Traipsing around Tokyo and Niigata

It's been so busy lately that I haven't had time to post at all! But it's been tremendous fun. There's too much to tell to compress into one little entry, but long story short? Adam came to Japan for eight days and we had an amazing time sightseeing in Tokyo and around Niigata. We had crazy adventures and made random Japanese friends at almost every turn. Some of the pictoral highlights are below.


Classic gothic lolitas in Harajuku


Studio Ghibli Museum, Mitaka


Sensoji, Asakusa, Tokyo


Gotokuji, Setagaya: The origin of the maneki-neko

Click here to see more photos from Tokyo


Kamo Jr. High Choir Contest


Approaching Yahiko Village


Kristi at the Yahiko Chrysanthemum Festival


Little girl at Yahiko Shrine


Yahiko Mountain


Morning at the Omi Shrine, Kamo


Kamoyama Squirrel Park, Kamo

Click here to see more photos from Niigata

There's a lot more to tell, but I think I'll just leave it at that for now. More stories to come!

Signs of the season

Work has been really hectic lately; classes have been fun but *draining*. We did Halloween lessons today. The kids listened to me talk about Halloween for a while, then made origami pumpkins and napkin ghosts. I collected the origami afterward and made poster decorations for the class:


Halloween Origami
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Cute, huh? It has gotten noticeably colder in the last few days. I can already tell that this "no centralized heating" business is going to be interesting. I'm so glad that I have an electric heater now. Most people here seem to use kerosene, but you have to leave the window open because of the fumes... seems kinda questionable to me, although it seems to work just fine for the majority of the Japanese population.

Btw, Niigata made the front page of the Japan Times today, though not for a happy reason:
Niigata marks one year since big quake

Date with destiny

Ok, maybe that's being a little over the top, but I took the GRE yesterday. Left Niigata at about 9:30 on a two-hour shinkansen ride to Tokyo, managed to find the appropriate building in the appropriate sector of the city, and did the deed. First of all, I have to say that taking the GRE in a foreign country is kind of bizarre. Secondly, I thought the test was difficult. I seriously felt like I guessed on 3/4 of the math section. Thirdly, I *by far* exceeded my expectations and got 710 verbal, 720 quantitative. That puts me in the right range for the majority of my desired schools and renders it such that they can't disqualify me solely on the basis of the GRE. ;) It's also better than I ever did on any of my practice tests.

I'm so relieved.

Afterward, I met up with Tina, Shelley, and Drew for dinner and dessert out in Harajuku, which was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see some familiar Seattle faces and hear about their adventures in Tokyo. For my part, I was grilled on the application process for the JET Program and had to fill them in on the details of that last painful quarter of Japanese. ;) But yeah, a lot of fun. I'll have to go down there a few more times before they leave in February. And I definitely have to spend some more time in Harajuku in the future; I went there last year to check out the gothic lolita types, but I think it seems like a fun place just to hang out. I also killed about an hour in "Snoopytown", this huge Peanuts store there. Got a couple of things for my classes. :) Managed to hop on the last train back to Niigata--it's nice living in a place that's relatively accessible to/from Tokyo.

Speaking of classes, this is going to be one heck of a week at work. I have to do a full set of self-introductions tomorrow, so I think I'm going to spend some of today revamping my visuals (now that I have my nifty laminator). And I need to finalize the Halloween activities I'm doing with my first-years on Tuesday. We're going to make origami jack-o-lanterns and napkin ghosts. What fun.

School

I've had some really great lessons lately, something I'm always thankful for. It seems like the kids are getting friendlier by the day. Highlights of the week so far? Being told I was really cute by two first-years (the amount of English they struggled with was even more endearing than the sentiment) and having a rather long conversation about what Japanese celebrities I like with another first-year student today (again, I appreciated the epic battle with English). I know that everyone emphasizes using only English in the classroom, but I've gotta say that I think that the Japanese is really helpful. Even though I generally use English, I can help the kids with their questions after they've exhausted their rather limited set of vocab to communicate with me. And I think that tends to make them want to talk to me more--because they don't have to be as afraid that we'll just hit a dead-end and start blinking at one another after a sentence or two. I switch back to English when I can, and I think it makes at least some of them try harder to communicate with me. I've noticed that the students I occasionally help in Japanese are the ones who race to spout their latest English lesson whenever they see me.

Let's see, what else... Oh, I was interviewed about anime and low birthrates in America and ran into Rosalind at a rather scary English teachers' conference at my base school today. Anyway, I'm going to try and do a few more GRE practice sets--they tend to make me want to go to sleep ridiculously early though, so we'll see how far I get.

Kansai and more adventures!

Wow, it's been busy. I need to hurry up and post this before it all gets terribly out of date and/or I forget everything. So, Friday was the fabulous Mexican fiesta at my apartment. Oh my God, the food was so good. We cooked up a tempest of tacos, burritos, chicken/shrimp fajitas, and more, and the JETs really came out in force. Anyway, it was a good time, followed by drinks and karaoke (of course).  I also got some cute presents, including a very Kristi-like Hello Kitty apron--red with pink bows.  ;)


Mexican Fiesta in Kamo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Saturday, my mom and I made the six hour shinkansen trip out to Osaka and checked into our hotel, immediately after which we passed out, waking up only to eat dinner and pass out again. Sunday, we went to the park out in Nara, which I absolutely *loved*. Seeing so many deer just wandering around kinda blew my mind. They're pretty determined when it comes to their biscuits though, I've gotta say--one ripped a whole stack out of my hand still in the wrapper. :) Anyway, we saw Kofukuji and Todaiji, two shrines that have been declared World Heritage sites. The latter of the two has the largest wooden building in the world, which houses the largest Buddha statue in Japan.


At Nara Park
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.


Daibutsu
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

After doing a little shopping in Nara, we took a train out to Kyoto and hit two more shrines: Sanjusangen-do and Fushimi-Inari Taisha. Sanjusangen-do is famous for containing 1001 statues of Kannon, while Fushimi-Inari involves a *lot* of red tori.


Inside Sanjusangen-do
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.


At Fushimi-Inari Taisha
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

On Monday, we spent the day leisurely strolling around the grounds of Osaka Castle, the city's most famous landmark. We also did a litle bit of shopping around the city before embarking on the long shinkansen ride back to Niigata.


Osaka Castle
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

All in all, a good weekend.  And now?  Now I'm 23.  Time to end a long post and get back to living.  Hope all of you are doing well. Oh, before I forget, taiko concert pictures from the other day are up now:


Tsubame Taiko Concert
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Subarashii...

I had my most fun day of teaching yet today! It was my first official visit to Tagami Junior High, so the day started off with the standard bilingual self-introductions to the staff and to all of the students (via school assembly). But then I had four very awesome lessons with two very awesome teachers and two slightly less awesome ones. Great students, too. I sustained casual non-teaching related conversations with teachers for a total of maybe three hours today! And got presents and sightseeing invites! Too bad I don't go back again for another three weeks. :)

After that, I had an amazing hour-long massage at the house of this very nice blind fellow who lives a couple of miles from my apartment. Oh, it was wonderful. I was quite amused by the fact that just about every muscle he touched prompted the comment, "Hm, this probably hurts, huh?" hehe... My neck, my shoulders, my back, my shins, my feet... all of them a mess. (My shins even prompted a "What the..?) By the time he got to my right foot, we both had to laugh at how my bones were cracking all over the place. I swear, I'm held together largely by stress. And maybe gumption. :) Anyway, I may have to make this a semi-regular occurence. A good use of $30, to my mind...

I better get some rest. I have three early lessons at Wakamiya tomorrow, then it's off to Tokyo and Narita Airport to retrieve my mom and bring her back to Kamo. That means 6+ hours on trains and about $200 in fares, roundtrip. But hey, the last thing I want is for her to get lost and end up on the other side of Honshu. ;)

Take care, all. If you happen to be in Japan, I'm having a Mexican food party this Friday at 7:00 pm. It's also nominally to celebrate my 23rd birthday, which is next Wednesday. If you're reading this, you're invited. Comment and I'll send you details.

Taiko

I went to a taiko drum concert today out in Tsubame with the usual suspects. It was quite fun, and since it was free, the price was right. Afterward we grabbed some food at a ramen shop and chatted for a while about everything and nothing... Then I came back to Kamo for another dinner date with some of the folks here. Good stuff. I took a bunch of pictures but don't have the energy to sort/upload them right now.

Anyway, I have a big day of teaching tomorrow--gotta think of stuff to do. Wish me luck. ;)

Major redecorating

What a productive day. I spent almost all of it cleaning house, doing laundry, and shopping for furniture (or moving it, with Rosalind's help), and now my apartment is a much more pleasant place to be. Seriously, I feel *so* much happier. And I think I've spent more time in my living room today than I have in the last two months, so that really says something. Just to think, a sofa, an armchair, and another bookshelf were the key to happiness all along. I still have to do the finishing touches (sofa pillows, colorful things, and perhaps a houseplant), but I think I'll try to pace my spending a bit--anyway, this is a definite improvement. That means we can have a party at my place soon, perhaps with all that Mexican food I've been hoarding from theflyingpig.com. Yum.

I've been burning CDs this evening, trying to recreate a bit of my old collection in Seattle. I have to admit, despite the convenience of mp3s and mp3 players, I find buying/burning/using CDs to be somehow more satisfying at times. Maybe it's cause I just like stuff; I'm such a packrat. Anyway, Modest Mouse, Air, Pinback, and Hot Hot Heat have rejoined the fold so far... More to come, I'm sure.

I think I'm going to shut down the computer for the night, maybe study for the GRE. That would be good. Tomorrow may end up being busy--gotta prep for a big day of teaching on Monday and it looks like I'm going to a taiko drum concert out in Sanjo in the afternoon. That's life in Japan for ya...

Busy busy

Wow, it's been busy since my last post--time for a list!

1. I submitted my Rhodes and Marshall applications today! So glad that's out of my hair. Hopefully my eight letter writers will all come through and there won't be any last minute things to deal with. On to studying for the GRE!

2. Rosalind and I joined a gym in Sanjo on Thursday! I'm way excited. We're going to try and make it a regular routine. Maybe do some of the classes as well.

3. I never realized how many muscles it takes to play the clarinet. After my power session on Wednesday, my face muscles were seriously sore. It was kinda cool though--I could feel exactly what muscles I used, something I could never do when I built up endurance slowly over seven years. Interesting pain is good.... right?

4. Playing Jeopardy with junior high kids for four straight hours takes an astonishing amount of energy.

That is all.

Adventures in clarinet-ing

So, today I picked up a clarinet for the first time in five years. I played fairly seriously back in high school but hadn't touched a horn since I toured Europe with a state band after graduation. However, despite that, today I was handed an instrument and asked to sit down and play with our junior high's group. We played together for a couple of hours--and then we went to a different school and practiced the same songs with kids from four other junior highs in the area for another couple of hours. It was a trip, let me tell you. It felt so natural. And I even remembered the vast majority of stuff--the only thing that really got me was my total lack of embochure muscles. Four hours of continuous playing was a little rough. But yeah, it was great, and the kids were very excited to have me participate. I guess they're practicing for a festival in early November. I may be playing with them, we shall see... It's the first time I've felt really comfortable at school--I should've known band would do the trick. ;) The experience did make me feel a bit old though... How on earth did five years go by so quickly?

And tonight? Tonight was another installment of cooking class with Rosalind and Saito-san. We made beef steak, sweet potato rice, a radish soup, and a seaweed salad. Yum. We asked Saito-san to hook us up with a massage place--apparently there's one in Kamo, complete with the blind masseuse that's standard in this country. I can't wait.

Anyway, I think I'm going to get to bed. I have three early lessons in a row tomorrow, and sleep definitely helps things along. :) Take care, all.

Another weekend

Saturday night in Sanjo
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Met up with Grace, Errol, and Johanna for a little random fun out in Sanjo last night. Apparently, Johanna came down from Niigata to lease a car from a fellow named Mr. Fujita, and he very graciously offered to take all of us out to dinner. After a few hours of feasting and drinking, there was a veritable collison of JETs as people simultaneously left concerts, returned from Thailand, and similarly converged upon a small cafe for some hanging out. It was a good time, and I even managed to catch the last train home and get a good night's sleep.

And today? Today was spent working on various projects, buying tickets for the Studio Ghibli Museum, getting pictures taken for my Rhodes application, and shopping with Grace (who also happened to be nice enough to take my pictures for me). Yay.

Tomorrow is yet another "first" day--you'd think I'd be done with those by now, huh? I'm going to Sanjo to visit Osaki Junior High, which I only visit every two weeks or so. That means I need to do my self-introduction again (bleh). Speaking of which, I should go make sure that I have everything ready...

I think my computer may be on the verge of death. The screen has been flickering alarmingly for the last couple of days. I've been starting to research new ones lately, but I hope this one can hold out at least til after grad apps are done... Hrm.

Signs of autumn...

Here I am, on the eve of another three-day weekend, this time due to the Autumn Equinox, which happens to be a Japanese national holiday. For those of you who don't know, the equinox marks the first day of fall, when night and day are nearly the same length. I can really feel the changes around here. Darkness has already begun to set in by the time I get home. The weather is noticeably cooler, too; air conditioner use has decreased dramatically, both at school and at home. How strange to think that October is just around the corner. Classes will be starting back at UW soon.

I taught my first wild group of kids today, a third-year class. There was an interesting guy who talked through probably 70 percent of the class--often very loudly. He'd done the classic trick of drawing eyes on his eyelids so that it looked like his eyes were open when he was spacing out. Anyway, it was interesting to see. They don't kick kids like that out of class here, they just proceed as normal. But while the rebelliousness is much more overt on one level, it's much less threatening in that there isn't as much bite to it... Anyway, the primary teacher had things pretty well in control, despite contrary appearances.

My other two classes of the day were quite sweet and very attentive--first years, the both of them. The kids were excited to raise their hands and even more excited to play janken (aka rock paper scissors) with me to decide who would go first during their practice dialogues. My JTE got a kick out of having me speak Italian for them. Good times.

So, how am I going to spend my three-day weekend? Studying. Writing. Reading. It's like I'm still in school, huh? I registered for the GRE the other day--October 22nd is my day of reckoning. It also means that I'll be going to Tokyo at least four times in the next month or so, which should be quite an adventure.

Time for some pointless TV.

Bits and pieces

Today a junior high student interviewed me about American traffic laws as part of an "international" research project. We're talking everything from "How many different kinds of road signs are there in America?" to "Is it legal for two people to ride a motorbike on a highway?", from "How much is the fine for driving without a driver's license?" to "What happens if you refuse to take a breathalizer test?" You know, all the questions you try to avoid knowing the answers to. I did my best, but geez. It was pretty amusing though.

I also encountered my first instance of a teacher getting halfway through a class and being like, "Well, I'm out of stuff, did you bring anything to do?" without any prior mention of activity-planning. That was fun--thank goodness for hangman.

Aaron and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Sunday. It was enjoyable, but I found the visuals a little overwhelming. It was a bit like sensory overload--I actually left the theater with a bit of a headache. Still, I enjoyed it. I loved all Roald Dahl's books as a kid... The movie theatre was an interesting snapshot of Japanese culture. The place was pretty full (we even had assigned seats), but it was completely silent the entire time. Aaron and I involuntarily chuckled a few times and felt totally out of place. I guess this is a pretty common thing--rumor has it that Japanese people don't like to laugh at movies in public. But I haven't verified that, so it could be incorrect. Another thing--they sit in their seats until all of the credits are finished. Interesting, huh?

You learn something new every day.

I ♥ Books

My books finally arrived in the mail today! I shipped them out the day I left Seattle, and here they are, "only" eight weeks after the fact. I really shouldn't complain though; it only cost me $16 to ship about 16 pounds of books across the Pacific Ocean. My small box of winter clothes cost twice that. Anyway, it feels like a bunch of old friends have come to join me from Seattle. The loot? The Sound and the Fury, Catch-22, Learning to Bow, To the Lighthouse, Snow Country, Closer, I, Claudis, Point Counter Point, Jude the Obscure, Atlas Shrugged, Beyond Bilateralism, and afterdark (in Japanese). This should keep me busy for a while, especially since I have less time to read as of late.

Speaking of books, I finished The Blind Assassin last night, and I *really* loved it. It's definitely going on my list of favorite books.

I can't believe September is more than half over. Time flows so strangely here at times. Big work day today. Off I go.

More random adventures...

Pottery Class
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Pottery Class
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Pottery class last night was amusing. It's always interesting, venturing into these little pockets of Japanese society and finding out what the real people are up to. In our case, they were throwing/pinching clay in a studio which seemed to be located on the grounds of the Omi Shrine, quite near my apartment. Aaron and Rosalind, my two companions in crime, were both art majors in college, so they totally impressed all the Japanese people--although one fellow seemed bent on giving advice, no matter what. As for me, I hung out with Rosalind's Japanese tutor and fashioned the beginnings of a mug. :) Good times...

While I was spacing out at school the other day, one of the Japanese English teachers showed me a scrapbook of autographed pictures that he's been keeping. Apparently, the kids occasionally write fan letters to various celebrities and occasionally get responses. The two most recent additions were Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) and Johnny Depp. Makes sense, right? However, there were also a number of signed pictures of Peter Falk. Apparently, good ol' Columbo was quite popular with the kiddies a few years back. Hm.

Now, I have a three and a half day weekend--whoo hoo! Fridays are my standard half-days, so I only had to work for three hours this morning, and Monday is Respect for the Aged Day. After that, I came home and worked on miscellaneous computer and application stuff. I also *finally* decorated the front room of my apartment. Now all I need to do is clean and buy a sofa and the place will almost look presentable. Maybe after my next paycheck.

Keitai fun

Click here to see more pictures

Welcome to the wonderful world of taking pictures with your cell phone. For those of you who weren't aware, Japanese cell phones are truly things of beauty. Even the cheapest ones have some pretty nifty features. I accidentally bought a Japanese-only phone, instead of a bilingual one like all the other kids got, so I'm still discovering many of those features. :)

Anyway, this picture is of Grace and I hamming it up last night. I drove out to Tsubame to celebrate Paul's birthday with the usual suspects. We discovered that the izakaya (Japanese restaurant/bar) we wanted to go to closes on Wednesdays for some unknown reason, so we relocated to a yakiniku place elsewhere. It was *so* good. Yakiniku is my favorite Japanese food--I mean, what's not to like about self-grilled meat? Yum, simplicity at its tastiest.

We have two national holidays coming up next week (Monday and Friday), so most people are going on excursions around Japan or elsewhere. Grace is off to Kyoto, Nuria to Malaysia, Paul and Sarah to Kanazawa... ALTs are total jetsetters, let me tell you. After a few aborted plans to go to Osaka and Tokyo, I decided to buckle down and spend the two weekends studying for the GRE and working on my UK apps. I think life will be much better if I get this stuff done and save up some cash for my October travel plans; plus, it sounds like I may get a chance to do a few other things later on in the year. Maybe South Korea in November, maybe China in August.

Anyway, I just taught my last lesson til next Tuesday, which I'm quite happy about. I can't wait to relax... I mean, um, study. :) Going to a pottery class tonight with Rosalind and Aaron. We'll see how that goes.

Productivity

Wow, if all of my days were as productive as this one, I'd be set. Taught three pretty good lessons today (involving real English instruction and no long-winded self-introductions), read the latest Japanese news, made about 200 GRE vocabulary flashcards to add to my collection, went for a run by the Kamo River, and did my grocery shopping. On top of that, they're showing my favorite episode of The Simpsons tonight, Homer's Barbershop Quartet. Nice day.

Sports Day!

Click here to see more photos
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

So, yesterday was the big Sports Day at Kamo Junior High. The kids had been preparing for the event for at least the last month or so, so it was exciting to finally see the fruits of their labors. Some of the other ALTs I've talked to have joked about this event being like the Olympics, with all the accompanying pomp and circumstance, and I can really see why. There were opening ceremonies (with a torch that shot out fireworks!), team cheers, speeches, relays of all kinds, parent/teacher competitions, team dance routines, and so much more!

It was an all day extravaganza (and a scheduled work day for me), so I passed the time by sitting in a covered seating area, taking pictures, and being served cold tea by junior high girls. It was very nice, although I felt a little guilty that I couldn't help out more. I participated in one of the PTA relays, which involved tossing a huge ball down a line of people. Quite fun.

So, Sports Day also marked the end of my very first week of teaching. It was pretty intense. Junior high is a really challenging age, just in terms of knowing what interests the kids and how best to hold their attention. Japanese kids seem much better behaved than their American counterparts overall, but it's a really different atmosphere. For example, kids can just "pass" on questions and choose not to answer when a teacher calls on them--something that would have been unheard of when I went to school. At the moment, most of my lessons consist on giving a 20-30 minute talk about myself and my home country/city. It's tough for me to talk about myself for that long--I usually splice in a game or two to help the kids (and myself) pass the time a little more quickly. Anyway, I hope it will get easier as I get used to the job and actually start teaching a little more English...

Anyway, since Sports Day required me to work on a Saturday, I get tomorrow off. I'm going to Niigata City with a couple of other ALTs to get my reentry permit--I need it to get back into the country when I leave to go home or to another country. I'm planning to go back to Seattle in December and then maybe head somewhere else in Asia in the spring--China, South Korea, or Thailand would be nice. We'll see how it goes.

For tonight, I think I'll work on personal statements, read a little more of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and maybe try to clean/decorate my apartment (an ongoing mission). Off I go...

Mount Fuji

Click here to see more photos
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

This weekend's adventure was the infamous Mount Fuji. The Niigata ALT crowd left around noon and drove for about six hours through the Niigata and Nagano prefectures to reach the town of Kawaguchiko. After a brief dinner stop at a Skylark (which is kind of like a Japanese Denny's), we drove up to the fifth station of Mount Fuji, an elevation of about 2305 of Fuji's total 3,776 meters. At 10:00 pm, the Niigata JETs and my friend Eric from Seattle (who is a Hiroshima JET) started up the mountain. I didn't make it all the way up, but it was still a lot of fun. I napped at one of the mountain huts and caught the 5:00 am sunrise before hiking back down the mountain. Took some fun pictures before the long drive back. Yay for Mount Fuji.

Let the introductions begin... again!

So, today marked the first official day of classes. By 8:10, the teachers had started their morning meeting and by 9:10 I was on the gymnasium stage facing a crowd of maybe 200 students and the rest of the teachers. I gave my introduction in English and in Japanese, I bowed, and then I fled to the staff room, where I essentially remained until 5:20 pm or so this evening, with the exception of a short run home for lunch. The staff room was very lively today with lots of laughter--the teachers sounded happy to be back in the swing of things. They're throwing a welcome enkai for myself and the other new teacher tomorrow--they even made a flyer for it, complete with tiny cartoon spectacled Kristi on the right-hand side:



Cute, huh? I'm totally wiped out. Getting to bed early tonight, that's for sure. I seem to remember having a list of things to do, but it all seems rather irrelevant at the moment. Gotta space out, ttyl.

Anticipation

So, school starts tomorrow, and I have to actually start doing stuff. My God, how frightening. I spent the latter half of today making visuals for my self-introduction lessons and writing out short/simple speeches in both English and Japanese. I'll have to let you know how it goes. *looking skeptical* I also visited my mysterious fourth (and final) school, Tagami Jr. High. I'm not scheduled to actually teach there until October, but it's nice to at least know where it is.

Went to the Japanese cooking class again today. We made four dishes this time around (excuse the rough English translation of dish names): sardine fry rice (rice, pickeled Japanese apricot, leaves of perilla, and sardine fry), bracken mochi (sugar, soybean flour, water, and bracken powder), horse mackerel marinade (mackerel, garlic, onion, cucumber, and tomato), and this boiled squash dish. On the whole, I liked this meal much better - I really liked the mackerel marinade and the bracken mochi. I sliced all of the fish for the former dish, which I was rather proud of. I should also note that sardine fry are really disturbing looking. Anyway, the class as fun, but I think I might not go again for a while, at least until I get into the routine of school.

September, here we go.

Shinkansen...?

Up-and-down day today--the spectre of teaching is looming every closer. Yikes.

One of the many adventures of the day involved a 100-yen store in Sanjo, where I stumbled upon this:



For those of you who aren't Japan-heads, "shinkansen" means "bullet train." So, this thing is a bag. But is it also an advertisement? An expression of pride in an efficient, convenient, comfortable, and fast public service? An excuse to make something cute? Probably all of the above.

Oh, Japan.

The Big Snake Festival

Click here to view more photos
Originally uploaded by kristi-san.

Yesterday, the JET crowd hit up yet another local summer festival. This time it was the "big snake" festival out in Shitada, a fairly small city about 40 minutes away from Kamo. Rosalind and I drove out to Sanjo to retrieve Paul and also met up with Errol and Joel, two JETs from Niigata City. It was your typical festival - food, drink, dancing, fireworks... And lots of fun. :) I think the small festivals are sometimes more fun, simply because they're small. You can really experience things, versus just spectating.

Afterwards, we dropped off Paul in Sanjo and the rest of us came back to Kamo for some late night karaoke at Pinokio. All in all, a very good Saturday.

Friday was a pretty active day as well. I didn't have to go to school in the morning - instead, I took the train out to Nagaoka for a meeting with my Board of Education out there. We had a welcome enkai (party) for all of the new ALTs at a place close to the station, another one of the many all-you-can-eat-all-you-can-drink deals that Japan seems to be so fond of. I had to leave early to go to yet another party back in Kamo. Julia and Yamaya-san were throwing a party for a visiting German family at Pinokio and coerced me into playing the piano while Julia sang - an interesting performance indeed. But it's always in good fun.

It just never slows down here. I'm hoping for a relaxing day today though - back to "work" tomorrow.

One month down, eleven to go...

Well, as of yesterday, I've officially been in Japan for one whole calendar month - pretty crazy, eh? I must say, it's gone much more quickly than I expected. I'm sure things will really start flying once I actually start doing some teaching.

I've spent the last couple of days visiting some of my other junior highs - I'll be teaching at four total. It's interesting how each one seems to have a very distinct personality, both in terms of the students and the teachers. I'm curious as to how classes actually go, particularly at the schools that I visit once a week or less. It's like making a guest appearance...

Yesterday, Rosalind and I attended a Japanese cooking class at the Kamo youth center. It was pretty intense. We made a three-course meal: okra vinaigrette (okra, seaweed, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and shred ginger), bibin sohmen (Korean-style thin wheat noodles with chicken, cucumber, tomato, and hard-boiled egg), and goya chample (tofu, pork, green onion, egg, dried bonito, and a bitter melon called goya that's native to Okinawa). Needless to say, it was pretty exotic. But surprisingly good. I need to work on eating more though - I can never finish my portions here, and that's not really a good thing. People tend to thing you're unhappy if you don't eat well.

Speaking of which, the Kamo youth center (or "Kinsho Home") is a pretty interesting place. They offer a variety of classes like flower arrangement (European and Japanese style), social dance, dessert-cooking, general cooking, tea ceremony, kimono and yukata dressing, aerobics, calligraphy, gospel choir, Japanese traditional dance, kendo, and tai chi. They also host some clubs. Membership is about $10 per year, with some fees for classes, so a great deal in all. I think I want to try a few other things...

I'd like to close with a couple of random pictures of Kamo - click on them to see larger versions:


A view of Kamo from atop one of its hills


The Kamo River

In not-so-Japan-related news, I'm really starting to dive into my applications for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships. There's a ton of coordination to do (for example, the Rhodes requires eight letters of recommendation and the Marshall requires four), so it pays to do everything a bit on the early side. It's hard to be last minute when you have to deal with mailing things from across the Pacific Ocean. :) I also need to finish the precis for the article I'm co-authoring with Professor Pekkanen. And study for the GRE. And decide when I'm actually going to take it. And whether I'm going to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (I'm leaning toward no at the moment). Hrm, it seems that things never slow down, even when one is out of the country. But I guess that's part of the fun of it all. ;)

Sado Earth Celebration 2005

On Friday, I went over to Sado Island for the annual Earth Celebration Festival with Aaron, Grace, and some of the other ALTs. We drove down to Joetsu and took a ferry to Ogi to see the Friday night concert. The taiko drums and other performances were *amazing*. I really wish I could've taken pictures or video or something, but the security was pretty tight. Anyway, after the concert we set up tents and camped on Sobama Beach. Quite fun all in all, although I think the best part is often getting home and taking a nice hot shower afterwards.



Click here to view a few pictures

There have also been stirrings of self-sufficiency - I've been getting more of a handle on this whole living-in-Japan thing. I've mailed stuff at the post office, driven to Sanjo (the next city over), made my first withdrawal at the bank (after my first payday), paid my rent, and both located a mall and shopped in it (I'm so glad I'm Japan-sized). I also finished yet another Haruki Murakami book, Sputnik Sweetheart. I think I'll probably try to read all of his books in English and then make it my goal to finish After Dark (his latest one, which I started in my translation class last fall) after that. Maybe the reading will go more quickly if I'm not trying to find the precise nuance of every word...

Tomorrow I get to go to Osaki Junior High, one of my "one-shot" schools. One of the English teachers there called me this evening to let me know she's meeting up with me in the morning. So far I've just been hanging out at Kamo Junior High, my base school, so it'll be exciting to see another school and to talk to some of my other teachers. She sounded very nice. Anyway, I'm out for the night - hope all of you are doing well!

Prefectural Orientation in Niigata City

Just got home from a two-day prefectural orientation in Niigata City, the largest city in my prefecture and also the largest city on the Japan Sea coast. It was pretty fun, all in all. I got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen since Tokyo. There were a number of workshops, etc, but they were mostly useful. Back to work tomorrow...

Some of the other ALTs and I are making plans to go to the Sado Earth Celebration Festival this weekend. It's supposed to be the best summer festival in Niigata, with the main attraction being the taiko drummers and the island itself. I think the plan is to spend two or three days out there and camp on the beach.

Some pictures of Niigata City to close:


The Shinano River


The Rainbow Tower


Popsicle flavors - some normal, some slightly not so

Kamo Festival!

Today was the Kamo Festival, which meant lots of fun for the new Kamo ALTs! Rosalind and I started off with lunch at Pinokio's and a walk by the river with Grace. In the evening, we were dressed in yukata and taken to the festival. We watched yosakoi dancing, learned and performed the obon dance with hundreds of other Kamo residents, and saw some great fireworks. Despite some problems with rain, it was quite fun.

Here are some more pictures for you:



Click here to see all of the pictures

Yahiko Shrine

In honor of Rosalind's birthday, a group of us headed out to Yahiko today for a hike up the mountain and a closer look at the Yahiko Shrine. Unfortunately, I didn't make it very far up the mountain - but on the upside, that left me with a lot of quality time with the shrine itself. One website describes it as follows:

"The supreme shrine in the Echigo region (now Niigata prefecture), Yahiko Jinja is cited in the Manyoshu (the oldest anthology of Japanese poetry). The shrine is located on Mount Yahiko (alt. 638 m), whose summit commands a panoramic view of the Sea of Japan. Revered as a sacred mountain with the divine power to protect people from evil, Yahiko-san is forested with cedar, cypress, and oak. It is now a popular site for open-air bathing among locals. A sacred chinquapin tree is enshrined in the holy precinct."

And of course, I took pictures:







Click here to see all of the photos from the Yahiko Shrine

Snails, frog, and nato - oh my!

It's been a really interesting weekend. I've gotten to see a lot more of Niigata, thanks to the hordes of other JETs around here. Friday I met the other prefectural ALTs at our first Board of Education meeting in Nagaoka - it was totally the classic Japanese office environment. We all had to stand in a line and introduce ourselves in Japanese to the entire office, complete with lots of bowing and applause. Very interesting. Later on, I finally got the chance to meet the other Kamo ALT - it's just the two of us here in this city, so chances are we'll be running into each other from time to time. Luckily, she seems really nice; her name is Rosalind and she's from England. Anyway, on Friday night we both wound up at the Kamo community center for gospel choir (I played the piano) and Kisa Club (aka drinky-drinky time). After that, her supervisor took us out for more drinking and eating. He seemed to be on a mission to find something she wouldn't try, so she (and I, by association) ate a variety of dishes including umeboshi, snail, fried frog (which I liked quite a bit), and nato (which I could do without eating again).

Saturday I went out to lunch with Rosalind and some other international association-type folks. After that, Rosalind and I took the train a couple of stops to Sanjo, where we met up with 8 or 9 other JETs and drove out to a beach town called Kashiwazaki. Unfortunately, it started raining almost the second we stepped out of the car. Our Sanjo group met up with 20 or 30 other JETs and ate soggy burgers and hot dogs in the rain... I have to say, that's the longest I've willingly stood in the rain... possibly ever. The sunset was stunning though. It's funny, the sun sets really early here, by maybe 7:00 pm, and it comes up before 5:00 am. It makes for an interesting "day". Anyway, most of the people stayed the night out there at a guy named Patrick's house - apparently he has a huge two-story house that comes free with the job. I guess Kashiwazaki is home to a huge nuclear power plant, so it's a perk; he also gets paid "risk money". Hrm. Anyway, I caught a train home to get some rest...

I woke up to find Yamaya-san at my door with three fresh-baked loaves of different types of bread - apparently, baking is one of his hobbies. I also got an infusion of "foreign" food. I meant to go to Niigata City (the biggest city in this prefecture with a population of about 550,000) to meet up with the other JETs for the Niigata Festival - the main attraction is a huge dancing ceremony across the bandai bridge. Anyway, I actually did take the train up to Niigata but decided not to meet up with them and to go shopping instead. I had a good time browsing some of the larger department stores and hitting up Kinokuniya. Apparently, the Kinokuniya in Niigata City is the only place in the entire prefecture where you can get English books (not counting the Internet). And there are only three [small] rows. But still, I had to stock up on a few Murakami books and a study guide for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. But it was fun. :)

Anyway, it's back to work tomorrow, so I better start winding down. Hope all of you are doing well.

Yahiko Mountain and Nagaoka Fireworks

Took the day off work yesterday to do a little bit of sightseeing around Niigata. Julia and Yamaya-san (the giver of the car) took me to practice driving and showed me the routes to the other three junior highs I will eventually be teaching at. I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to remember how to get there, but it's nice to have an idea of where I'm going. They also showed me how one gets gas in Japan, which I'm sure will be very helpful. Apparently, they went to check on the shakken (kinda like Japanese tabs) and insurance earlier in the week and everything is all set. I'm still kind of amazed at it all.

After a while, Yamaya-san took the wheel and drove me out to Yahiko Mountain. We were supposed to go see the shrine, but Julia had to be back in the early afternoon so we settled for taking a cable car up to the top of the mountain and eating ice cream up there. It was very pretty - you could see the Sea of Japan. Some pictures:


Looking down from the top...


Kristi and Julia...

After that, we drove back to Kamo and had lunch at Pinokio. I seem to be becoming quite the regular there already; I'm told that my predecessor ate there almost every day, so I guess people choose it as a meeting place out of habit. And admittedly, the food is very good. I'm particularly fond of their seafood pizza (which is remarkably good, by "real" pizza standards).

Anyway, after the adventures with Julia and Yamaya-san, I headed back to the apartment for some rest. The evening proved to be even busier. I took the train from Kamo to Nagaoka and met up with a bunch of other ALTs from the area for the Nagaoka Matsuri (Festival). A bunch of people had literally just arrived from their Tokyo orientation (Group B - I was in Group A), so they were pretty wiped out. Anyway, it was good to meet other JETs and talk about our different situations. And to get to know some people that I can maybe go exploring with.

The highlight of the Nagaoka Matsuri is its huge fireworks display, which are reportedly . They have two - one on each night of the festival and supposedly set off more than 10,000 rockets per night. Countless people lined the banks of the river to see the show, which was totally different from American-style fireworks. Instead of a 30-45 minute display, the show was broken up into 45 "rounds", for lack of a better word. They'd say the number and talk a bit over the loudspeakers before each display, which gave it somewhat of a marathon feel. We had to have been there for at least two hours, trying to guess how many rounds they'd do. My favorite parts were when they lighted up the bridges with fireworks, making them look like huge waterfalls of light. I took a short video of a few of the displays. Click here to download one of them (Quicktime required).

Anyway, I didn't get back til almost midnight, so I'm pretty tired. For once I slept until my alarm clock went off instead of popping out of bed around 6:00 am or so. I guess that's a good sign. And I think I'll be leaving the office right at 11:30 to go have myself a nap. Tomorrow I have to go back to Nagaoka for a meeting at the Chuetsu Board of Education, so I should rest up. Nagaoka is the second largest city in the Niigata prefecture, so I'd like to have a look around. Maybe pop into a book store or something. That's all for now. :)

Lazy day

Nothing too exciting yesterday, except for the fact that I started and finished the new Harry Potter book. I tried to pace myself, but it was a really quick read. I enjoyed it... I should slow down a little though - I think the only recreational book I have left is the copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle I stole from Adam before I left for Seattle. The books I shipped to myself will be arriving in three or four weeks, but if I finish everything, I'll be forced to read teaching books and GRE study materials til then. Although, that would probably be good for me...

I think I have to venture out onto the main highway to buy some things at the larger supermarker, Lion D'or. Driving in Japan is still a little disorienting, with everything being flipped over to the other side. I actually think the inside of the car is more disorienting than the outside - shift with your left, operate the blinker with your right, etc. The first time I took the car out, I kept turning on the windshield wipers every time I took a turn. :)

Anyway, time flies when you've only got a few hours of Internet access a day, so I better wrap this up. I'm looking forward to getting my YahooBB service setup at my apartment. Should only be a couple more weeks. I'll be doing a bit of sightseeing today and tomorrow, so I hope to have some more pictures to post on Thursday... and I'm making definite progress with the new website, which I hope to unveil soon.

Hope all of you are doing well. Send me an email sometime - it's nice to hear from home.

Updates...

Well, it's been a busy weekend in Kamo! I'm feeling much more settled into my apartment now and a little less anxious about this whole just-moved-to-Japan affair in general. Major highlights of the past few days have been:

1. Gospel choir practice at the Kamo community center: Friday night, Tomoko, one of my predecessor’s friends invited me out to the Kamo community center to see her gospel choir practice. Yes, gospel choir practice – we’re talking 15-20 Japanese men and women singing “This Little Light of Mine”, “Amazing Grace”, and the arrangement of “Joyful, Joyful” from Sister Act 2. It was pretty amusing, all in all. Somehow, I made the mistake of telling Tomoko that my choir had sung the same song in junior high – and now they want me to “teach” them the solo part next week. Hrm.

2. Dinner at Pinokio: Julia, another friend of my predecessor’s invited me to go to a cute little restaurant called Pinokio – she told me that my predecessor used to go there practically every day and actually taught the chef how to make one of the desserts on the menu. Anyway, I had tuna pasta, similar to at home. Julia is Filipina and very active in Kamo's International Association. She came to Tokyo as a singer 17 years ago, married a Japanese man, and has been living in Kamo ever since. I gather that she was very close to Geraldine and helped her out a lot - she likes to help out all of the foreigners here and acts as a counselor to those in international marriages...

3. Guitar concert / Impromptu welcome party / Acquisition of a car: Julia also invited me to a guitar concert at the home of John Okada, a well-known guitarist around here. He had his traditional-style Japanese home remodeled so that the upper floor is a small club. Anyway, the concert was fun - he played a fair number of English songs like Hotel California and Stand By Me. Eventually, the concert devolved into various audience members going up to jam with each other on stage. I went with Julia, a couple of Russian exchange students, and a couple of older businessmen who are taking English classes from Julia. Afterwards we went to Pinokio for drinks and talking. Eventually, we went to the third-floor for karaoke. I had a delicious seafood pizza, pineapple, etc. and sang and danced. The businessmen were *hilarious*. And one of them, a good friend of Julia's and my predecessor's, *gave* me a car. Pretty crazy. I don't think I can fully describe the bizarreness of it all. :) But it was fun...


The jam session after the concert...

Anyway, today I'm back at work, checking my email and looking through some of the junior high textbooks to acquaint myself with the types of things I will be teaching... Omi-sensei took me to Sanjo to order Internet service on Friday, so I should have that set up in two or three weeks (yay!). Better run for now!

Pictures!

It's been a busy past few days, but I managed to take a few pictures of my apartment and just a couple of the surrounding area. The outside pics aren't a great representation of what Kamo looks like, so I'll have to get out to take a few more pictures of the river, the park, etc. Anyway, here's what I've got so far:


My apartment building, "Fragrance" - I'm the unit on the upper-right...


My living room (with kotatsu table)...


Kitchen...


My tatami room/bedroom (I was still unpacking at the time)...


The other half of my tatami room/bedroom...


Looking at my apartment from one end to the other...


What I see from my living room window...


What I see from my bedroom veranda...


The street in front of my apartment...


The street full of boutiques about one block over...


The Omi Shrine, located very near to my apartment...

Hello from Kamo!

Well, after two hectic days of orientation in Tokyo, I'm vaguely settled in to my new apartment in the small city of Kamo, in the Niigata prefecture of Japan. The Tokyo orientation was busy and filled with literally pounds of paperwork. But it was a lot of fun. I think the thing I was most struck by was the number of different types of English I heard spoken - British, Irish, Scottish, Kiwi, Australian, American (with various accents), Japanese... My ears were working overtime to decipher the meaning of all of these different sounds. And I found my own language being tempted to adapt to different types of pronunciation. It took effort to keep my flat West Coast style. :) Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and rather like a huge international convention. There are about 2,600 new JET participants this year, from 44 countries. A lot from the U.S., but definitely a healthy smattering of other countries as well. We totally took over the Keio Plaza hotel for two days. Unfortunately, I was pretty wiped out from the plane, so I spent most of my time either attending workshops or resting. I'm confident I'll make it over to Tokyo sometime in the near future, so I wasn't too anxious to go out and about. And after all, I was here about nine months ago. One of the highlights of the orientation was an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink "night out" with the other Niigata JETs. That was pretty fun... Met some nice people. Hopefully I'll get to see them again.

Anyway, I'm at my first day of work today at Kamo Junior High School. I have my own desk in the teachers' room - and a computer with broadband, thank goodness. All of the kids are on vacation right now, but many are here participating in various sports and club activities. I think I'm just kind of hanging out at the office and orienting myself for now, which is fine by me. I'm running out of time at the moment (it's time for lunch soon and then I have to go to get my alien registration card), but Kamo is a very cute little city. With a population of about 35,000, it's not too big and not too small. I explored a little bit today and am planning on doing more this weekend - I'll be posting pictures on Monday, most likely. Everyone has been really nice to me, helping me to get settled in. And my apartment is also very cute. One thing's for sure - I'm really glad I speak a fair amount of Japanese, otherwise I would probably be terrified out of my mind. It's still fairly intimidating, even when you've spent the last seven or eight years learning about how things are done in a country.

Details and pictures on Monday, I promise! Or maybe sooner, if I find the public library (which has free Internet). Still in the process of getting my own access set up from my apartment. Little by little, I'll get it all figured out...

I'm here!

Hello everyone! I'm happy to announce that I have arrived safely at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo. The flight was the nicest flight I've ever been on. Ever. Well, except for the one time I flew first class to the Philippines. The plane was actually roomy, and they had an amazing built-in screen in front of every seat where you could select different movies or play music or play solitaire (and that nifty computer mahjong matching game I was so addicted to as a child). I watched Kung Fu Hustle on the way over. And barely slept at all. But it was fun. :) The JET Program people have things amazingly well set up for us here - I'm very impressed. I feel so pampered - and really grateful that I don't have to be figuring out logistics on my own. Anyway, it's 4 or 5 am here, and I'm trying to beat the really long Internet/phone lines for a few minutes. I've been meeting people and testing out my Japanese knowledge. And it's been mostly successful so far. :)

More updates when I have more time (and after I figure out where to get a phone card and change some money)! Much love!

The big day...

Well, this is it - the laptop is being packed away and I'm doing the final double-checking for my 2:35 pm flight to Japan. Once I get there, it'll be roughly 5:00 pm on July 24, Tokyo time. We stay in Tokyo for July 25 and 26, attending various orientation sessions before being retrieved by people from our respective prefectures and being taken to our new homes.

Next time I write, it's from Japan!

The clearing haze...

Little by little, I've been getting information of what it is I'll actually be doing in Niigata. This handy bit of information came in the form of a letter from the Prefectural Board of Education a couple of days ago:

You will be living in Kamo. Your base school, which you will visit approximately 3 times per week is Kamo Junior High School. Once a week you will visit your regular school, Wakamiya. You will also have one shot schools, Osaki and Tagami, that you will visit once a week on alternating weeks. Your working days are 8:10 until 4:55 Monday to Thursdays and from 8:10 until 11:10 on Fridays.

• Monday: One shot
  
• Tuesday: Regular
  
• Wednesday: Base
  
• Thursday: Base
  
• Friday: Base

And this even more informative email from my predecessor cleared up a lot of living details:

Hello Kristi,

Well, first, I want to congratulate you on your acceptance to the JET Programme. You will have an unbelievable time here, in the quaint little city of Kamo. Let me introduce myself. My name is Geraldine and I come from South Africa. I have lived and worked in Kamo for the past 2 years and have enjoyed my time immensely. The people are friendly and you will have everything you need (such as bank, grocery store, post office) within walking distance or a hop on the local train. Your apartment is about a 2 minute walk to the station, which is great if you want to visit other places or friends. The beautiful Kamoyama Park is just down the road from your apartment, and is especially lovely in summer, spring and fall. Kamo offers an abundance in nature and a camera is a definite must. I am going to give you some basic information and some of it, you may already know but please bear with me.

Life in Kamo
Kamo is relatively small with a population size of about 30,000 people. Kamo has a nice, quaint feel about but if you are in the mood to paint the town red, then the bigger cities of Niigata and Nagaoka is just 40 minutes away on the train if you feel like a night out on the town. People are very friendly and helpful and they love it when ALT's participate in community events. Kamo has a international association which offers many events and it is always good fun to join in every once and a while. I have met many wonderful people there, not only foreigners but also Japanese people that want to improve their English. Kamo also have many festivals such as the Kamo river festival on August 14th which culminates in a big firework show. It was a lot of fun!

Your job
You will work at junior high school only, with Kamo JHS as your base school. You will go to Wakamiya, Osaki in Sanjo city which is 2 train stops away and Tagami (also 2 train stops away) from Kamo. At the moment, I visit 5 schools and visit Tagami only once a month but that might change for you...I don't know. Students are friendly especially at Wakamiya and Tagami but overall they are shy but it gets better when they get to know you. For your introduction lessons (you'll have many of these), make sure to bring lots of material about your home country (flag, map, pics, stickers and anything that you can think of). You have to go to the Chuetsu BOE once a month for the monthly meetings where you and other ALT's will meet with Mr Shimizu and exchange lesson plans etc. There are loads of lesson plans that im leaving either at the apartment or at the base school.

Your apartment
You will be residing at Fragrance 202...I love that name! Anyways the apartment is spacious enough for me and it gets a lot of light which is good especially in the winter. You have a 6 mat tatami room with a verandah, a little kitchen, a living room with the best piece of furniture known to mankind....a kotatsu table with a heated carpet which is just perfect for the cold winter in Niigata. You also have a western toilet, don't know if you will be upset about that. Im leaving you basic things like towels, bedding, sheets, kitchenware behind so don't worry about that. It gets quite cold in the winter and though you have a heater and obviously a air conditioner, bring lots of layers for winter. Oh yeah, you also have a parking spot, which is free. I didn't have the need for a car but if you can get one, so much the better.

On a final note, everyone has a different experience in Japan and im sure yours will be wonderful, remember that a smile goes a long way and just have fun teaching. If you have any more questions or concerns about things that seems unclear please feel free to contact me via e-mail or call me.

Warm Regards,
Geraldine

All in all, it sounds like a good setup. Now all I've got to do is get there. :) Less than two weeks to go.