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!