders, and I got quite a fright when I just about stepped on a large dead (I think!) snake. That- I was definitely not prepared for!
At 6 o’clock every night in Motosu the anthem of the city comes on the speakers all around the 4 towns that make up Motosu. It’s kinda cool but somewhat creepy and reminds me of that Dianne Sawyer special on North Korea. That was a good indication it was time to start heading home. Anyways home now safe and sound. It’s 7 o’clock and pretty much completely dark outside. I’m going to go study by Katakana (want to have it all down pat by the end of the week so I can start on my Hiragana (the more complex alphabet in Japanese).
Konbanwa-Good Night!