Okayama Adventures

Sayonara Japan

2008-06-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my last day in Japan. Emotional as it was, it was also amazing and a day that I will never forget.

Amanda and Moka Chan (9 months)
Amanda with 4 and 5 year olds singing at the surprise Sayonara Amanda Sensei!! party
Amanda and Miki (4 years) saying goodbye

Sayonara Japan

Friday, June 27, 2008

Coming to Japan I knew what was at stake. I knew that I was going to gain a lot, but I also knew that I could possibly have a lot to lose. As I reflect on my journey this year, I am reminded over and over again that every journey has its ups and downs because that is just a part of life. I am also reminded that there is a bigger plan out there for me, for everyone. This year has been full of happiness and sometimes laced with sadness, but above all I have grown to know myself better as a person and my true purpose in life.

The people I have met and the places I have been this year have proven to be invaluable experiences. The people I have lost in my life will forever be etched upon my heart. Japan was a theme park of emotions with so many different people from so many different walks of life contributing to feelings on a daily basis. I was always on a rollercoaster, riding a wild and thrilling ride, never knowing where it would take me next.

This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. It ranks up there with some of the worst and some of the best. If you have never been in a situation like this, leaving a place where you have made friends and even been part of a family, to go somewhere else you will never understand the pain and the joy that are mixed together. My words can’t even describe this feeling. There are only a handful of people I know who can understand what I am going through right now.

This week I started saying my goodbyes. I have been so good to keep my chin up and not cry, but as I sit on the train, my last train ride to school, I find myself breaking down. I see the familiar faces of the people who I ride with every day. I have never spoken to them, but we know each other and we notice the absence of each other. I wonder of next week they will notice that I am not here. Will they wonder where I am when I don’t show up for a few days?

The schools that I go to are full of amazing people. The teachers are full of life and yearning to always learn knew things. They want me to tell them stories and they love to ask questions. Saying goodbye to them was very hard. We have become more than colleagues, we have become friends. The little English that they had in the beginning has grown to where now we can have conversations and even tell jokes. They understand my personality and have learned to lose the uptight Japanese stature and laugh along with me when something is funny. These strong women have learned from me that it is okay to relax a bit and just talk sometimes; you don’t have to spend every minute of the day working so hard.

The children that I have been blessed with the opportunity to teach will forever be in my heart. As I said my goodbyes to all of my classes this week, they each gave my little hugs and kisses. Every class gave me a homemade present with pictures and drawings. These are my treasures from Japan. Telling them goodbye was heartbreaking because I know that I probably will never see them again. Seeing their little faces, hearing the goodbyes, and even seeing some tears really touched me. I have impacted these children in a way that not many people can understand. We might not speak the same language when it comes to out national language, but we definitely speak the same language when it comes to love. We have made books, pizza, bubbles, soup, costumes, played games, and so much more. I have so many documented memories with pictures, but it has also been documented in my heart. I have seen babies come to school for the first time at 6 months and watch them learn to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand up, and walk. I am forever a part of these little lives and I thank God for this experience.

It’s not easy to leave this world that I leave in and go back to my other life. I am scared to go back. I have been gone for a year and the people I love have been living their lives without me, just as I have been living without them. Some of them have moved on and have not included me. As much as this hurts, I have to accept it because in my heart, I just wish for everyone’s happiness. Others are eagerly anticipating my arrival. I am nervous to be with all of these people again because of all of the changes that I have made in my life this year. I worry about being a different person and others being different from a year apart.

I trust that God will lead me down the right path. So far He hasn’t failed me. Sometimes I question why, but then I have to remember that this is just a little part of my life and I need to just ride it out. Not to sound egotistical, but I am not an ordinary person. I have accomplished many things and I know that I am meant to do much more. My choice to come to Japan was not a hard one except for when it came to leaving the people I loved. I had a great friend say to me, “Amanda, if you don’t get on that plane, I will PUT you on that plane.” I am forever grateful of the support of my family and friends and all of those in my life who have helped me through this.

As I thought at this time last year, a chapter of my life is closing and a new one is about to open…except I don’t really know it that’s true. Nothing ever really closes; it is all open for you to come back to. I hope to one day show everyone the world through my eyes because it truly is a more beautiful place to be.

Lemonade

2008-04-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

I just made a new pitcher of Crystal Light lemonade (my favorite drink in the whole world). I realized I didn't have any PINK left (the BEST kind), only the YELLOW so that got me thinking about how much I actually had in total. I checked my supply and I only have enough to make 30 more quarts...that's 15 pitchers. I can drink that much in about 6 hours (seriously)! My American comforts are starting to run out and I still have two months.

As the Japanese teachers at my school would say, "FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Update

2008-04-23T03:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

My birthday party at Moby Dick's

I got these ROCKIN' sunglasses (shaped like red lips)

and a TRIANGLE!!!

This is Tapio (from Finland) and me. He is responsible

for giving me the triangle for my birthday.

My other friends were mad at him... haha

Since my last post on February 24 (about what I did the night of January 19), my hair has probably grown a good inch and I am now 27 years old. A lot has changed in my life since my last post. Sorry I have been really bad about blogging.

Let's see...here's a quick run through of some things that I have done:

Jan. 26 was Australia Day and I played Cricket. I despise that game by the way.

Feb. 8-11: I went to Sapporro in Hokkaido (far north of Japan) for Yuki Matsuri (The Snow Festival). It was AMAZING! People from all over the world go to it to see these ice sculptures that are HUGE and just mind blowing. I have pictures and I'll try to get them up here as soon as I can. I promise! I also went snowboarding in Niseko. The snow was so great. It was like a fine powder and the slopes were so much fun.

Feb. 16 was the Naked Man Festival here in Okayama. Interesting to say the least (and no, they were not really naked).

The entire month of February I was sick. It started in Hokkaido and just got worse and worse. Sometime in there I got the flu and was home from work for about a week. I thought I was knocking on death's door, but I managed to survive. I DID have to go to the "hospital" several times (what they call the doctor). It was terriflying and I do not have much confidence in the Japanese medical system. If you want to hear my stories, we can talk later...much later.

March was pretty low key as for doing anything. I stayed in a great part of the month and kept to myself. As the weather has been changing from cold to a little warmer and there has been a lot of rain I just didn't feel like getting out there much. No time off in March to travel either so Tara and I hung out a lot. She's been a great friend while we've been in Japan.

March 26: Mom arrived in Japan! I was so excited that she had come. I was thinking about catching the next flight home, back to warm Alabama weather, but Mom came here instead. Probably better since I had to work if I wanted to get paid. :) I was off for the first week of April so she and I traveled around Japan. We celebrated her birthday and my own. Fun times.

It's not the end of April. I can't quite believe it. I will be home in two months and five days. One week of that is a holiday for me here. I am going camping with my friends at Shokoku Island.

That's the best I can do for an update right now. I hope everyone is doing great!

Love, Amanda

Dinner and Bowling

2008-02-24T04:02:00.000-08:00

Dinner and Bowling
Saturday, January 19, 2008

Tonight we met up with some of the teachers from one of Tara’s schools. We went to dinner first and then went over to Joypolis for some bowling fun. Along with the teachers, some of our friends met us there so we had a great group.

I chose my ball even before we had gotten our shoes. I spotted it from far away: Hello Kitty. I swear, in Japan you find her on everything, even the bowling balls.
In America you tell them your size and the people hand you the tattered old shoes. Not in Japan! In Japan you go to a little machine and put in some money, press the size that you want, and out pop the shoes! It’s great.

Me returning my shoes
Amy and Amanda have TWIN SHOES!!
Don't know what's going on here, just happy to be bowling.
Bowling was a fun event for the evening. I’m not great at bowling by any means. Over Christmas I went bowling with my friends at home and I was one of the lower scores on the screen. But in Japan, I was second only to Tara (and just by a few points). The Japanese people were terrible at bowling but they were so much fun to be with.

Typical Japanese photo-PEACE!
Tara...always three points ahead.
Probably another strike or something.

Always posing for the camera...I tried to take candids but she wasn't having it.

Bernie and her pink ball. Bernie was trying out speed bowling.

Amy is sad because Amanda is a better bowler than she will ever be. Amy actually lost to Amanda and had to make her breakfast the follwing morning. :)

Every time we hang out with the different teachers we have such a great time. Our friends were really impressed with them too I think. We all laughed and cheered and danced to the old pop music that was playing. I think the bowling ally staff had more fun that night then they had had in a long time.

Merry Christmas...Yeah, It's Late

2008-02-24T02:07:00.001-08:00

When I came to Japan, one of the biggest misconceptions I had was that I was not going to get to celebrate American holidays. That was not true in the least. Here are a few shots of just a little Christmas cheer around town.

This is the tree in front of Okayama Station.
These are some more decorations in fromt of Okayama Station.
This is the same tree when it turns white.
This is a tree in one of the little malls.
And finally, this is my tree.

The first day it stood up straight and then it fell over...I used tape but it just didn't work. Check out the little oragami flowers on it though! I made them.

Snow yet AGAIN!

2008-02-15T20:40:00.001-08:00

Snow Again
Thursday, January 24, 2008

I think I’m sick. Actually, I know I’m sick because it’s the same stuff that I had before I went home for Christmas. Now it’s a month later and I still have it…yuck. BUT, that’s not the topic of today.

I left my apartment to head to work and I was feeling really sluggish. I opened my door and…it was snowing! That woke me up. I had to ride my bike to the station in the snowy weather. Granted, it’s not like a blizzard or anything, it’s just flurrying, but it’s still fun to see.

When I got on the train and we were zooming through the cities (it’s my long train ride day) I was watching the snow fall. I feel like a little kid sitting here looking out the windows (yes, I’m writing this on the train).

They sky is really white with a little bit of a dark shadow. I keep hoping that maybe they will have to send me home early due to weather conditions. I doubt it very seriously, but I can dream, right?

Snow Again!

2008-02-15T20:25:00.001-08:00

This was a few nights later!

This is the view from my balcony...Snow over Dr. Drive. It's so beautiful. :)

Too bad this isn't my car...

Snow!

2008-02-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

Snow
Sunday, January 20, 2008

It was a gross day, too gross outside to do anything. My friends had spent the night last night so we were all lying around. We decided that we wanted to go get some food and since I had not gone to the grocery store in over a month and a half; that meant that we had to go get something. It was raining out so we made a quick trip. When we got back to my apartment, my friends decided that they had better head home. We said our goodbyes and I snuggled in for a nap.

Later that evening when I woke up, I talked to Tara. We had to go get out bikes from the station. We had left them there and taken a cab home the night before with all of our friends. It sounded like it was still raining so I peeked out the window. It was all foggy so I had to go out on my balcony only to realize that it was snowing! It was snowing really hard too.

I convinced Tara (from Iowa, so it was not humorous to her at all) to go for a walk in the snow to get out bikes. By the next morning there was a lot of snow on the ground. Sadly though, there are no school closings. The Japanese people seem to work no matter what the conditions.

My Balcony Ledge
Jolly Pasta in the Snow
Bikes at the Station
The Red One is Mine!

Nekoyama Snowboarding Trip

2008-01-28T03:55:00.000-08:00

Snowboarding
January 12, 2008

On Friday, I scrambled to get a trip together for Tara and me to go snowboarding. It wasn’t impossible, just hard since I don’t speak Japanese. I had to enlist the help of some of my teachers and, of course, Naoko. It all worked out though and come Saturday morning, we were on the bus headed to Hiroshima prefecture to Nekoyama.

We left our apartment at 6:20 and had to turn around only once after realizing that I didn’t have my ticket. I was just so excited that I forgot to pack it. J Back on the road, we headed to the bus station where we leaded the bus (in the dark, mind you) and started on our 3 hour way.

When we got close to the ski resort, there was ice on the road. Being from Alabama, I was not familiar with this and it scared me. I swore I could feel the bus sliding off the road, but Tara (from Iowa) told me that we weren’t. It was so cool to see snow! I haven’t seen snow in so long and it was so pretty. I think a lot of it was fake (from snow machines) but it was still awesome.

We got off the bus and went to the lodge, careful not to slip in the icy street. In the lodge, we picked up our rented gear (boots and snowboards) and then changed into our snowboarding clothes. Thank goodness I spent so long in Mountain High Outfitters while I was in Alabama. I had everything I needed to look amazing and professional AND stay warm and dry.

Tara and I got some lessons at the resort. The lesson was for just the two of us and it was for two hours. It was great! The best part was when our instructor came out and looked at me and said, “I know you!” I did know her. I had met her before in my city when we had all gone out one night. She is friends with a group of people that I know. She is Japanese but speaks some English so she ended up being a great teacher!

First she taught us how to stretch (we should have done more of that). Then we learned how to strap ourselves into the bindings on the snowboard. She attempted to teach us how to walk. I was TERRIBLE at it. I kept sliding all over the place and falling down. It was quite hilarious, but frustrating at the same time. Then she taught us how to slide with two feet on the board, distributing our weight and using our toes to stay in control. It was hard but fun.

Next was the ski lift. That was like going on a ride at Six Flags. J I did a great job the first two times on the lift. When it was my turn to get off, I aced it! I slid right off and was really graceful. Tara, on the other hand, got off and fell. It’s okay though, we were beginners.

We walked our way to the top of the mountain and strapped in our other foot and then learned how to stand up on our snowboards. Then we were off. It’s all about balance, which is funny, because I could snowboard okay and control myself and stop and start pretty well, even though I can’t walk across a room without falling down. haha I would get going pretty well and do fine for a little while but then I would go fast and it would scare me so I would throw myself down in the ground instead of trying to stop. I did that for awhile until I finally got the hang of it and started using my toes.

We went down the mountain a total of four times. For beginners, I think that was a pretty good amount (or maybe it wasn’t, who knows). The first couple of times were really hard and I wiped out quite a few times. The last couple of times I did much better and even had some long runs on the snowboard!

I am so glad that I got my first time over with and had lessons with Yoko. When I go to Hokkaido next month I will be ready to try again. I will also know to take a HOT bath every night because of the pain that I am in today!!

Sweet Home Alabama

2008-01-28T03:52:00.000-08:00

Leaving Japan for a Much Deserved Vacation
Saturday, December 22, 2007

Tara and I did not go to bed last night, but instead we spent the time cleaning, doing last minute packing, and just staying awake. Our theory was that if we stayed up all night, we would be able to sleep through the whole plane ride. Here I am on the plane…not sleeping. That’s not really fair to say though because I have slept about 6 hours of the ride which is half.

It was so surreal actually making the journey to get to the station. It wasn’t like just driving to the airport at home; it was much more extensive than that. First we have to go to the train station in town. Then we rode the Shinkansen (fast train) to Osaka. From Osaka we switched trains to a local train line that took us straight into the airport. That took us about two hours.

When we got here we had to go pick up all of the luggage that we sent ahead. It was well worth the money I spend to send my bags earlier in the week. They were so big and bulky that trying to ride and change trains with them would have been a nightmare.

We got in like to check out luggage. Between the 6 of us going to America, there were 15 pieced of luggage. I am not going to tell you how many of those were mine! That was terrible but we did it. We thought we were going to have a long time to shop around duty free, but by the time we grabbed lunch and got through security, it was past time to board out flight.

Tara and I didn’t fare too well with security today. We had SO much stuff that had to go into separate trays…cell phones, computers, our liquids baggie, coats, purses, etc. It was comical. Then Tara kept setting the machine off. She has to undress piece by piece…belt, shoes, scarf, etc. She STILL was beeping so they had to do the wand. While that was going on, I was setting the thing off with my shoes. I had to take off my shoes and go back and forth through the thing. Finally I stopped beeping and then he had to run my shoes through. Tara and I were thinking, “We don’t want to hurt anyone. We just want to shop duty free!!!” That idea was shot though; there would be no duty free shopping in my future today. :( Probably for the better though.

Teacher's Weekend

2007-11-23T18:43:00.001-08:00

Teacher’s Weekend
November 3 and 4, 2007

At 7:40am we are supposed to be boarding the bus. Of course we are late, our legs are pedaling quite as fast as we’d like them to, and our phones start ringing. We try to ignore them and just pedal faster but the persistence of the ringing intensifies. What a way to start the morning…the third Saturday morning in a row for a bus trip I might add!
So we were really only down the street and the boarding was supposed to start at 7:40 and we were leaving at 8:00. We were there at 7:45 but for some reason everyone was ready to leave at 7:40 even though they don’t come to lessons on time (hey, no complaints). Whatever, “Let’s go together!”

At 8:00 the bus pulled out from in front of Futaba School and we head off towards the freeway. About 30 seconds later, Tara realized that the tour guide was the same one from the week before when we went to Osaka. Is he on the payroll? Also there is this lady who apparently comes with the bus. Her job is to talk…and talk and talk and talk. She wouldn’t be quiet. She was telling us everything about everything. She was great, I’m sure, but I speak and understand English, not Japanese, and I didn’t understand her. It was like listening to the teacher from the Charlie Brown movies, “Wha, wha, wha…”

Japanese snacks
everyone on the bus
The lady who wouldn't stop talking
Here she is talking...

While everyone is sharing a seat with another person, Tara and I get our own. The joys of being a VIP. Upon boarding the bus everyone was given a treat bag full of Japanese snacks and we also got two bottles of water. I love bus trips like this! We kick off the trip by interviewing Masami and Myaka on Tara’s video camera. It was quite hilarious! We are also told to put that the roads are curving and dangerous-seatbelts requited. Since it’s so early, we all settle in for naptime before we hit the conbini for our first rest stop.

Masami during the interview

At our first conbini stop there was a long restroom line. Tara and I decided to skip it and get some food instead. Finding food in Japan conbinis is really hard if you don’t care for Japanese style food. I grabbed some coffee (yes, me, I know) and a new Hello Kitty charm and then we hit the bus again. We would soon regret skipping the restroom.
Back on the bus, Misaki was walking around handing out food. At first glance it looked like small pieced of beef jerky but a purplish color. She insisted on giving me one. I took it to be polite but I didn’t know what it was (I never know what they are feeling me here). The teachers said it was dried squid. So I have a seven year old handing me dried squid like it’s the normal thing to do and now everyone’s expecting me to eat it. Fine, try something new today, Amanda. I ate it-it was fishy.

By the time we stopped again I ran to the restroom. This stop had no food and I was starving but my main concern was getting to the restroom. Two bottles of water and coffee were not so smart on a bus. This restroom had only Japanese style toilets. There was also a musical, relaxing fountain for you to listen to. Interesting to say the least.
Back on the bus, we seemed to be making good time. We passed a place where they farmed oysters. We went over a cool bridge but Tara didn’t like that (she doesn’t do well with bridges), and we passed a huge chicken statue and a rollercoaster. Finally we made it to the first temple.
Parking the bus was like landing a plane on the smallest runway in the world. Then, just to be Japanese, we had to back in. We walked to what seemed like that top of a mountain to a restaurant to have a traditional Japanese lunch. Our food was in a jewelry box-I’m not kidding. My food was in drawers and you were supposed to eat them from the bottom up but I didn’t know. I don’t think it mattered though really since I didn’t eat much. I tasted everything but I really didn’t like it.

Help me!! I want to live!!

Yummy...raw fish

After lunch we finished the hike and ended up at the temple. We toured the inside and then bought fortunes. We walked around the gardens and saw many statues. We saw a giant Buddha, and relaxed. Afterwards we descended the mountain and shopped along the way. There were a lot of weird things but I am pretty used to them…cats tied up like dogs and the strange smells. At the bottom, Tara and I couldn’t find our bus. They had moved it. What a dirty trick to play on the Americans!

Tara and me at the temple

Some of the Japanese teachers in front of where you tie your fortunes if they are bad.

We left the temple and drove on to the next one. Apparently the parking lot was full so we just kept on driving. We went on to our third destination, a shrine. They were doing some construction on the torii so it smelled like very strong rubber cement. Once we went in it was better. We had to hike to the top and then we saw some monkeys in a cage. Even better, we same some little children in kimonos. They were all dressed up and had their hair done. They were so gorgeous!
We rang the bell at the shrine and saw many little different shrines (I was told that they are each from a different god). We found a Japanese flag and we took our picture with it so that you would all know that I’m really in Japan (if you didn’t believe me from the people). Then we went back to the bus.

We rode on and ended up at Biwako Grand Hotel where we made a celebrity entrance. We headed to room 502 where Myaka, Masami, Tara, and I would be staying. It was pretty awesome. There was a tatami floor (straw) and yukatas for us to wear. There was tea on the table so we had a tea party and read our tea leaves. Well, sort of.

Room 502

Me in our room

Afterwards we went to the onsen to relax before the enkai (Japanese party). We finished at the onsen and put on our yukata’s and then went to the party. Myaka modeled how to wear one so that we’d be professionals and not freshmen.

At the enkai we ate another traditional Japanese meal (I really wanted a pizza or a cheeseburger) and we played games and sang karaoke. Tara and I sang “A Whole New World.” We actually butchered it more that we sang it. We were laughing and coughing so hard.

Traditional Japanese Dinner
Enkai
Enkai
Karaoke

After dinner we went back to our room. We decided that we should get a massage. We called up and had the massage people come to our room. Our massage idea was probably the worse idea of the weekend. The massages were terrible. It was like we were being beaten to death my Japanese people. Hearing Masami tell about it was hilarious. She had to get out her English translator dictionary to help. At one point, Tara’s lady was standing on her.
With massage time being over, more teacher friends came over and hung out. It was like a sleepover! We talked about boyfriends, life, exchanged love fortunes that were bought at the temple, etc. It was fun having everyone come together and be girls.
Right before bed, Myaka told us a story about something Japanese and then we were out. She also told us not to snore, but then admitted that she snored a little.

Masami after talking about her massage

Tara in the "bed"
Teacher friends
Me in the "bed"
Myaka warning us not to snore.

The next morning I woke up at 6:00am and went to the onsen that overlooked the lake. I watched the sunrise. It was gorgeous. We left the hotel and went to Osaka for a few hours of shopping before we would go to the theater. We hit up a photo booth and took out picture together. We shopped for Hello Kitty and Rilakuma. We saw a mall concert. Then we ate lunch. At 1:30 it was time to head to the musical.

sunrise over the lake

Tara exceeded the purchase amount and got a free balloon.

Rilakuma and Tara (rila-relax kuma-bear)
Hello Kitty is one of the faces for Softbank (my cell phone company)
The clock in Osaka Station

The musical was pretty cool, although it was hard to follow since it was in Japanese. All of the participants are women. They play all roles, including the male roles. After the musical they had an intermission and then came back out and did a dance half. It was pretty neat.
It was a fun weekend but I was glad to get home. I was so tired and I knew that Monday morning was going to come early!

Osaka Bus Trip

2007-11-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Osaka Bus Trip
Saturday, October 28, 2007

6 am comes really early, especially after being Baby Spice at a Halloween party with all of your friends. That’s okay though, we were going to Osaka for a day of relaxing.
Tara and I caught the train and headed to meet one of the principals that arranged the trip. She and many of the teachers had invited us to go with them for the day to Osaka. We were going to have a big lunch and then have free time to shop or do whatever. Some of the teachers brought their kids and we going to go to Universal.
I slept the whole bus trip, right through the Japanese voice over for Shrek. Thank goodness, I hate hearing Disney movies in Japanese. To be honest, it freaks me out. I totally expect English and then it’s not…just confusing. We stopped a few times at conbini’s to get food and have rests but I didn’t get off that bus. It was the best bus I’d been on so far!

When we got to Osaka, we were early for lunch so we went into a shopping building that had many nice stores like Luis Vuitton, etc. All of the stores were closed when we walked in so we had to wait. At the stroke of the bell everything opened. The escalator, which was previously blocked off by a rope, was unroped and a guard hopped in front and then everyone followed him. He rode all the way to the top of the building to silently announce that the stores were open. It was weird but cool.
See the guard up in front? Leading us up the escalators?

A glass elevator...a long way down

We were taken to the Hilton. We went up to the 35th floor to a restaurant where we were going to be eating lunch. It was a gorgeous vies and the best part was that it was a buffet!! This may not sound like anything to you, but for Tara and me it was heaven. We are always served a small portion of something that we hate and then we are starving for the rest of the time. A buffet was the best news we had heard about food in a long time. Osaka, 35 floors up
Our resturaunt
Some food...Western style

Japanese teachers

We went shopping after that. Tara and I went to an arcade (an outdoor strip mall thing). It was fun. I bought a few gifts but mostly had a good time walking around and looking at stuff. We didn’t have too long though because we had to meet up with our group again. Our lunch took a lot of our time!

After meeting our group, we finagled our way back to our bus, riding subways and running through train stations. When we finally loaded the bus again we were tired. The kids were back from Universal Studios and they were all decked out with face paint. I slept on the bus ride home to avoid listening to another Japanese movie.

Nursery School Halloween Parties

2007-11-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

Nursery School Halloween Parties

Halloween Week, 2007

Here are a few pictures from our Halloween Parties. Enjoy!

Sorry, my blogs are out of order.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 22, 2007

Today was probably the weirdest Thanksgiving in the history of my life. I woke up to my alarm, which was the first oddity. The next came when there was no Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. For 26 years I have watched that parade, the Rockettes dancing across the screen of my television, the floats, and the giant balloons that floated down the streets of New York.
I called home and spoke to my sisters in hopes that I could get someone to Tivo the parade for me. I’m used to calling and being a day ahead now, so that wasn’t a big shocker when they were still in Wednesday and I was already celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday. The reassured me that I could watch the Rockettes and their famous kick line when I got home.
The next thing that really struck me was that no one was baking the turkey cookies that me do every year (the shape, not the flavor). And every year we always manage to slip in a Thanksgiving dog or giraffe or something else random. I don’t really like that part of our tradition because we have to ice them all that the icing is cold and gets stuck in the tube…(I had to go to Japan to get out of it for a year J) but I did miss the part where Mom was in the kitchen cooking breakfast.
So there I was, freezing to death in my apartment, and I did what I had to do--get ready for work. Who works on Thanksgiving? Me, that’s who. It was okay though because I was going to my school that has the cute babies. I already picked out the one I want for Christmas. Mom told me that I better not bring home anything that breathes, eats, or needs education so I can’t have one.
For Thanksgiving lunch I ate a piece of salmon. Not turkey in the least but hey, I’m in Japan and they don’t eat turkey here. I taught four lessons to the kids and I taught two teacher lessons. The only part that really felt like Thanksgiving was when I stole a page out of Mom’s book and took a Thanksgiving nap! One of my lessons got cancelled and when that happens I get naptime. I’m so lucky.
Well, now I’m on the train on my hour ride home. When I get there I am going to make Thanksgiving dinner for Tara and myself. That’s right, I’m going to bring American traditions to Japan. I was surprised last night when I received a package from my family. In it was microwavable turkey and dressing, green beans, a sweet potato, fried onions, cranberry jelly, and dessert. I have also been sent by another family member mashed potatoes that I have saved for this occasion. My principal and vice principal at home sent me Stovetop and cranberry jelly too so I’m set for dinner. As we speak, Tara is at the store getting appetizers and anything else we need.
Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Black Friday by shopping in Hiroshima after we visit the Peace Park. We thought that the memorials and sights in Hiroshima would be an appropriate way to celebrate Thanksgiving (since it will still be Thursday at home).

Happy Turkey Day!!

I cooked all of this for dinner!
Tara and the turkey
Our microwave turkey and dressing. I look really tired in this picture!
My table is set!

We ate around my kotatsu...under the futon. Read my blog about my new kotatsu so that you will know what I'm talking about! :)

Halloween Party

2007-11-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

Foreigner Halloween Party
October 27, 2007

The title sounds like I’m being politically incorrect, but I am in fact talking about the Westerners as the foreigners. Yes, that includes me. In this country, you can easily pick out who doesn’t belong so what better thing to do then to come together and have a celebration for Halloween.

My friends and I decided a while ago to dress up as a group. Our theme: the Spice Girls! In honor of the reunion tour, we went all out (even though we are really sad that they are skipping Japan on the tour). I was Baby Spice and usually that would be really easy to pull off, but here I can’t buy any clothes or shoes. Yes, it’s a pain, but it saves me a ton of money.

Girl Power!

Baby (Me), Sporty (Amy), Posh (Bernie), Ginger (Meghan), and Scarey (Lorna)

I tried to order a cheap costume from the internet but they couldn’t get it to Japan before the party so I scrapped that idea. I was in a panic so I decided to make my own. I went to the fabric store and bought hot pink, metallic looking, sequined fabric. Of course there was no pattern so I figured that I’d wing it. I had a sewing machine at my apartment and it was time to put it to good use.
When I got home I decided that I’d make my own pattern. I took a summer dress that I had and cut the fabric around it to make the skirt and body, then I took a sleeveless shirt and cut around it to make the top and sleeves. I have to say that it was pretty great. I even added a ruffle.
The bad part was that my sewing machine seemed to be about as great as a child’s toy so the needle wouldn’t even go through the fabric. It was super annoying and I was running out of time--less than 24 hours until the party--so I improvised…with a stapler. I really think that one day I could be a great seamstress. I make my own patterns, design the outfits, and then staple them together. It was brilliant and the best part was that you couldn’t tell that my whole dress had been stapled together.

Mario (Andrew) and his wife Scarey (Lorna)

Sporty (Amy)

Baby (me) and Posh (Bernie)

The night of the party, all of us Spice Girls got ready together and then had a great time. We danced all night and sang and just went all out. Everyone was impressed with our costumes and even more impressed that I made mine with a stapler. I was taking orders all night, haha.
If you want to place an order, get in touch!

Halloween Preparations and Parties

2007-11-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

Halloween Preparation and Parties
October 23-October 31, 2007

There is no Halloween in Japan, in the true sense of the holiday anyway. There is no pumpkin carving, no dressing up, no party, and no trick or treating for candy. All that changed though this year when Amanda came to town. I was asked to “teach Halloween.” If you know me very well, you already know that I do not teach holidays in the classroom. I was a little put off at first because I don’t even do Halloween at home in Alabama, but then I thought about it in a different way, that these children were learning about a different culture (American culture) and Halloween is part of us (well, some of us at least).
In Japan you can find more Halloween stuff then you would ever imagine. All of the decorations and stuffed animals and silly things are just unreal. I was not prepared for Halloween to line to shelves of stores here. I came to Japan with the mindset that there would not be American holidays but I was wrong, sort of. There was all of this stuff and people bought it for the cuteness factor, but they didn’t have a clue what Halloween was. The stuff was also super expensive and I could not, with a good conscience, even look at it and consider buying anything.
My Mom sent stuff over for the kids as soon as I was asked to teach Halloween and have a party. Thank goodness for moms and Oriental Trading, right? I was the hit of Japan and I will be happy not to do Halloween again…ever. That’s not true; I just don’t want to do Halloween like I did it this year ever again.
My Halloween started on October 23 when I started the costume making with the kids. This was fun and luckily the only school that I made costumes with. At all the others the teachers said that they would do it and not waste an English lesson on it. After the kids’ lessons that day, I had teachers’ lessons where I taught them how to carve a pumpkin. We carved pumpkins for about three hours that day. They wanted to carve the front AND the back. It was really cute, a first pumpkin carving experience. By the end of that day, I was pumpkined out.
The next day started my Halloween Party Marathon. You think, “Oh, how terrible can it be?” It wasn’t terrible, just monotonous. I go to five schools over the course of a week. I couldn’t just have one big party, each party had to be separate so…on Monday I had two parties, Tuesday I had two parties, Wednesday I had two parties, Thursday I had four parties, and Friday (thank goodness this school got smart on me) they put them all together and just had one big, long party.
I had a great time, don’t get me wrong, but Halloween is something that I definitely don’t want to do again until next year and it will be just fine with me if I am passing out the candy to the trick or treaters from the house!!

Cutting the Rice Field

2007-11-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

Cutting the Rice Field
October 22, 2007

I used to watch my dad cut the fields in front of my house when we lived on the farm. I always wanted to drive that tractor. That green John Deer was the biggest thing that I had ever seen, with those wide blades that swept out to the sides as it rolled along over acres and acres of tall green grass of Heardmont Farm. Sometimes, though, I would climb up in the seat and pretend to drive it.
I may have never gotten to drive the tractor in Alabama, but I did get to drive the rice cutting machine in Japan. That sounds a little backwards, huh? Well, it’s true. On Monday we went to the rice field with the children to see it being cut. It was great fun. Each child got to ride up there with the man and cut a little part of the field. While we waited on the children, the rest of us played in the field, stacked up hay into big piles, ran races, and just had fun.
There were men there from the local newspaper and I later learned that Tara and I would be in the paper. The title should read something like, “Amanda Sensei Had a Farm.” You can even sing it to the tune of “Old McDonald!” I know that because I taught the kids to sings my version when we got back to school. Haha
Just what were Tara and I going to be in the paper for? Standing around a rice field, being American? No, no, much more than that. We actually got to drive the tractor and cut the field. I have to tell you though, I might be such a professional that I am invited back to Japan year after year to help with the rice harvest.
Cutting the rice was pretty fun for a little while. There is NO way that I would want to be a farmer though. I cannot imagine being outside all day in the hot sun, even just to drive the tractor; it’s just not my thing. It was fun to pretend for a couple of hours, with a safety net of knowing that I would be returning to America so I could never take a job here if it was offered.

**Pictures to come!

Bizen-Yaki Festival

2007-11-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Bizen-Yaki Festival
October 21, 2007

Bernie had spent the night at my apartment the night before, so we left together for Bizen-Yaki day. I was really excited about this because of all of the pottery I have seen since coming to Okayama in July. I have read about it and heard about it and even chatted with my uncle about it. The only thing I had not done was buy it! That mission would be accomplished at the festival. This is the one weekend out of the year when they have this huge festival in the city and all of the prices are drastically reduced. I found out the other day that all of the artists agree not to sell anything full price on festival weekend. It’s the rule.
We got to the festival and were greeted by two of Bernie’s adult students. I thought it was hysterical but Bernie was not amused. We quickly found Amy, Meghan, and Steve and started our day of shopping. I had never seen so much pottery in one place. The streets were lined and there were so many shops. The amount of people who had come to the festival was unreal. This was a huge thing.
I looked at so many booths and so many things. I didn’t know what I wanted to buy; there was so much cool stuff. Some of the prices were insane. Well, not really considering the amount of work that goes into making the pieces, but at the same time, I just couldn’t justify spending that amount of money, especially not being able to guarantee that it would arrive back in the States safely.
After walking around for a long time, I found it. I found the piece that I had to come home with. I knew that it was going to be a hassle to get it home but it was just what I wanted and the price was unbelievable! Some people were charging thousands for about the same thing. With all of my shopping experience, I know a good buy when I see one so I snapped it up. I also saw something else I wanted in the same booth but I thought I better go think about it and come back. (I got it later.)
Later on, we walked by a booth that had a gorgeous vase. Bernie and I both wanted it but I was worried about getting it and then what else I had gotten but yet I still wanted it…so we did the ultimate Japanese thing and played junkin for it (rock, paper, scissors). She won (thankfully). I was sad because I liked it a lot, but I was very happy because I didn’t need it and she was so happy to have the vase. Every time she looks at it she will think of me.

By the way, the pictures are not on my computer yet because my camera battery decided to die and Casio has to send me a new one so...I have to get the from a friend. Pictures to come!!

Awaji Bus Tour

2007-11-05T06:07:00.000-08:00

Awaji Island Bus Tour
Saturday, October 20, 2007

5:30 am comes really early, especially a long week with late nights working on lessons at home before I could even thing of going to bed. I don’t know the last time I got up that early…maybe the day that I left for Japan. Whenever it was, I’m sure I wasn’t happy, just like I wasn’t happy when my alarm went off. I had no choice though, I had to get up and take a shower because Naoko was going to be at my apartment to pick Tara and me up at 6:10 whether we were ready or not. We made it out the door and to the car and we were off to the bus station along with Naoko, Ayaka (her 7 year old daughter), Naoko’s mother, Naoko’s father’s cousin, Yumi (a head teacher), and Misaki (her 7 year old daughter).
When we got to the bus station to get on our bus tour, Tara and I realized that we were early…almost an hour early. Don’t get me wrong, I am punctual and I would rather be early but it was 6:30 on Saturday morning after we had worked all week and we were two tired Americans. We were not amused in the least. We were appreciative to be invited on the trip so we stoop there and waited for the bus, sleeping with our eyes open.
Our trip started out okay. We boarded the bus and left the station. I had already managed to fall asleep in the most uncomfortable position but I woke up when the guide got on the microphone to tell her that we had to turn around and go back (after driving maybe 30 minutes) because she had left people thinking that they were just not there…no, they were there and had been there, she just left them on accident. It was her first tour I think. Naoko did day she was a “freshman.”

I managed to fall back into the uncomfortable sleep and stay that way for awhile. We stopped a couple of times at rest stops and to grab food and then finally got to the first real stop of the day: a jewelry store.

Me sleeping
Ayaka

Ayaka and Misaki

This was not just a jewelry store where they sold pieces, they also made them. First we took a little tour and looked at things like crystal balls and I was expecting Harry Potter to pop out from around the corner at any moment but he never did. We went into another room and got to watch people who were making some jewelry. A couple of them were working on rings, sizing and things. We saw all kinds of stones that they use. They were beautiful.
Next we sat through a presentation about the jewelry and how they make it. Of course Tara and I didn’t understand anything so Naoko translated. Pretty much we all sat in the back and just cracked up when they said that the necklaces had healing powers and Naoko said she didn’t believe it. Good for her. She’s been to America enough to know what’s what. Haha
We shopped after that, although we couldn’t afford anything. Everything was WAY over the many thousands of dollars range. I had fun trying on rings and things though. Honestly, many of them were really gaudy, not my style. There were a few necklaces that were gorgeous though. After the shopping, we boarded the bus and pulled off. Many of the ladies from the store came out to the parking lot and waved us off and bowed to us. They waved until we were gone.
We spent some more quality time on the bus before arriving at our next destination: the hotel. This was our lunch stop and afterwards a relaxing onsen experience. If you don’t know about onsens, please email me and I’ll tell you all about them. I’m sure you would LOVE my description.

Waving us off

Our lunch was a traditional Japanese lunch. When I uncovered the bowls, there were many little sea creatures with their eyes staring back at me. I’m not into eyes; it’s really just something that I can’t handle. I had to flip the fish over because he wouldn’t stop looking at me. I couldn’t eat too much of him because Tara made a joke about having to dig out the body cavities to eat and that was enough for me. I stuck to the soup and avoided most of the rest of the food. I’m sorry, Japanese cuisine is just not my thing.
After lunch we headed downstairs to relax in the hot water of the onsen. Misaki and Ayaka liked the statues that were around the outdoor tub, but I can’t talk about it on here. It’s just not for mixed company. It was definitely not Japanese and but it was hilarious. Naoko and Yumi left the girls with Tara and me so that they could go shopping but when Tara and I had had enough relaxing with the 7 year olds, we said it was time to go. They understood us but made it quite difficult to leave. They were not ready and thought that they could make us stay longer. We did a little shopping in the hotel shops (I added two more Hello Kitty charms to my collection) and then it was time to load the bus and leave.
Every time we boarded the bus I fell into the most uncomfortable sleeping positions you can only imagine. All I wanted to do was stretch out, but instead I was slumped over. To make matters worse, the lady behind me kept grabbing my chair which meant that she would grab my hair. She would also lean up close to me every now and then and breathe on me or talk. She wasn’t talking to me, but it was really creepy.
Our next stop was a fish market. We watched them make some sort of fish thing on bamboo and we bought our prefectural food so our family and friends. It’s a Japanese tradition that when you leave your prefecture to visit another one (these are like states sort of), you buy special food from where you visit to bring back to close friends and family.
Misaki, Me, Tara, Ayaka

Our last stop of the day was the ferry. We rode the Taco Ferry (taco means octopus) across the water, underneath a huge suspension bridge. It was gorgeous. At night the bridge lights up. It was really windy and we thought Ayaka and Misaki were going to blow away but they didn’t. On the other side of the water, we boarded the bus and drove home.
It was a long but fun day. Tara and I decided that the bus wouldn’t be a bad way to travel around and see things. Little did we know that this was going to start our first of three bus weekend trips in a row.

Unforgiving

2007-10-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Unforgiving
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Have you over noticed how unforgiving some things can be? Take trains for instance; they are just plain hateful. You make one mistake like leaving your apartment one minute late or choosing one route over another only to get caught by a light, or the worst (today’s problem) your pants leg snags on your bike as you are parking and it sets into play a domino effect of about five bikes tumbling over while tearing your new pants at the same time. Of course that’s when inevitably the train pulls up and you know that you are going to miss it. I didn’t miss it today because I hauled it across the bike lot, up the stairs, across the station, and down the stairs FIGHTING to make that train. I’m a fighter and that man knew not to pull away without me. He saw the determination in this girl. He knew that I had made the mistake of arriving a minute too late (maybe he didn’t know about me knocking down all the bikes), but he saw that I wasn’t giving up to make that train.

And yes, he did hold the train for me.

Amanda Sensei Extraordinaire

2007-10-22T04:43:00.001-07:00

Amanda Sensei Extraordinaire
Thursday, October 18, 2007

Thursdays are fun because the school is small and I know everyone, all the way down to the last baby. They children are so sweet, and some are a little crazy, but I love them. I love my teachers too. There are three young girls that I work a lot with and we always have a great time. Today was no different than any other, except that we were two teachers down for the morning because they were observing somewhere else.

Today I was making jack-o-lanterns with the three year olds because the principals and teachers want me to teach Halloween to the children (they do not celebrate in Japan). It was pretty much a gluing activity but it was fun nonetheless. I had already cut out pumpkins, eyes, noses, and mouths, but I encouraged them to cut the teeth on the mouth if they wanted. It was so funny watching them.

In the middle of our activity a four year old came racing in from the other room talking animatedly in Japanese. This didn’t faze me because children do this all day long. It did alarm the three year old teacher though and she ran out of the room leaving me to glue with the kids. She came running back in quickly explaining to me that a child had thrown up all over the four year old room and the teacher and she was going to have to help clean it up. She told the three year olds that she would be right back and not to leave the room.

So…there I was with 15 three year olds who didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Japanese so…yeah. They also had glue all over their hands and couldn’t go wash them because there was no sink in the room! It was kind of funny but really not. We finally got the okay to run to the sink and wash up and then come back in the room.

I spent about 45 minutes with the three year olds that morning by myself while everyone else cleaned up the mess (no complaints here!). I did pretty well considering the language barrier. You would be amazed what you can do when you have to!

Extra Letters

2007-10-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Do you ever notice in my blogs how there are random capitol J's thrown in the text at the end of lines?

I do...I don't do it on purpose, they just show up there sometimes.

That's just what I'm thinking about right now so I thought I'd share it with you.

Camp Bernie

2007-10-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Camp Bernie
Saturday, October 5 – Sunday, October 6

Who doesn’t love spending time with just the girls? Let me tell you, I have met some amazing people here and three in particular have some to be my greatest friends while in Japan! It’s so strange…moving to a new continent, knowing no one, missing your friends from home like crazy, and then meeting people who you connect with and become the people you hang out with every weekend!

All of you reading this from home, no, you have NOT been replaced, as a matter of fact, you are here in spirit. The four of us know each other, but we also know each other’s friends from home. I might not have ever met or even talked to them, but I have heard so many stories about these friends of my friends that I feel like I would fit right in and just be part of the Aussie or Canadian gang! J

So on this particular girls night, Meghan, Amy, and I all arrived in Wake on the train. Bernie was waiting for us in her car at the station. We piled in and headed to the grocery store to get food for dinner. Yes-we were going to cook.

The funny thing about all four of us is that we have distinctly different diets and food preferences, yet we can always find somewhere to eat or, in this case, something to eat that we can all agree on and eat. First there’s Bernie who is a vegetarian. Then there’s Amy who is mostly a vegetarian but will eat some chicken. Meghan eats pretty much anything. And then there’s me who is Atkins friendly only these days.

As we troop through the grocery store, each throwing random things into the buggy/cart/trolley (four people from different places and we all call it different names), we all agree on the common meal that we are going to be sharing and we just enjoy each other’s company while we laugh and tell jokes and stories.

Home at last at Camp Bernie’s, we unload the car and get to work in the kitchen. We were all chopping veggies and adding ingredients to make vegetarian chili (chicken to be added in to ours later!). We were laughing and dancing as we sang to the radio. The phone rang and we all talked to Bernie’s Aussie friends from home.

Eventually dinner was ready so we set the table and ate together, telling more stories from our week. It was like having a little family, all sitting together over supper. Isn’t that cute? Can’t you just picture it?

After dinner we had to initiate Amy into the club for people who had seen Top Gun. I am the worst about not ever seeing some of the staple movies of my youth, but I can at least say that I have seen Top Gun before. We had the best time as we watched and acted out the scenes. Poor Bernie sat at the table listening to the rugby game though and was devastated to hear that her precious Aussie team lost and was not out of the running for the World Cup.

We watched an Australian movie after Top Gun. It was called The Castle. It reminded me a little of Napoleon Dynamite because of the humor. It was terribly funny and we laughed throughout the whole thing. Amy made up for never having seen Top Gun by showing us The Castle.

Afterwards we all passed out only to wake up early the next morning. We had to get up early though because Amy, Bernie, and I were heading off to Lake Biwa to Indian Summer for a music festival.

Japanese Lessons

2007-10-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

Japanese Lessons

Yes friends, I am trying to learn the language. So far I have been to two classes at the International Center and I am in the most basic class you could ever be in but I guess you have to start somewhere! It gives me a whole new perspective on teaching my little ones (in America and in Japan) how to read and write.

I don’t remember ever not knowing how to read or write in English so even though I teach 1st grade and see it everyday, it sometimes feels hard to relate to a brand new learner. I watch them, with those frustrating looks and then there is a breakthrough when it all makes sense! I am having those moments while learning Japanese.

I am NO WHERE near speaking, reading, etc, but when I am at my lesson and I am learning new letters and sounds and writing them over and over I feel so compelled to keep trying because I have to survive here in Japan.

I keep relating everything here to my study of education and literacy and everything I do as a teacher and I feel like I am performing a human experiment on myself. I am actually my own guinea pig starting over with a new language, learning how to read and write again.

This is probably one of the most unorganized blogs, with my random thoughts and my dinner burning on the kitchen, but sometimes I just have these moments of realization and I do what I tell my kids to do, “write about it.”

Glass Blowing

2007-10-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

Glass Blowing
Sunday, September 23, 2007

Today we went to Kurashiki with some of our teachers to make drinking glasses. When we arrived we went into a little workshop place and met the teacher. He showed us a lot of different styles that we could choose from. There were many different sizes and shapes. We also chose the colors and the pattern. I chose pink and black and a random pattern.

These are jars of the colors that the glass was rolled in.
The hot, firey oven.
I'm modeling the latest in glass blowing fashion.
I went first while the teachers and Tara documented this experience through cameras and video. The glass making was such a cool experience. I had to blow through a long metal pole a few times to help give it a shape and open up. After every time the man would put it back in the fire. I got to turn it once and I was terrified that it was going to fall off of the pole and into the fire. The fire was so hot that it kept the glass melted and pliant. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Rolling the glass.
After I did the glass blowing, I had to roll the pole while the man put the pattern glass on. That was tricky and I had to be really fast about it. I rolled the pole back and forth until the pattern was what I wanted then he cut the class (yes, cut it) and we stuck it back in the fire to melt again.
It was SO hot.
My glass, as a baby.
Glass blowing again.
Next up? Putting a bottom on the glass. He pulled out a glob of glass and rolled it in the black stuff and stuck it on. Next we fired it some more and then he rolled the pole and smashed the bottom flat with a wet piece of rubber until it was nice and flat.
My glass, as a teenager.
Cutting the glass...
After that it was time to open the glass up so that it would hold something. First he had to attach it to another pole and then I had to cut it off of the first pole. That was scary because I thought I was going to break my glass. I had to hit it with a little file but it didn’t break. Thank goodness!

Into the fire again (are you seeing a pattern?). Afterwards I used some tool that looked like pliers to open the mouth of the glass. That took a little while since we had to put it back in the fire repeatedly.

Finally I had the finished product. It was a little wobbly shaped but it was just beautiful! It went into the cooler where it will slowly come down from 500 degrees!

Tara made a glass too. Actually, she made three because the guy dropped the first one and it melted on the floor (bizarre to watch) and the second broke when the mad took it out of the fire (just plain aggravating to watch). We were all so hot and just wanted to get out of that workshop but her glasses were getting to the very end and then becoming disasters! The third time was a charm though.

To see my glass as an adult, visit me at Christmas. :)

Cow Festival

2007-09-22T23:19:00.000-07:00

Cow Festival
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Today I woke up late and decided to go do some exploring. I went to a shop that I like called Hard Off. It’s a second hand store. On my way back, I was by the train station and I could tell that there was something going on at Okayama Dome so I rode down to check it out.

That something turned out to be a cow festival! It was like a fair, for a second I thought I had stepped into the book Charlotte’s Web. Standing right in front of me were so many cows that were being paraded around and inspected and petted. I parked my bike and walked over because I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity to see a cow festival in Japan.

I walked towards a stage where people were singing. There were all of these tents set up around the sides so I started walking around. I called Tara and told her to get over to the Dome for a surprise. She was not exactly sure but she came anyway. As we walked around we found all kinds of booths that were selling cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream and anything else you can make with milk. On the other side was the meat. People were selling t-shirts, giving out pamphlets on my you should have three milks a day, and there was also a little booth set up showing you what you could make out of a milk carton.

We walked and listened to the music. There was a guy on stage singing a song and the words were, “Yo, yo, yo…” We found some real animals that you could pet. There was a duck, some pigs, some rabbits, and some cows. You could even milk a couple of cows but the line was super long.

Afterwards, we were still kind of in shock about this cow festival that I had found so we went and ate lunch and then went to the toy shop with Naoko. It was an interesting day, and the first time I’d ever seen cows in Japan!

Bike News

2007-09-20T06:28:00.001-07:00

Bike News
September 18, 2007

Bad news bears…my bike was stolen at the train station. L I was so sad. Actually, I wasn’t sad, I was MAD! It was 7:00 at night and I had just gotten to the train station from a LONG day of work and all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. I walked over to where I parked my bike that morning and it was gone. I looked everywhere thinking that it was a trick or something…nope, it was gone.

I called Naoko and told her and she came right away. What a night. Since it was 7pm already, it was too late to do anything so she took me home. My keys were gone too so we had to get some spare keys. What a night.

So the next morning I woke up and got ready to leave (early of course, since I had to walk to the station). I left in plenty of time but for some reason it took me forever to get there. I barely made the train. Tara got there maybe 10 seconds before me and stopped the train for us. She was straddling the train and the platform so that they couldn’t take off. She’s so brave, haha.

Since today was my short day, I went home at 12:30. I was so tempted to take a cab to the apartment but I thought that it would be better to walk and get some exercise so that’s what I did. That was my mistake…it was so hot! It felt like we had gone back into the summer temperatures and the sun was baking me from the inside out. My bags were so heavy and I was wearing flip flops…not ideal for my long walk home. When I FINALLY made it home, I thought I might die, but I hung in there.

I had to go to the police station and report the bike stolen. That was an experience. I’m getting pretty good at international police visits. First Italy and the car thief, now Japan and the bike thief. Lovely. That was a trip because at the Koban (police box) the older man wanted to speak to me in English. I was hot, tired, and not really into communication right then. Yumi was handling it well so I was just fine being quiet, but I had to amuse him by talking. He got a big kick out of practicing his English. I’m glad I could help a brother out.

Yumi took me home and said she would come back later with my new bike. When she did, she made my day! It’s was a bright red, shiny new bike!! The bell is a little wussy but I still have the one that Lindsey gave me for my birthday. It’s WAY better. I’m going to put it on this weekend. I want to put my streamers on too but I’m scared that they might get stolen.

My locks are changed at my apartment so no worries. I’m safe and my bike has two locks now! No one is taking this bad boy from me!! I’ll get a picture up here as soon as I can. It’s a pretty sweet ride, and there’s nothing like a blonde on a red bicycle! If I can pull any of you into town, let me know (Lindsey, name it). haha

Kurashiki Bikan Area

2007-09-17T03:44:00.001-07:00

Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area
Sunday, September 16, 2007

I got moving early this morning, against my body’s will. I was so tired from my last outing that I thought I wouldn’t recover but I remembered that I am only 26 years old and then I felt guilty for acting like I was 90 so I got a move on. I met Amy on the train at my station and we rode on to Kurashiki to meet Meghan. Meghan lives in Kurashiki so we were going to spend the day being cultural in the city.

When we got off the train, we were greeted by Meghan and seven other friends. Yea! More people to hang out with today! We set off towards the covered mall area. Since there were so many of us, it was inevitable that we could walk straight to the historical area without any stops. We ran in and out of little stores and bought this and that. The weather was just daring us to have a good time, fully aware of any fun that we might have or great purchases we might buy and that’s when the clouds would drop all of the water that they had, down to they very last drop.

Luckily we made it to the historical area before the rain started. When we got there, we had to go in the cat shop. By cat shop I mean totally creep you out 110% because it sells anything cat you might every want, need, desire, or even just think of. There were cat bags, shirts, trinkets, etc. Plus cat toys, cat food, cat, cat, cat! In a HUGE glass case in the middle of the store were three of the fattest cats that I have ever seen in my life. They were all laying around, the epitome of cat life. In the background was cat music…meowing from the loudspeakers. It was quite an experience. They had a few doggie items but it was mostly cat central.

These are the cats that were in the glass cage. They are enormous!

This was the sign on the glass cage that the cats were in. :)

After the cat shop, we popped in and out of many other random shops and then found the art museum. This museum is a great one here in Okayama. It is called the Ohara Museum of Art. I had such a great time in here. They had many paintings by famous names, not necessarily the famous paintings though. They did have Monet’s Water Lilies and to see it up close was great. I have been lucky in my life to visit famous art museums around the world and see some famous pieces that will stick in my mind forever. Seeing this one was wonderful; to see that famous signature up close took my breath away. To name a few famous artists represented in this gallery, there were Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Etc. They also had a small collection of American artists, Pollock for one, and I enjoyed looking at these.

I went to my favorite toy shop today. I had to get a couple of things. I love this place because there are so many handmade toys for all different countries. The bottom decided to drop right out on us though so I was SOAKED when I went in. I felt bad about dripping on the floor, but then I spent some money so I think that pleased the lady. Haha

Amy, Meghan, and I went into some more shops before calling it a day in Kurashiki. I found some really cute things that I would love to go back and get. I keep reminding myself that I live here and I will be here for 10 and a half more months so I don’t have to buy everything the first time I see it. We had exhausted Kurashiki so I said I was going to head back to town. We said goodbye and I started towards the train. I have a good 20 minute walk so I thought it was a good time to go. Down the street I bumped into everyone else who we had left behind awhile ago. They were also heading to the train so we went together.

I wanted to do something else because it was not late but everyone seemed to be heading home. Dennis and I talked about going to play the drums at the arcade but then he had a better idea--going to the MALL!! We jumped on a bus and rode for a little while and we were there. This was a real, live mall. It was like one in America, except a little ghetto. Still, it was so great to feel like I was kind of at home for a little while! I miss things like the mall.

When we walked in, I was greeted by the smell of Starbucks. Ahhhh… Next was The Body Shop. Seeing all of those skin products in English was great. We walked down to a sports store called Sports Authority. It was like Academy Sports. It was so much fun to play in there for awhile. Everything was in English and just comforting. Dennis modeled some of the latest clothes for you.

This is the lone swan that lives in Kurashiki Canal. You might could eat him here, but if you were in England, you couldn't. It's against the law.
This is a little water lily pony outside at the Ohara Museum. You can come and paint your own Monet.

Dennis is modeling the latest fashion from Sports Authority.

He took me into Mega Mart. This is strangely like Wal-Mart, only it doesn’t look as nice…but yet they sell brand naked like Nike and Adidas. It was interesting. We left there and went into some of the other random stores in the mall. We found a clothing store that played American music so we sang for awhile. Then we hit Uni Qlo. This is like a cheap GAP almost. I have one of these down the street from me in my city.

Next came dinner…mall food! I ate a salad from McDonald’s and it was way better than anything I’d eat at McDonald’s at home. Since we had to leave soon, but we wanted to play the drums, we ran down to this arcade we found. It was so huge. We walked around and looked at everything and then we played the game and headed back to the bus. From the bus, we went to the train, and from the train I rode my bike home in the rain. It was such a great day!!! I had so much fun.

Bitchu Takahashi

2007-09-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bitchu-Takahashi

This weekend was supposed to be one where I traveled to Osaka to spend the long weekend in the presence of so many amazing stores and also go to my favorite…Cirque du Soleil. That didn’t happen though, the show was sold out, so we will try again for another weekend. There was no getting us down though because it was, after all, a 3 day weekend and I was determined to do something entertaining and cultural!

My friend Meghan and I decided that we would go somewhere in Okayama prefecture and see something Japanese. There is a castle there, the Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, and it is well known for being the highest altitude castle in Japan. We decided to go there and check it out since it was only about an hour away, if that.

When we got to the city, we say this HUGE map and we couldn’t believe how far away the castle was. We were going to have to ride a bus to get there and by the time we navigated ourselves to the bus station and communicated to the lady where we wanted to go, we saw that the bus wasn’t leaving for an hour and then the castle would be closing in only a few hours anyway. Instead we got a map of the city and did some other cultural things, vowing to go back on another day to see the castle.

Our other sights were pretty interesting. First we stopped in at a historical museum. Every sign that we saw on our walk to the museum gave it a different name, but I am comfortable with naming it the historical museum. The first floor was full of antique things like books, pianos, phones, clocks, etc. It also had many records of things that had happened in the city in the past. It showed pictures of what must have been an earthquake that left the people in much devastation. The pictures reminded me of Katrina.

The entire upstairs was full of farming equipment, machinery, etc. that they used to use. It was all very interesting but there was no air and we were about to get rain so it was Alabama humidity times ten. We had to get out of that little place.

When I think about our museums, even ones that house things like antiques, I just think about how valuable they are and how the temperature is controlled, etc. I wouldn’t even store my things in a storage building unless it was climate controlled before I left for Japan…I wouldn’t even begin to be able to handle it if something happened to all of my books and furniture! Here there is no air and it’s humid and they have these treasures out, some not even in cases. It amazes me.

After that we walked along and found a temple. I don’t always feel good about going in the temples because they are a place of worship for people, but we went in…and the lady gladly charged us 300 yen! It was nice, nothing like what I am used to at home. Although if Japanese people came and toured my church I’m sure they would say the same thing. There was a lot of gold, but not nearly as ornate at the temple of one of my principals. In the back was a Zen garden. There was music playing and it was so peaceful. I could have sat there all day and been content. It was so beautiful.

Next we went to an old samurai house. It is empty now, but it is apparently quite unusual architecturally and is a cultural landmark in the little town. It was too dark to take pictures inside and there were no lights, but I did get a brochure. J

A little ways down there was a warrior’s house. As soon as we walked in Meghan and I both flipped out because there was a man bowing to us from the corner. Come to find out, he was not real and he was motion censored but he looked as real as you and me and he was creepy. Anyway, this house was build 170 years ago and unlike the other house, this one had fake people in it. We were very careful to look for motion censors in every room. Again, no pictures, but I have the brochure!

Our last stop in the town (besides the Seven Eleven…I am not kidding) was at the Origin of Ikegami Mansion. It was like a little museum that had a ton of things like old machines, tools, newspapers, etc. This town was big into making soy sauce apparently and from what I gather Mr. Ikegami was a rich man who owned a big house and a big place to make sauce. If you know anything about this and can tell me more, feel free.

We caught the train and headed to Wake for dinner with Amy (we picked her up on the way). We ate at Pizza King, very famous here in Okayama. It smelled delicious. Afterwards we had some time to kill and we weren’t ready to say goodbye so we thought we’d go to the tearoom that was recommended by a friend and have coffee before the train.

Stairs to the temple
Zen
more Zen
a Zen lizard
The scary man in the warriors house. Motion censors are so terrible...

We went inside and sat down, but things just didn’t seem right. When we tried to order coffee and water, the lady kept insisting on beer. We kept telling her no, water and coffee but she seemed confused. We were completely confused so she was in good company! Finally Meghan and Amy got a Chu Hi each (like a wine cooler) but I still only wanted water. We waited and waited and thought that she sure was taking a long time to go get to cans and a glass of water…and the next thing we know she’s coming out with our drinks and a plate of cheese and crackers! Keep in mind that we had JUST told her that we didn’t want food because we had just eaten at Pizza King. THEN she comes back out with some more snacks.

It seems as though we had stepped into a tearoom/BAR! Amy, Meghan, and I were so confused. We didn’t know what was going on exactly but those people seemed to love us. They wanted to speak to us in English and know all about us. It was really funny. After a little while we figured out that the two ladies that were working were sisters.

We were still trying to figure out how we had come into a bar when it said tearoom on the door when they brought out more snacks and…KARAOKE! They wanted these Western girls to sing Celine Dion, “My Heart Will Go On.” Wow, it was quite entertaining for us all. We sang a few songs and then it was time to head out.

We told them that we had to leave and they were all so sad. They tried to get us to stay and sing some more but we had a train to catch. When the bill came, it was for 5000 yen!!! That’s about $50. The only thing we can figure is that maybe it was namihodi (all you can drink) and karaoke. $20 per person. We think that because it was 6000 yen but scratched out to 5000 yen and I didn’t drink anything but water so maybe they dropped the price.

Whatever it was, it was way too expensive but it was a hilarious night. We got to the train station and we were all three still stunned but we couldn’t stop laughing at our experience. Oh, Japan…

Our drunk waitress with a tamborine
Meghan
Me
Meghan and Amy
The food we did not order...next up? The 5000 yen bill!

Natale Museum

2007-09-17T01:38:00.001-07:00

Dinner at Natale Museum
Friday September 14, 2007

Tonight I finished work at 6:30, but instead of hopping on the train and going home my teachers took me out to dinner. I we excited to go because we were in Fukuyama, the city that I commute to, so I never spent time there besides at the schools. We drove for a little while and even though it was dark, it was beautiful. We were right next to a lot of water. The way the lights from the city reflected in the water was gorgeous. The 5 year old teacher was driving, Mika. She is this tiny girl, so cute and quiet, but she drives fast! I didn’t think she had it in her.

When we got to the restaurant called Nalate Museum, it looked pretty cool from the outside so I knew it was going to be great…I just had that feeling.

We went inside and it was really trendy and modern. It was like a lot of places at home. I liked it a lot. They had already determined the menu so that was nice; it was a huge variety of everything.

The food started coming and kept coming! There was salad, pork tenderloin and bean sprouts, shrimp, sausages, french fries, shrimp pasta, pizza with rice, cheese, and seaweed, and this chicken that was wrapped in cabbage topped with some tomato sauce, served with broccoli and green beans. I sampled some of the food but I didn’t taste everything. There was SO much! At the end, they brought out dessert. It was so pretty! There was some ice cream and on top was a heart shaped cookie, then there was some grapefruit jello (they call it jelly), and some chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and fruit. I took a picture for you!
I passed this up. What will power!!!

We had a great time at dinner, talking and laughing. My teachers love hearing about my family and friends. They want you all to visit so that they can meet you. We had been sitting there forever having a great time when Mika jumped up and told me it was time for us to go to my train. Everyone started pulling out money and I asked how much I owed and they told me that it was a present. I insisted that I pay but they said no. The people here are just so sweet. I love them so much. They take amazing care of me and treat me so well. I hope that one day I can repay them if they ever want to take a trip to America!

Lessons for the week of September 10

2007-09-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Lessons
September 15, 2007

This week has been full of hilarious events at school. I’ll share some with you.

Monday: Futaba Nursery School
On Mondays I go to Futaba and I teach the 5 year olds. Like all of my kids, I love them, they are just adorable. When I went into the classroom I was getting ready for class and the poor things were exhausted. They have been practicing for their Sports Festival and are outside everyday in the heat practicing, practicing, practicing… They would hardly sing or dance with me. I made a new game up though and they were getting into it. Finally, something woke them up!

At the end of my lesson, I always get many hugs. Today was no different. My hugs were a little different though because instead of hugging and then letting go, they stayed attached; they were SMELLING me! Yes, I’m serious. In Japanese one hugged, smelled, and told the others. They all came and did the same and the response was a lot of Japanese followed by “American.” Haha, it was funny! Funnier even when they moved on to my hands and started inhaling them and repeating, American.” It took me a minute but I realized that what they were smelling was my perfume. It was classic.

Tuesday: Tomiyama Nursery School
I teach the 5 year olds here also. These children were also exhausted from for their Sports Festival. They came in and did not want to talk or move. They just sat there. It was like pulling teeth to have a conversation. I taught them a new song and any other time they would have been all about it. Not today! They were just dead. At the end of the lesson time I said, “We have time for one more song!” Usually they start naming suggestions. Today they crossed their arms to resemble and X and said “NO.” The teacher and I laughed so hard.
Wednesday: Joto Nursery School
I teach the 3, 4, and 5 year olds here. The 3 year olds are always a trip because they are so little and excited about everything that we do. I love it! Today we traced one of them on paper to make a life size human body and then we colored in the hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands and feet. I labeled them in English. It was so funny to watch them color in that person. The end result resembled something from a horror movie, but it was great.

The 4 and 5 year olds are always a challenge because I have a few high maintenance children in there. Since I can’t speak Japanese and they don’t speak English, I can’t communicate like I would in my regular classroom. It’s not an ideal situation but I’ve found some things that work. We did the same lesson that I did with the three year olds. It turned out a bit better, not so crazy looking since the kids had more of a concept of what a human should look like.

Thursday: Hikari Nursery School
I have the 3 year old for 15 minutes to sing with. They are so funny and so excited about life. We sing and dance and have a great time. They all want to hold my hand and touch me. I love it. Next I have the 4 year olds, then the 5 year olds. In both classes we did the trace the body lesson and draw/color the parts. It went along with a book that we read. By the end of the lesson my kids were remembering the English. Yea!

Friday: Midori Nursery School

I have the same schedule here as I do at Hikari. My 3 year olds sing and afterwards they all want to give me hugs. Today I even got a couple of kisses. They are precious. My 4 year olds made Monster Pizzas today. We made a recipe together last week and today we cooked. That was really run. It was like being back at home. I borrowed this idea from a friend who teaches kindergarten at my school. The kids had a great time.

My 5 year olds are researching about monkeys right now. Together we looked at monkey pictures and short video clips that I had on my computer from when I went to Shodoshima Island. I am teaching the teachers about research and how I do it in my classroom so they wanted me to take the children through the steps. It’s fun to do with the kids, and surprisingly easy with the language barrier!

That’s all for my week. Maybe you’ll get a kick out of it. I sure did. I usually don’t write about my school life, but some of these things were just too funny not to mention!

Comments

2007-09-15T17:28:00.001-07:00

I seriously might be an idiot...

I never noticed that I had comments on my blog until today! If you thought I was ignoring you, I wasn't. I just wasn't bright enough to see the comments! SORRY!! :)

Happy Birthday!

2007-09-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have to take a moment and say...

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY CASEY!!!

I called her on her birthday so even though the post is late, I'm not really late. If you didn't call her on her birthday (September 10) then YOU are late!

Thank goodness Daddy made that cake...

Hair Day

2007-09-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hair Day!
September 9, 2007

I completely forgot to tell you about my hair! It all started on September 8 when I was out on my shopping day. I was walking around and looking in shops when I came upon a salon. The way I worded that, it sounds like a fairytale, huh? Well, it kind of was.

I have been in desperate need of getting my hair done and no one seems to have the number of the English speaking man that everyone else used so I just decided to wing it. I have seen so many salons but this one was different, it had so many people inside and it was really trendy. I stood outside looking in for a little while, you know, just checking everything out.

First I looked at the stylists’ hair. They all looked normal (for Japanese standards). Then I checked out the customers. They were getting excellent treatment. The prices were on the door and I was amazed at how cheap they were. Of course, for the American, they would be a little bit more.

So as I was standing there, in my own little world, I was only focused on what was interesting me. I was jerked back into reality when I noticed that the girls who take appointments (what is the word for that? I seriously have lost my vocabulary) were starting at me. I waved and then they came outside! Oops! I asked if they spoke English but they didn’t. No worries because here comes Yamada, soon to be my new Japanese hair stylist. He spoke English!

I told him what I wanted and I told him how I wanted it done and he was very excited to help me. He told me to come back the next day at 10am. I was pretty thrilled, but a little nervous. I told him that I was a little scared (I used my Japanese words!) and he laughed.

The next day I went back to the salon and was greeted with all of my new stylist friends. They just seemed so thrilled to have an American there. They all stared at me and smiled so big. They even gave me the one copy of the Japanese Vogue to read! Wow! I felt like a superstar!

Yamada had prepared some English questions for me. It was great. Here while you get your hair done, you read a magazine. Maybe they talk to you, I don’t know. He didn’t say too much since there was a language barrier. He did my highlights just like at home, Michelle would be proud. Instead of going and sitting under the drier, they brought the drier to me. That was nice.

After a wash, a nice long wash, I went back over for my cut. I told him a little bit, like 1 cm. My hair has grown about 2 inches since I left home so I am letting it grow now. He did a good job on the cut but the poor guy had no clue how to dry a Western girl’s hair, haha. I think he thought that he might hurt me if he brushed my hair too hard or something. He barely brushed and my hair looked wavy after the dry, but the color was good and I was happy. Great experience!! If you come to Japan and want to get your hair done, I’ll share Yamada with you!

Shopping and Rugby

2007-09-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

New Experiences
Saturday September 8, 2007

The past week was a killer. I was so tired Friday night that I passed out at 9:30. I did that a few times this past week. I woke up Saturday morning and I was ready to go at 8am. I talked on the phone for awhile to my family and then got a call from a friend here in Japan. She and some people were going out that night to have dinner and then hitting up the Aussie Bar to watch the Rugby World Cup games. I was excited to meet some new people and I didn’t know anything about rugby so I thought it would be fun.

I had the afternoon to myself so I did some shopping. I am trying to get a jump on my Christmas shopping this year. I say that every year but I mean it this year. It’s not hard being here in Japan because every time I see something really interesting I think, “Oh… ____ needs this!!” and I buy it for their Christmas present. If you get something weird from me, it’s because I was thinking that you needed it at the time. J I did have a few things in mind when I went out shopping but of course I didn’t find those, I found MUCH better stuff.

I miss being at home for the seasonal stuff. I really want to decorate for Halloween for some reason; I think it’s really just because they don’t celebrate it here. Well, one of my first stops was my favorite bookstores. It also carries flowers and stationary and many other things. Guess what I found…a baby pumpkin!!! I was so excited! It was like all of those times where Mom would take us to the grocery store and let up choose our own baby pumpkin to have at home. I had to dig through all of them and inspect them and finally choose the perfect one. It was fun. When I was paying, the man taught me the Japanese word for pumpkin. It is pronounced, “Puccini” but that is not spelled right.

In the bookstore they had all kinds of decorations for Halloween. They were crazy expensive but it was fun to look at them. It made me miss reading Halloween books to my kids and doing Halloween story problems. I miss teaching at home like crazy! That’s been a hard part about being here, even though I’m teaching.

I left the bookstore and started walking down a strip with stores on both sides. I went into many of the stores I usually rush past. Many days it’s so hot that I go out with a plan and try to get inside as fast as possible. The weather was nice though so I just strolled along and looked around.

I found a discounted store that was full of books--in English!! There were so many children’s books that I didn’t know what to do! I wanted to buy so many of them but I controlled myself. They were so cheap! I did buy a few hardbacks that I couldn’t get cheaper at home, even at the Scholastic sale! I was having a great time just looking around. Sometimes I love shopping alone, I just get to do my own thing and I don’t have to rush or accommodate anyone else.

About that time I was ready to head down to the pet store to look for Miley a little present. Her birthday is coming up you know! She’s going to be one. I found exactly what I was looking for, but I can’t tell you right now. You will have to wait about three and a half months until I go home for Christmas. I will take a picture and post it, but I don’t want to spoil it, it’s going to be TOO cute!

While I was in the pet store I noticed that the monkey was gone. I guess they had to get rid of him or someone bought him. I don’t know, but it was SO much quieter without him there! I looked at the puppies for a minute but I had to stop and get out of there. I cannot look at those babies in those little cages. They are so sad looking and lonely. I wanted to buy one so that Miley could have a sister. They looked so much alike. It just broke my heart though to look at the dogs and I really thought I was going to cry. That always happens to me when I go into a pet store. I have to stop writing about it; it’s killing me right now.

Okay, so in front of the stores a man was running around pulling a little carriage thing that people could pay to ride in. I’ve seen this before in Kurashiki, but that day is was about a million degrees. Today it wasn’t as hot and it was shady so the guy didn’t look quite as foolish, although he still looked pretty silly. The people riding were getting a kick out of it though.

This man is nuts...and his shorts are so short!

I went to a department store to look around. I love looking at the Gucci and Prada and Channel and seeing what I would buy if I was rich and famous. haha One day this teacher will make it big, right? J Keep dreaming, Amanda. In the meantime, I’ll just look. The department store I was in was Tenmya. They have many things but there’s really no point in looking at clothes or shoes because I can’t wear any of them…I’m too tall and my feet are too big.

I left there and went to another little mall and looked around. There’s a GAP and Northface there so I feel more at home when I go in. I shopped in GAP for a little bit, getting my head around some of the fall fashion, GAP style. There were some cute things but I was not in the mood to try anything on. I just wanted to smell that GAP smell and think about America for a few minutes. J Upstairs there is a great bookstore that has a good children’s section and a decent English section. I wandered up there for a little while. I wanted to pick up a couple of things and look around.

I left that mall and thought I would head back to the train station area since I had pretty much exhausted the shopping scene in that area so I went to the trolley stop. I love riding the trolley. I usually just walk but I had some heavy bags and a huge blister on my foot from my shoe so I thought I’d ride. It’s 100 yen to ride, about 87 cents or so, so it’s really cheap.

When I was at the trolley stop my friend Meghan called and told me that we were going to meet in 30 minutes. That was perfect timing! As soon as I got to the station, maybe 10 minutes later, she was there. We met up with some people that I didn’t know. There were two girls from Australia and a guy from North Carolina. Meghan is from Canada. They needed to go to the 100 yen store so we went walking back to where I had just come from. It was fine with me because I didn’t know about this 100 yen store…it was 5 stories!!! We met another friend of theirs there and then we all went to eat dinner at Rocco’s Burger. It was yummy! We all just chatted and hung out for while until people had to leave for meetings and things. Amy, Bernie (both from Australia), Meghan, and I were left and we had a great little time. They are all here for their second year in Japan.

Pretty soon it was time to head to the bar for the rugby game. The great thing about where I live in Japan is that you can walk everywhere. We walked to the bar and just hung out and watched TV. The first game was New Zealand vs. Italy. New Zealand beat them to a fine pulp. I felt really sorry for Italy. The next game was Australia vs. Japan. The Aussie Bar was filling up with so many Australians and Japanese people. It was so funny to watch and listen to everyone. I learned about rugby…the tries, the conversions, and the scrums. They thought it was hilarious that I knew nothing about rugby and all I could compare it to was football. We will all get together in a few weeks for another game. I told them that I needed a jersey though. haha

Fun night, fun night.

Cleaning House

2007-09-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

Cleaning House
September 6, 2007

Yesterday was my short day at work. I always eat lunch there and then come home. Today’s lunch was sushi…not raw fish, mushroom. It was okay for my first Japanese sushi experience but I have to remember that it was school food. What I really wanted to do was go shopping but instead I had to come home and wait for the internet people to come and install the internet in my apartment. While I was waiting, I thought that I better get some work done around here. My apartment was looking pretty dirty. I have been so busy with work and other stuff that I just come in and throw my things down and that’s where they stay. You know how it is.

I first must tell you about my vacuum. It is amazing and I love it. I am trying to think of a way to smuggle it home but I think it would be missed. This thing is so little and lightweight and is on rollers. I drag it around all over the apartment. It has a hose on it too so it gets in all of the little nooks and crannies. I love to vacuum anyway so this just puts it over the top.

While vacuuming yesterday I realized just how small my apartment really is. I never really think about it because I am always alone here. The only person who visits is Tara and the occasional Japanese principal coming to give me something or help me with something (like when I tried to cook with gas for the first time and it went horrible wrong). So anyway, I was vacuuming and it was plugged in at one end of the apartment. I worked my way to the entire other end of the apartment-the FRONT DOOR- and never have to unplug because I ran out of cord. Here’s the kicker—the cord is shorter than the cord on my vacuum at home!

The internet people came later on. They rang my doorbell twice and spoke Japanese. I was told by one of my principals not to let them in, but to call her when they got here. When someone comes to my apartment, the security is pretty tight. You have to scan your hand, have a key or the code to get in, otherwise the glass door will not open. When you ring the doorbell a little camera shows the person to me in my room and I can talk to them and decide if I want to let them in or not. It’s pretty cool and very safe. One of the teachers from my school got here fast with a computer man friend to disconnect the internet that Tara and I had been sharing for the past two months…not exactly legal, but I needed internet.

After that was all finished I was starving so I though I would cook some dinner. I decided that tonight was a good night for tacos! My tacos were pretty good, a little salty, but good. I bought the seasoning, sauce, and shells from the import store. I got cheese and lettuce at the supermarket and I even found sour cream! When I opened the sour cream, it was firm, like frozen yogurt. I tasted it and it was SOUR. It is not the same as at home. I couldn’t eat it, it was way too different. After dinner, early bedtime. Ahhh, nice.

Ophanage Visit

2007-09-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

Orphanage Visit
Sunday, September 02, 2007

Today I ventured out on my own for a little trip to an orphanage. I was really having mixed feelings about going since I did not know what to expect or how well the children would be taken care of, but I am so glad that I went and I can’t wait until my next visit.

My adventure started when I had to take the street trolley. I know how to get on, ride it, pay, and get off…but I didn’t exactly know where I was going. I knew which one to get on but I didn’t know how far to ride on it and which stop to get of at. That was the first hurdle I had to jump. I finally showed the trolley driver the email from the person in charge and he figured out that I should get off on the last stop.

I met some people at the stop; they were Western and were going to an orphanage so I knew I had the right group. I recognized a couple of them from previous group outings, although I did not know them well or anything. We chatted until it was time to go.

When we got to the orphanage I saw children just hanging out everywhere. I didn’t expect them to be locked up, but I didn’t know what to expect. It was great. We had brought things to make Filipino shaved ice so we got to work. As we set up, more and more children came around. They were so interested in what we were doing, just like any child, haha.

They children were so cute! They all looked healthy and well taken care of. The building and the people working there were great too. Everyone seemed to take so much pride in their job and they loved these kids. I was worried about what the children would look like (healthy or not, etc.) but I had nothing to worry about. I think I might have more to fear in America.

After we made shaved ice, we ate and played for three hours. We played outside in the hot sun; we played ping pong; we sang karaoke; we played video games. Of course I have a very limited Japanese vocabulary so I could not communicate too well, but I do know many words now and I was able to figure some things out. Also having been in the nursery schools was great for me because I knew many of the Japanese games that these children knew.

The children were fascinated with our cameras and wanted to take pictures. Others wanted to have piggy back rides. A three year old ran up to me and flung his little body into my arms when I waved to him. He just hugged and hugged me and wouldn’t let go. I have a picture of us but it’s on someone else’s camera so I’ll post it later.

I am so glad that I went today. These children are just precious and they need some extra love in their lives. These are not all children who do not have parents; there are some children who have been taken away from their parents for whatever reason. Being there with them, cheering them on while we played games, was something that touched me.

A little Madonna for the kids.

Saturday Night Arcade

2007-09-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday Night Life
Saturday, September 1, 2007

Today proved to be very productive since I lay in the bed most of the day and then just played on my computer afterwards. Tara and I did have dinner plans with some new friends at 6:30 so I ventured to the shower and got ready and then we biked to the station.

The weather seems to have paid attention to the little “Come to Jesus” meeting I had with it…you know the one where you tell it what you want it to do and then it does it? It finally seems to be cooling off a little bit. The mornings and evenings are actually pleasant. We rode to the station and we were not sweating profusely when we got there.

We met our friends at the peach fountain at 6:30. This is a popular spot to meet people here in Okayama. It is right out front of Okayama Station (the big train station downtown). It is always nice to see a group of Westerners. J

We headed off to find food but no one knew of any restaurants. Melissa had heard of a Thai place so we thought we would give it a try. We walked for about ten minutes down to Symphony Hall. I love to go here; it’s like a strip mall. There is a huge bookstore with an English section. If you keep walking past that for awhile you will get to Gucci, Prada, and Channel. Very nice.

There was a very little ally way that we went down and chained up in a doorway was a giant black lab. We went inside this tiny place and up the steepest stairs I have ever climbed. It was ridiculous. Upstairs was a tiny room, and when I say tiny, I mean TINY. There was a long table (shin high) and bean bags and pillows all around it. There were eight of us all together so we all squeezed in. It was snug and cozy but it was really fun.

We ordered many different dishes and then just shared everything. We talked for awhile and just had a great time. I have never really loved Thai food, but this was so good. I would go back here again anytime.

After we paid and left we were not ready to go home. We met a couple more friends and headed toward the karaoke place. In Japan, karaoke is different. You go into a room with the people that you are with and then sing. You don’t get up and sing in a bar or anything. Most of us were game, but there were a few that were not going to sing so when we go there we changed our plans. Next door was a huge arcade. It wasn’t trashy like the ones at home and they had MARIO KART! To play you actually sat in a driver’s seat and used the pedals and steering wheel. The funniest part was that it took your picture and put it on your character. Four people at a time could race each other so we did that for a little while. It’s been two months since I have driven. I’m so embarrassed to admit this, but I honestly was a little rusty on which foot went on which pedal!! haha

Emergency Exit...signs here are ridiculous and make no sense.

MARIO KART
There were a ton of games, but we opted to cram eight people into a photo booth next. It was wild! The booth was really big and it took eight pictures of us. Every picture we took we changed places and acted silly. At the end we got to decorate the pictures with a “Paint” like program. The pictures are hilarious. We each took one home. They were printed on sticker paper too. We had the best time doing this. It was so funny watching eight adults decorate these pictures on the computer.

After the stickers we tried our hand at some other games. We played some intense games of air hockey. Everything was going well until the game shot out three pucks at a time! I started laughing so hard that I thought I wasn’t going to be able to stand up anymore. Tara won. I kept knocking the puck into my own goal…three pucks is just too many!
There was also a game where you played the drums. It was pretty cool. Dennis was playing with the most insane intensity that when he finished, his hand was bleeding! Thank goodness I had a band-aid on hand.
Dennis was tearin' it up...
...and a bloody finger was the result.

These games were great, but the game that I played at the end was the most interesting. I think that we should have it in America. I told them that if all children had this game, maybe there wouldn’t be anymore video game related violence in society…we would all love dogs a little more instead…First you get into the little car. On the screen there is a dog and he is in the car with you. You have to pet and scratch the dog and keep him happy on your car ride. It’s really funny and very different. I actually only played the game to figure out what it was. I’m so glad I did. We were all cracking up as we petted this virtual dog. He would lie down and roll over and things. At the end, a puppy appears with the dog. Weird, huh?

By that time it was close to 11pm so we headed back to the station. Last train is at 12:10 for Tara and me. I’m home now and about to head to bed. I just wanted to tell you all about my game night! Hope your Saturday nights are as fun as mine!

The car and the dogs
Scratching and petting the virtual dog
That puppy loves me.

This is me in a bus game.

Update

2007-08-31T10:50:00.001-07:00

Random
September 1, 2007

It’s been awhile so I thought I should sit down and have a little online chat with everyone…you know, I’ll type and you read. J Life is the same for me here. I wake up every morning and get ready for work. I bike it to the train station and then ride to the next station. It might take 5 minutes, it might take an hour.

My days are filled with singing and dancing and speaking English. I annunciate everything not and I am accused of having a new accent that is terrible…it’s true though, there is no denying it. I hate the way I talk now. I explain everything and I am constantly searching my brain for the easiest, most simple synonyms I can think of to substitute for words that I use in my every day life…but for those who are just learning English, they don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

I have ventured out more. We are getting brave and trying out our Japanese. Tara seems to be learning how to read (she’s up to about 4 or 5 symbols) while I am starting to understand more of the spoken language (I have a nice little vocabulary going). Between the two of us we know a whole lot of nothing and we still need out nerdy e-dictionaries and picture menus. There have been a couple of times though that we have really felt adventurous and gone into a restaurant that did not have a picture menu. That made for a laugh but it was fun and we got food that we could eat with no problem. Immersion is a funny thing.

I have been here for almost two months. I got here on July 7, and today is now September 1. The time flies by so fast sometimes. I have already been on several day trips and ventured around the city. I feel comfortable with my surroundings and I know how to get what I need. I have found the good shops and some fun places to visit. It’s beginning to feel like a home away from home.

I get mail everyday…too bad it’s all junk mail and it’s all written in Japanese. Sometimes the pictures are funny though. Some days I will save it because it makes me laugh. Every couple of weeks I’ll get a card from someone at home. That just makes my day. It’s amazing how a handwritten piece of paper can comfort you. I save all of my letters and cards and I have them here in my apartment.

The weather here has gone from pure fiery hot to manageable the past couple of days. It has been raining so that means migraines but nothing I can’t deal with. I have had a slight accident…go figure.

I was on the escalator at the train station and my flip flop got stuck on the side there the stair and the railing part meet. Anyway, I tripped and stumbled off the escalator and fell onto the pavement. I fell face first, of course, and broke part of my two front teeth. It was quite terrible. I visited the Japanese dentist though. He was very kind but I didn’t understand a word of what he was saying. It was nerve racking. It was pretty much like going to the dentist at home. First an x-ray, then looking, wiggling, etc, then shots to make my mouth numb. Afterwards he sanded the chipped part and put on new tooth stuff. Good as new…but I will be going to my dentist over Christmas just in case.

Well, that’s about it for now. I’m about to go to bed while you are all awake and going about your day. I miss you all. I’d love some letters or phone calls (it doesn’t cost me anything if you call me, nor does it cost you anything either!) Emails are welcome too!

Amanda

805 Axis Ima
4-15-23 Ima
Okayama City
Japan 700-0795

205-316-9348

Fukuyama Amusement Park

2007-08-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

Fukuyama Amusement Park
Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Tara and I were invited to go to an amusement park called Miroku no Sato in Fukayama (one hour away from where we live) with my teachers from Hikari Nursery School. We were not exactly clear on the details; we just knew to bring out swim suits.

It was SO hot by the time we got there and got out of the car. It was like going to Six Flags on the hottest day of the year. I just knew that if I cracked an egg on the pavement, it would fry. As soon as we entered the park, I knew that we were not at Six Flags, nor anything that even resembled it. We ventured across to an area that was full of swimming pools and waterslides. I was so happy to see water. I know that I was about to shrivel up and die if I didn’t get wet fast. We put our stuff down on the grass under some umbrellas that they had rented and headed towards the pools.

There were many different pools in the area. One was small for little children, one was waist deep, and one was a little deeper. One pool had a huge bubble in the middle of it that you could climb on to the top and then bounce down, and then there were three waterslides.

One waterslide was for a huge tube/raft that you sat in. The other two were for you to lie on your back and just slide down feet first. One was covered and the other was not. The covered one was intense! There was a huge drop off and when I got to the bottom, I had to readjust my bathing suit before I could get up! The water had made it change positions! haha The uncovered waterslide was pretty cool. When I got to the bottom I hit the water hard. It was so much fun…so much fun that I didn’t notice the sunburn that was creeping up on my shoulders through the sunscreen.
Places to rent and sit in the shade
Umbrellas to rent and sit

The climbing/bouncing pool

Some of the teachers had brought their children so we played with them and we just hung out and had a great time. One difference between Japan and America is that in America you get to the pool and you take OFF your clothes, get down to your bathing suit, and get in the water. In Japan the people were putting clothes on OVER their bathing suits! They were swimming in their bathing suits, shorts, and long sleeve shirts and lightweight jackets. In Japan it is considered beautiful to be fair skinned while in America everyone wants to be tan.

After awhile we were starving. We had a picture menu and opted for fries and a hotdog looking thing that I knew to be sausage. We were also given octopus. I had eaten once before and it was weird, not my favorite but I tried it again. After Tara tried it we decided to see what was actually inside of this fried little ball. BIG mistake. We both wanted to throw up. You could actually see the suction cups on chopped up tentacles. I have been pretty adventurous so far with my food…but NO MORE octopus. I seriously thought I was going to be sick.
Lunch
Dissection
Gross

After swimming a little bit more, we left the water park and went for the rides. It was about a million degrees and this was no Six Flags. No water rides or anything to cool you off while you walked around or anything. Actually, there wasn’t much walking to do…very few rides. We went on the pirate ship ride that swings the ship back and forth. We sat on the very end so we would go really high. Some little Japanese girls were sitting with us and we got them to put their hands in the air and do it American style. It was cute. Next we went on the roller coaster. It was like a baby rollercoaster though…I sat in the front with Tara and she videoed the ride on the camera. We rode with our hands in the air and the teachers thought we were nuts. They wouldn’t last an hour at our theme parks! The system of riding rides was more like a fair. You paid money for tickets and then each ride was three tickets. We only rode those two rides but that was okay with me. There was no shade left anywhere so we headed off to something new.
Pirate Ship (Tara's favorite)
We wandered over to take a self guided took a tour of what life was like in “old Japan” back before the war. It was pretty cool. They had a big part of the park set up like Japan in the old days…old shops, streets, etc. We walked around and looked at the different “cities.” It looked a lot like it does now, but I can’t read or understand Japanese so I missed a lot while I was walking around.
Old shoe store
Old toy store

After our fun filled day, we headed back to the train station. We were so worn out. I have never been able to sleep on the train before but I almost did today. As we rode for an hour, I smashed my head against the window in a most uncomfortable position and thought about how great it would be to get in my bed as soon as I got home.

Shodoshima Island

2007-08-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

Shodoshima Island
Sunday, August 12, 2007

We got up early today and went to the train station where we were going to be picked up by some of the teachers at one of my schools. We were going on a day trip to Shodoshima Island. I was pretty excited about this because we had been talking about it for a couple of weeks. They had given me the lowdown on all of the things there were to do on the island. I really needed to vacation there for a week to take it all in but that will have to be done another time.

We drove for a little while until we were at the bay (I guess) on the edge of my city, Okayama. We bought tickets for a ferry and then drove the car onto the ferry. The ferry ride was about 90 minutes so we just chilled out and talked. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of so many trips back home, although I have never taken a ferry with a car on it before. Two of the teachers brought their children so we played with them and looked out at the water and all that jazz.

Our ferry

Moe driving the ferry.
Soy Sauce Museum

When we got to the island we all loaded back up into the cars and drove off of the ferry onto the road. Sweet little ride, if I do say so myself. We drove over to the Soy Sauce Museum. In the museum I learned that there are five different types of soy sauce. I also learned about how soy sauce is made. Maybe I’ll try that back in my classroom when I get home…Dianne might think I had really lost my mind. haha We got some fun pictures and had a great time. At the end was a souvenir shop. Guess what I got…yes, soy sauce. Right next to the museum is the soy sauce factory where they produce it. Not a great smell in the air but an interesting place nonetheless. We went over to a little ice cream stand after that and bought, you guessed it, soy sauce soft cream (say that three times fast)! It was really sweet, like caramel. It was actually pretty good.

Teachers in the barrel.

Peace--we peace in every picture!
Where Tara and I sleep at our apartments.

We are making some soy sauce.
Soy sauce soft cream

Next we twisted and turned and pulled over a lot to let cars pass as we drove over to another tourist attraction. This time we were going to an old elementary school building where a movie had been filmed. The movie was called 24 Eyes. It was about a teacher and her 12 students during WWII. While Japan was telling everyone to fight for their country, this teacher just kept on teaching and educating her children. She ended up getting into a lot of trouble. I want to see the movie. I can’t find much about it online but I will find it somehow. Funny though how you could buy everything at these souvenir shops except the movie. Hmmm…American marketing would come in handy.

24 Eyes movie poster

This is a map of 24 Eyes.
Something about 24 Eyes.
The teacher and her 12 students.
Tara and I are taking a break in a boat.
You could feed the giant ugly fish for 100 yen.

The school house was really neat. It was old but in good condition and had some of the cameras and lighting equipment inside of it still from filming. There were statues of the teacher and students outside. As we were looking at all of this, we realized how close to the shore we were. So close that we could walk right to it. Tara and I walked out there and climbed up on some rocks and felt the ocean water as it hit us. It was so beautiful. I can’t describe the intense feeling that I had. It was gorgeous and I took a lot of pictures but they didn’t do the beauty of the island justice. There was something about being at this place that just made me feel so peaceful and happy. I wish everyone could have seen it through my eyes.

In the old school house classroom.
There is some of the lighting equipment still in there.

Here I am...sort of looking "special" if you know what I mean. I don't care, a wave hit me in the back and got me all wet and I jumped forward. It was great! See how happy I am?

We ate lunch at a little restaurant that only served noodles. Yes, I had to take my shoes off, and yes I sat on the floor. I don’t know how to spell what I ate but I can say it. It was a bowl of thin noodles in ice water. You got them out with your chopsticks and dipped them in a special sauce (like soy sauce) and then ate them. The Japanese people slurp everything here and I can’t stand it. All I can think about is how if I had done that at home I would have been reprimanded for bad table manners.

After lunch and gift shops we went winding around the mountain on the island until I swear we were at the very top. We went to see these monkeys. You climb to the top of a mountain and there are all of these Japanese monkeys everywhere…I mean EVERYWHERE! They are not in cages, just at home in their natural habitat. You don’t want to have any food on you though or these bad boys will get vicious. In theory, this sounds like a great idea; in reality it is really creepy. I was just walking around and there were monkeys everywhere. Not sweet little “oooh, oooh, aaah, aaah” ones either. These things were hissing at each other, chasing each other, biting and snapping at each other. I thought they might, “think I was something good to eat,” and try to eat me too but they didn’t. They did get really close to you though. They were inches from me. My pictures look like I used the zoom but I didn’t. I have never been frightened of monkeys, although after today I will think twice about them and their cuteness. While we were standing there looking at the monkeys, a huge deer walked out of the woods and just starting eating. Even though all of the humans were around, it felt perfectly safe coming out. I felt like I was on some bizarre episode of Animal Planet.

I'm pretty sure this sign says something about how the monkeys will jump on you when you least expect it.

They were all just sitting there...waiting...
A little monkey family.
Mama and baby
Grooming
The deer...that was so weird!

After leaving Monkey Mountain we heading to a gift shop and then rode back to the ferry. We have a 90 minute ride back and we were so tired so we just chilled out as we cruised home. When we got back into the city we were hungry so they took us out to dinner at a little pasta café by our apartment. Apart from more slurping action, it was so delicious! The green tea sherbet for dessert was a bit of a shocker when I was expecting lime. haha Home was the next stop and straight to bed. What a fabulous day!

Osaka

2007-08-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Osaka, Japan
Friday, August 10, - Saturday, August 11, 2007

This week seemed like it took forever and I was so tired after work. I really wanted to go home and go to bed for the entire five day holiday but Clo and I were going to Osaka tonight. I was really excited about going and Clo had been there before and is an excellent tour guide and so I couldn’t pass up the trip. This would be one of our last Japanese outings together because she is going back to the States on Wednesday.

I finally got home from the train station, grabbed my bag (which consisted of my toothbrush, a little hairbrush, contact stuff, a tiny bit of makeup, and a change of clothes—I pack light these days!), grabbed Clo (who had bought me dinner, yea Clo!), and we went to the big train station. We were going to ride the Shinkansen (the bullet train…it goes really fast) to Osaka which would get us there in an hour as opposed to taking local trains and taking a few hours.

Arriving in Osaka was like arriving in New York compared to what I am used to around here. Everything is fast paced and there were so many more people. It was hotter than Okayama too. We jumped on the subway for a short ride into the city. When we got into the actual city we were greeted with SO many shops and people and lights. It was awesome. I was so tired and I didn’t think I could walk anymore but I was so excited to be there that I just followed Clo through the streets. We walked around for a little while until we got to the hotel that we were staying in. It was a capsule hotel and was super cheap. It was 2700 yen a night which is a little less than $27.

When you walk into the hotel you take your shoes off (like everywhere in Japan). And put them in a shoe locker. You give the key to the people at the desk and they hold on to it for you. After you pay, you get a key to the women’s area (it is locked at all times) and you get a locker key. There was free internet in the lobby and pay phones by the front desk. Women sleep downstairs and men sleep upstairs. We went downstairs and into the women’s area. The whole place was really clean and well cared for. In the locker room I opened my locker. There was a pair of the world’s smallest pajamas, a couple of towels, and some hangers.

In another room there were sinks and mirrors what lined the walls. At each sink there was soap, lotion, new toothbrushes in packages, etc. There were chairs too so you could sit down and get ready. They had hair dryers and brushes and combs. The brushes and combs were in one of those sanitary things that clean and disinfect. It looks like an oven with a florescent light in it…they have them at dentist offices to clean the instruments.

There was a resting room with chairs and magazines. There was also a treadmill and a massage chair that you could pay to use. In another room was a TV and some tables. There was also a vending machine and two washer/dryers. Off of that room was a sauna and the restrooms. The only complaint I have (in general in Japan) is that you can smoke just about anywhere. At home you can’t smoke inside at most places anymore. Here, everyone smokes everywhere. The TV room was smoky and gross. The next morning I woke up with a migraine from the smoke. Not how I wanted to start the day.

Now the beds… This is a huge treat and it was hilarious to see these things and think that I was going to be sleeping in one. Clo insisted that I take the top bunk for my first capsule hotel visit. Have you even had an MRI? You have to get in the little tube? That’s what this was like except way bigger. I could lie down all the way and stretch out. I could sit straight up. I could roll over. It was awesome. Inside the “capsule” was a TV and a little air conditioner (like the ones on an airplane), a mirror, a shelf, some places to hang things, a chock, etc. It was so much fun. There was no door on this bad boy, you had to pull down a straw mat type thing (like a shade) to cover your “room.” There was a little mattress (like an inch thick) and sheets, blankets, and a pillow. I felt like a caterpillar going to sleep in a cocoon.

These are the two that we slept in. I was on top.

The bed

The straw mat door (and my feet)
Good morning!!
It's really not a tight squeeze or anything.

After my tour from Clo, we locked our stuff up and then headed out to downtown Osaka to see the lights. They were so pretty. There was so much neon that I just didn’t know what to do. Wow! We walked around for a little while and then we headed back to the hotel to go to bed.

Osaka at night
A little neon
More Osaka at night

I did find the Kate Spade store!! You should know of my obsession with Kate if you know me very well. Walking in was like being in America. It smelled like Kate Spade, just thinking about it makes me so happy. Finally Clo made me leave because if we had stayed for very much longer she was going to buy something and she didn’t need to do that.

This picture is a little tricky. It says Kate Spade New York but we are really in Japan! :)

The next morning we turned into butterflies and shed the cocoon. We had a long day of shopping ahead of us so we headed out around 10. The stores don’t open until them. After checking out we were starving so we walked to find some breakfast. We went to McDonald. It was funny to be there in Japan. The menu is pretty much the same and I got pancakes. The only big difference here is that the drinks are tiny. You pay about the same amount as at home and get the same food, but you get a drink that is four inches tall. That’s not even enough to swallow a vitamin! AND no refills. It’s like that everywhere…tiny drinks. It is healthier though except when I want a big glass of water and they hand me that tiny cup. I want to show them the American sizes!

American breakfastHere is my regular sized drink. That would not fly at home.

Breakfast was delicious but shopping was better. Seven hours of shopping in Osaka…just glorious! Many of the shops are for clothes and since I can’t wear any of the clothes I skip those (saves tons of money). We did find a few cute shops that sold Japanesey stuff and I picked up a few gifts. I don’t think I bought anything for me while I was in Osaka. I kept finding things that people at home HAD to have!! Actually, I just bought a couple of gifts (for birthdays) and looked at a ton of stuff. It was great.

We shopped and shopped. We went all over the streets and in and out of shops. My feet were killing me but I was in heaven. We went in a Hello Kitty store that was three floors! It was amazing. I am in the Hello Kitty motherland here. Ever since I was probably two years old when Mom took me into Sanrio Surprises and let me but something, I have loved that cat. Every trip to the mall required a trip to the “Hello Kitty Store” as we called it. Oh, those were the days and then the stores closed. That was a sad day for all of us. L But now, here in Japan, I see Hello Kitty everywhere. I just hope the rest of the world understands how great Hello Kitty is and when you all get a Hello Kitty present from me, you better cherish it! haha

At the end of our day we went back home. The Shinkansen was packed and I had to stand up. No worries though, I made it home and then to bed. I was so tired but so happy with Osaka. I can’t wait to go back there again!

Me, Hello Kitty, and Clo
Notice that I have a bag. Someone is getting a present!!

I am going to buy this huge Hello Kitty. I must have her for my collection.
Red, yellow, blue...all lovely little kitties.
I'm not quite sure about this one. The Hello Kitty head with crossbones freak me out a little.
Did you know that Hello Kitty got married?? Yes, to DANIEL Kitty!!!
What would you do without my knowledge of Hello Kitty guiding you through life?

Okayama Fireworks

2007-08-16T05:19:00.001-07:00

Okayama Fireworks
Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Today started out with us being forgotten. Tara and I arrived at our station, got on the train, and got off at our stop. We are always greeted by our driver. He waits for us by the platform and waves and then we walk to the van together and he opens the doors and makes sure we are in and everything. Today we arrived and he wasn’t there. We waited and waited…I called the principal and she tried to call him. We waited and waited some more…no sign of him. Finally the principal came and picked us up. The driver, we found out later, had just forgotten us. Thanks man.

I finish work on Wednesdays at 12:00. I headed off to Okayama because I wanted to do some shopping. I had some birthday presents to buy and I was going to be in downtown Okayama later that night so there was no point in going home then going right back to town. Anyway, I met Clo downtown and we shopped and got some lunch. We hit all of our favorite shops but I was not really succeeding in my birthday shopping. I did find an ant farm though and who can possibly live without an ant farm??? It was one of those cool ones that are made of gel and you put it all together and then the ants tunnel through the gel. One of the kids in my class had one last year and I have wanted one ever since. So, many stores and one ant farm later we headed back towards the station.

I had all of my school bags with me and they were getting pretty heavy so I grabbed a locker at the train station. Then we went in to wait for Tara and the other people that we were meeting. While we were waiting, Clo and I were looking out over the city. We were talking about this and that when Clo said, “It’s going to be another Kurashiki.” I completely didn’t understand what she was talking about until as I turned to look at her and I saw a man coming towards us. He was holding his watch up at eye level, dangling it between his fingers. He was trying to say something to us but there was just no way I was having that today. We immediately just turned around and walked away before he could get up to us but then he started following us. We were weaving in and out of people and he was doing the same. We sprinted a little bit into a shop and we lost him. Clo said that she never had people come up to her until she started hanging out with me. She thinks it’s my hair and eyes (she has brown hair and brown eyes). I am about ready to send for a bottle of black hair dye and some brown contacts! haha

It was finally time to meet everyone so we checked to see if the coast was clear and we went downstairs to the fountain. We met up with everyone in front of the fountain and then caught a trolley thing to where the fireworks were. The streets were lined on bother sides with food tents like at City Stages. In the middle of the street people were all walking around. It was so packed and SO hot. We broke free from the crowd and found a spot to watch the fireworks. They were so awesome. They lasted from 7:00pm-9:30pm. They were gorgeous and just went on and on. I got some great pictures and a couple of little videos on my camera.

Everyone was dressed up in their summer kimonos (yukata…probably not spelled right) and they just looked beautiful. I wanted to take pictures of everyone all dressed up but I thought that might be creepy.

After the fireworks we headed over to a little bar that is where the foreigners hang out. It was pretty cool to walk in and see people who looked like me! I am so used to seeing Japanese people that when I see a Westerner I get all excited because I think about speaking English and actually understanding what someone else is saying! We hung out for about 30 minutes and then had to catch our train home. I did meet a huge man who told me (in Japanese) that I was a pretty blonde girl. I think he might have been a sumo wrestler and he was all decked out in his summer kimono. I took my picture with him though. Enjoy!! J

Me and Clo at the Aussie Bar
Me, Clo, Vasco, and Tara doing the "perfect picture" pose at the Aussie Bar
My Japanese boyfriend. Shhh, don't tell Dima! :) Just kidding!

Kurashiki Outing

2007-08-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

Kurashiki Outing
Sunday, August 5, 2007

Today was Sunday and it was so hot. We wanted to do something and not waste the day but it was one of those days where you think that your skin if going to melt off if you go outside because of the heat. I am used to it since I am from Alabama and all but at the same time I will never be used to it.

We went to Kurashiki to sight see. We hit up some shopping places on the way and then went into the old town part. It was really pretty. It reminded me of Helen, Georgia…the little streets/walkways that you wind your way around and every shop sells souvenir type items. Beside the walkways there is a little stream and some bridges that go over it. There are little steps that go down into the water but I would not want to touch it…it looks pretty dirty. There is a lone swan that patrols the water. She glides from one end to the other checking everything out.

On the sides of the streets there were some people who had set up shop. They were selling jewelry and things. We went in a few of the shops and found some interesting things, but mainly a lot of junk that tourists would by. I am not a tourist anymore. I am actually a resident. I have an Okayama City ID card now and I am officially here to stay for the year. Anyway, the point is that I can decipher between tourist junk and really cool stuff.

We walked around Kurashiki for awhile and we found an awesome little toy shop. The toys were from all over the world. I found some things that I would love to have in my classroom. I found some beautiful clocks from Japan that I wanted but they were WAY out of my price range.

We found an ice cream stand and the headed home. It was too hot to do anything else. On the way home I introduced Tara to the 100 yen store in Nakosho and to Hard Off (the second hand shop). Then we went home to plan lessons and get ready for the next week of school and teaching. Busy, busy.

a Kurashiki street
water view
water view
A bridge over the water
A Kurashiki street
This is the view of the city from the train station.
Clo and me shopping from someone set up on the street.
A man was pulling people around in this cart. He was insane. It was way too hot. I hope they were paying him well.
The sign at the train station.
a Kurashiki street

Open College Presentation

2007-08-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

Open College Presentation
Saturday, August 4, 2007

I was asked by Mr. Kato and Kyoko to do a 20 minute presentation at the college today. They were having Open College for high school students to come in and tour the college and the programs that it offers. The presentation that I was part of included me doing a picture walk and reading Mrs. Wishy-Washy, doing some choral reading with the high school students, and then a question/answer section. It was quite hilarious actually. The high school students were not really quite sure what to think of me. They also did not understand what I was saying so it was funny to watch their expressions.

After I finished reading and doing my part, a college student came out dressed as Mrs. Wishy-Washy. She read the book in Japanese. She was too funny. Afterwards some of the other college students did Old McDonald in Japanese. One read the book and then many of them came out and did the song and a little dance. It was cute. They were supposed to be showing extensions of big books.

I think about all of the big books that we have in America. There are so many that I use in the classroom for lessons. In Japan there are only three that have been translated into Japanese. Mrs. Wishy-Washy is one of these of course and so everything here is all Mrs. Wishy-Washy.

I’m too tired to think about anything else that has to do with this so I am finished writing now. I am waiting for pictures from the presentation. Kyoko took them and is supposed to email them to me so I’ll post them when I get them.

Welcome Dinner

2007-08-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome Dinner, Fukayama City
Friday, August 3, 2007

So I woke up this morning and was really hoping that the typhoon would still be hovering over my city. I wanted it to be so windy that the trains could not run, at least for a few hours so that I could sleep in. That was not in the plans though so I got up to get ready. This morning was a little bit more tricky than usual. I have gotten to where I just roll out of bed, jump in the shower, dress, and walk out the door. I don’t bother drying my hair or putting on makeup anymore because the heat just messes it all up. Today was different because I have to go to a dinner tonight where Tara and I are the honorees. I had to go straight from work to the dinner too, no time to go home and shower and change so I had to try and get ready as much as possible at 8:00 in the morning for a 6:00pm dinner. Right…

I actually dried and straightened my hair. It was so happy until I stepped outside and then it decided that it once again hated me for bringing it to Japan. I was loaded down with bags (supplies and books for school and lessons, clothes for dinner, gifts for the people at dinner, etc.) and then, in the wonderful words of David Shannon, “The rain came down.” There was no way I was walking to the train station in that and there was no way I was going to try to balance myself on a bike so I called Mama Naoko to come pick me up and drive me to the train.

After FINALLY getting to my stop (an hour’s ride on the train later) and hauling all of that junk with me (I miss my car and red wagon) I was at school. School went fast because I had to combine the teacher lessons and leave early to go to dinner.

Dinner was fun. I love talking to everyone about Japan and home. We ate some really weird food and I was not too excited about the raw fish in my salad so I just didn’t eat it. When I say raw fish, I mean long skinny pieces of raw fish, not just small things. Also many sardine looking things were in there to, just starting at me. Masayuki is great though (my Thursday principal). He saw that I did not think the fish were especially cute so he got me a regular salad without any fuss. He is very thoughtful about things like that.

We ate and ate and ate. I think maybe 7 courses…very small portions like the rest of Japan, but fine dining none the less. At the end we took pictures. Not the kind of pictures that you would casually stand around in either. These were the real deal. We pulled out chairs and sat together like a family portrait. On the way home we rode in the car with Yoko, Naoko, and Yumi. They took us to a couple of hot spots by our house for us to see (Mr. Donut and a store called Humpty Dumpty…I like that store a lot!).

Try and pick Tara and me out of the pictures. It’s pretty hard because we really blend in.

This is a picture of all of us, family portrait style. It all started with Tara and me wanting to take our picture together and turned into a full blown affair. All of these people are the principals and head teachers at most of our school (some did not attend). Also Mr. and Mrs. Kato. (Mr. Kato is beside me, Mrs. Kato is two down from Tara, on the end.)

By the way, do you see how my hair hates me and Japan?

Typhoon #2 and Kitchen Disaster

2007-08-13T00:29:00.000-07:00

Typhoon Number Two
Thursday, August 2, 2007

I love my mornings because they are for my lessons with the children. After that I eat lunch for an hour and then have lessons for the teachers and principals in the afternoons. Here is the schedule for the children’s lessons:
Monday and Tuesday: two 5 year old classes
Wednesday: one 3 year old class, one 4 and 5 year old mixed class
Thursday: one 3 year old class (10 minutes of songs), one 4 year old class, two 5 year old classes
Friday: one 3 year old class (10 minutes of songs), two 4 year old classes, one 5 year old class

Thursday was easy cheesy because in rolled a typhoon. I don’t know what it is about me and Japan, but I am completely bringing in the natural disasters it seems like. As soon as I got here there was that huge typhoon that first week. Then right after that there was that disastrous earthquake up in northern Japan. Thank goodness it didn’t do anything here, but it was really bad for up there. Then a little later there was another bad earthquake and now another typhoon. I just take cover and follow directions like a pro and try to stay out of Mother Nature’s way.

So far I have learned that if there is a typhoon you stay inside because signs might blow off of buildings and hit you in the head. Now, imaging a Japanese person who speaks VERY little English acting that out so that you will understand. Quite comical. I asked about getting to the lowest point, away from windows in tornado position, etc. Nope, you don’t do that here. Just stay inside and you will be okay and live to tell about it tomorrow.

I am not sure about the earthquakes though. No one can seem to tell me what to do. I am just going with the old Saved by the Bell info where Slater gets into the door frame while the school is shaking. You remember, right? He is standing there in a towel because he just came from football practice or something and he was in the locker room. You know, admit it. You were just as much a follower as I was and if you were flipping channels today and you saw it on you would stop and watch the whole episode. You can even sing the theme song. HA

So, back to Thursday. I taught my lessons with the children, ate lunch, and then had a teacher lesson. The wind was blowing so hard that the trees were bending over and touching their leaves to the ground. The kids were wild so I know we were in for a treat. Since I had to ride the train for an hour to get home, we were paying close attention to the weather. The wind kept getting stronger so they were going to shut down the trains early. I got to leave the school a couple of hours early and go on home. That was nice.

To celebrate my early departure we went out to dinner. This time the ‘we’ included Tara as well as Clo and me. Tara is the new teacher that will be teaching in the schools with me. We are split between seven nursery schools, the principals, some children, and the professors for lessons.

During the course of dinner, Mama Naoko called. She wanted to come over and check our balconies to make sure that nothing was on them because of the typhoon. It did not matter how many times I told her that they were clear, she still insisted on coming over to check. I finally gave up and told her that we would call her when we left dinner so that she could come over. Poor Tara is on week one and is not used to the VIP treatment. She just wants some space to relax and settle in…not going to get it though!

After dinner we went back to the apartment. Naoko came over and saw that we were safe from the wind potentially whipping onto our balconies and stealing our stuff to throw out onto the street. She also brought me a toaster. I am so pumped about that. I almost had the most unfortunate event happen last night when I tried to cook…

I don’t like gas stoves. In fact, I hate them with a passion. They scare me. I have electric at home. Mom loves her gas but I like my electric. So I decided to toast an English muffin in the oven and I tried to turn it on but it didn’t work. All of a sudden all I could smell was gas. I kind of freaked out a little because I didn’t want to die. I turned off the gas under the stove and ran out of the apartment. I knew I was smelling gas because it was giving me a headache but I didn’t want to become used to the smell and then die so I called Tara. She was asleep so she didn’t answer. I went back in the house and opened the balcony door and turned on the fan and called Naoko and she came right over.

The gas smell was gone by the time she got here. I must have just held down the thing too long and let the gas out but she thought it was best if she bought me an electric toaster after I explained my HUGE fear of gas to her. I will use the stove, but under adult supervision. That totally stinks though because I have found some stuff that’s so great to cook. I need my electric stove back.

Shin Kurashiki: Texas Hold 'Em

2007-08-12T23:56:00.000-07:00

Shin Kurashiki: Texas Hold ‘Em Night
Saturday, July 28, 2007

After the Futaba Summer Festival I biked home and Clo and I walked to the train station. We hopped on the train and went to Shin Kurashiki. It was my first time to go here. We were going to go see some of Clo’s friends and play some poker…American style. When we got to the train station we met Phil. We all got a cab together and rode to Carrie’s house. Phil and Carrie are from Whales. I decided that Phil sounded a lot like Harry Potter. I called him Harry all night. It was great. I picked up a lot of British jargon. I was all about eating the “crisps” and talking about the “blokes.” We played poker for a few hours. We were not playing for real money but if we had been I would have made a killing. All those years I spent watching the grown ups play around the dining room table at MamMaw’s…and then when I finally got to play…MAN, I was on fire! Haha

When we had to leave to catch the last train we realized that none of us knew how to call a cab so we had to walk back to the train station. It was a long walk and I wasn’t amused but we had to get back somehow.

I wish Phil and Carrie were going to be here this year but they are going home. They were such a trip. They had been dating for about four years so just the way they talked to the other was hysterical to me. I would just laugh and laugh. Of course they would laugh at me because I thought Phil was Harry Potter and I thought that everything they said was the greatest. I love their accents! No pictures here, sorry. Photography is not allowed during the poker championships (Go America!!). I’m sure you knew that though. J

Futaba Nursery School Summer Festival

2007-08-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Futaba Nursery School Summer Festival
Saturday, July 28, 2007

The day started with a brunch at Caty’s. This is a super good restaurant in Nakosho. I like to go here to get a little taste of Western food but Japanese style. I am sure I have written about it before but…here I go again. Today was the first time I had experienced the brunch. Japan sure loves their eggs and if you even KNOW me, you know of my aversion to eggs. I tried them again today just to make sure…and nope, my tastes are still the same. I ate some salad and the tiniest hash brown I have ever seen in my life.

Welcome to Japan: Home of Small Portions!

We (Clo and I, who else?) went to her apartment and packed her up. She will be leaving Japan in a couple of weeks so she is getting her stuff ready to be shipped home. We did stop off at a convenie (convenience store) and grabbed a drink. We grabbed some weird looking blue thing with a pirate on the bottle. We thought we would live wild today. When we tasted it we almost gagged. We thought at first that we had grabbed a strange wine cooler or something. No, it was just a really disgusting kid’s drink. We were so hot though that we drank them. And no, we did not turn into pirates. L

After the packing I headed home. I had to get cleaned up to go to another nursery school function. Tonight another nursery school was having their Summer Festival and I said that I would go. They love it when the American goes to the events. J I love it because the feed me and treat me like a superstar. I rode my bike to the school and since I knew I would probably be introduced I dressed super stylish. No, wait, I didn’t. I dressed super comfortable because of the heat.

When I got there I was given the VIP treatment again. I did not mind one bit because it was HOT outside. I went around and got food. There was a lot of food like the last festival so I ate the barbeque and the sausage thing again. Then the fun started because the principals insisted that I drink Japanese adult beverages. I was a little taken aback because we were at a school function and there were children all around and I just didn’t feel right about it. They were like, “No, no, you drink.” It was crazy but hey, when in Rome… I also ate octopus. I asked if it was endangered because I thought that it had to be wrong in some way… Their answer was, “No, it’s not dangerous.” I gave up and just ate it. Please don’t anyone let Toni Brown see this. She would kill me.

The teachers did The Golden Goose for the children and it was really good. The parents and children were all into it. After that it was time to dance. For some reason I was expected to dance too. Keep in mind that these are traditional dances and things that everyone knows the movements too. Um… I said that I didn’t know how to do them (hey, I’m not opposed or anything, but I don’t know what to do). They told me to just dance anyway. “Yes Ma’am,” I said. I was out there with my 5 year old class dancing it up. My arms and legs were just going everywhere a few steps behind the kids but I managed to do everything pretty well. No one fell over and no children were harmed so I think it went okay. Haha I wish I had pictures of me dancing with the children. They liked to watch Amanda Sensei! After the dancing, the festival was over and everyone cleared out. Off I went too. I had poker night to attend.

Kurashiki

2007-08-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Wednesday is my short day. I get finished with work at 1 and then come home. Today I went with Clo to Kurashiki. She is taking me around the city and trying to show me everything before she leaves to go home. I appreciate it. I like the guided tours by a veteran; it’s really nice!

We got off the train and walked around close by. We were meeting her friend there and he was supposed to be on a train that was coming soon so we didn’t want to go far. We went al looked out over the city. There are MANY more lights here than at my train station stop. There is a little amusement park there called Tivoli Park. It looks very impressive in the dark. It is all lit up and the rides and buildings are outlined in lights. It’s pretty. I was thinking about Six Flags when Clo gave me the lowdown about this park. It’s apparently not as cool as I though, haha. It has a couple of rides and you pay a ton of money to get in. I think I’ll just look at it. I did take some pictures though so you can see.

So we are standing there looking at it and all, keep in mind that this is a Wednesday night, and there are some interesting things going on around us. Some people are down below and it looks like they are drinking from the fountain. While we are watching them, people are swarming around us enjoying the summer air. An old man comes up to us and decides to stand next to me and speak to Clo and me in English. I about jumped over the railing. He talks, we ignore. He keeps talking, we look the other way. He talks more, ‘Where are you from? etc.’ and we walk off. He then says sorry to disturb us.

I just don’t understand. So far, no one in Japan wants to talk to me. Maybe they are just interested because I look different or whatever and everyone here looks the say. In America everyone looks different so I don’t think about it but I just don’t think that EVEN IF everyone looked the same I’d walk up to the one person who was different and try to strike up a conversation. I don’t talk to strangers in America; I’m not going to start talking to them here!

After that we walked around the city to find food. We saw many interesting shops and people. I love how everyone is so polite and, no, wait…that’s not true. They will RUN with their bicycles! While searching for a restaurant we passed an establishment that is just not fit to talk about in an email. I will leave it to your own imagination but I will say that there were many ladies and gentlemen were dropping them out in from of this place. Hmm, maybe it was like a dorm where they all lived. Yeah right.

We ate at a local little place. It was tiny and reminded me of a tiny version of Billy’s in English Village. It was so cute. We ordered food and chatted mostly about “Amanda in Japan.” It was a good time, very relaxing and I could say whatever I wanted because they understood. It made me miss hanging out with my friends at home. After dinner we just chatted forever. Finally we had to leave to catch trains to go home. I knew I was going to be tired but I was so happy to have had a fun time and feel at home in a new place.

The walk home from the train station was eventful. Clo and I saw two kids (one maybe 2 years old and the other in the lower teens) walking down the road. It was after 11pm at night so we found that extremely odd. The next thing was that we found a man in the road sleeping. This was not a bum, but a well dressed man. He was lying on the side of the road with his bike next to him. He was completely asleep. We woke him up and asked if he was okay…but WOW, he was drunk. He waved us off and continued to sleep there in his business clothes. Wednesday night mind you! I never would have thought…

That was the end of our evening. Home for me and in the bed. Makes you want to come to Japan, huh? You need to see this stuff for yourself!! J

Cathing You Up

2007-08-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

Get in the spirit! I found Dobby at the store in Japan!! Also Harry Potter was delivered to me and I am halfway through it. NO SPOILING OR I WILL HATE YOU.

Since the last time I have written there has been so much that has happened. I have just been so tired when I walk in the door at night. I drop my bags in the floor, check email, and head straight to the bed. Here is the first of a few posts that will catch you up on my life here in Japan.

After the summer festival, I went home. I felt better from the migraine but I still didn’t feel great. I think my body was trying to tell me to slow down and take a rest, but it didn’t register in my brain. I was still on that high from being in a new place. I lost it that night. I just cried and cried. Casey received the phone call. It was probably about 8pm here Saturday but 6am in Alabama. I was like, “WAKE UP!! I NEED TO COME HOME!!” Looking back on it, I laugh and laugh. She advised me to go to sleep and it would be better once the other teacher arrived in a week. Right now I was just lonely.

Great advice! I am so glad that I didn’t try to truck it to the airport (hours away, mind you). The next day I slept late and then Clo called and asked if I wanted to eat lunch. I went and then she took me downtown and we found America by way of GAP and Starbucks. It’s amazing what a little retail therapy can do for you! Since that day, I have hung out with Clo everyday. It has been so nice to find someone who knows what it is like to be in a new place and knowing no one.

Over the next week I taught everyday and did lessons. The rainy season was still going on…rain all day, a nice steady drizzle. It was enough to depress anyone who walked outside. I needed SUN!!! Tuesday morning, I woke up and went to the train station. When one of the teachers picked me up she told me that it was over, no more rainy season! I was so happy! Since then it has been like an Alabama summer…with more humidity (if you can imagine). And the Japanese don’t seem to sweat! They don’t use air much and I am DYING, just about to pass out from the heat, and they are running around (literally) in the hot sun. I don’t know what the deal is.

Let’s seem, my plans from the last week and a half have been…Monday: teach and sleep; Tuesday: teach and sleep; Wednesday: teach and then I went to downtown Okayama and then to Kurashiki; Thursday: teach and sleep; Friday: teach and hang out at home with Clo; Saturday: go to Nakacho and then to Futaba Summer Festival then Poker night in Shin Kurashiki; Sunday: go to down town Okayama shopping; Monday: teach and Tara came to Japan; Tuesday: teach and went to city office to pick up my foreigner card; Wednesday (today): teach and LONG nap!!

I hope everyone is doing well at home. I miss you all. PLEASE email me and let me know what is going on!

Amanda

Tomiyama Nursery School Summer Festival

2007-07-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday in Japan proved to be just as exciting, even when my plans were just to go to one of the nursery school’s summer festivals. I had a migraine from the rainy weather and I was really not looking forward to going out in the heat and mugginess, but I said that I would go so I went. When people pick me up from the apartment, they typically don’t speak too much English so after the initial, “Hello, how are you?” The rest of the ride is usually in silence. Today was exactly the same.

I always feel like I have this VIP status everywhere I go with any of the school people. I was greeted at the back door by the principal, shuffled in, given a chair in the air conditioned office. Immediately I was offered my choice of beverages. I offered to help in any way I could but no way would they have that. People were running around, sweating to death. I felt terrible while I just sat there in the office watching. After awhile I was given a guided tour of the events and then led back to the office and seated to be briefed on the schedule of what would take place and when. Next I was asked what I would like to eat, even if I wouldn’t like it they were going to bring it to me so that I could at least look at it. I was also told by the principal that she was going to be giving a welcome speech. She wanted me to come with her so that she could introduce me and I could wave. Until then, I was to sit in the office in the air.

About thirty minutes later I was summoned to go to the speech. After she introduced me I waved like I was supposed to. I smiled too (for good measure). Haha She grabbed my arm and told me to say something short. Uhhh…What was I supposed to say? Also, if I had known I was going to be speaking I would have put on something a little bit nicer than the Old Navy sundress I was wearing. After having the microphone (yes, this was an outdoor event with a sound system) handed to me I said something like hello and how I’m excited to be in Japan and thank you for having me…or something. They all just stared at me and clapped. I probably could have said anything I wanted and they would have clapped because most of them didn’t understand English (I didn’t mean that offensively either). I should have thrown in a tap dance too but I wasn’t thinking clearly.

Okay, so next I was ushered back in the air conditioned room to sit down and relax again…because my speech took so much out of me. Do movie stars get treated this way? I was given another tour after that and encouraged to play the games. There was a ring toss, some stacking cans games, some fishing games that you hooked cans and things with a pole and hook. My favorite was that the cans were all beer cans and the children were all playing the fishing game, trying to hook the beer cans. In American that would NOT be okay, totally cool here though. I went through the haunted house next. Sloss Furnace has got NOTHING on this nursery school.

Someone was sent to get my food after I played the games. I tried a lot of stuff. Most was not my favorite but I tried it anyway. I found a couple of things that were kind of tasty. I prefer American (or Korean!!!) barbeque though. I had tons of food around me and everyone was chatting me up. I couldn’t eat anymore so I snuck outside to try and get some pictures.

Later on the kids played this game that was sort of like hitting a piñata. It was the same concept but they hit a watermelon in a bowl on the ground instead. There were SO many watermelons as backup for when one was whacked open. That was fun to watch. Afterwards the teachers did a skit and then the children did a dance. The kids were all dressed in kimonos and looked so beautiful.

After everything was over and it was time to leave, I was walking through the gate to get in the car. An old man stopped us and tried to tell me (in broken English) how he spoke Spanish. Then he told the teacher who was driving me (in Japanese) that he spoke Spanish. I told him that I spoke English. He kept shaking me hand over and over. When we got in the car, the teacher and I had a good laugh about how he had also heavily been into the alcohol (which, by the way, they were selling at the event) due to his slurred voice and funny remarks. It was just like the book told me when I was reading about Japan…I was getting heckled by the drunks. Haha

The teachers demonstrationg the game...blindfold, hold the stick...
walk towards the watermelon...hit with the stick!
One of the children trying to hit the watermelon
The teachers playing the drum during the dance
A child dressed in the traditional kimono while dancing

Hurray for the Weekend!

2007-07-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hurray for the weekend! I am so tired. I feel like I have run a marathon or something. The last time I wrote was on Wednesday and that seems like ages ago. Since then so much has happened. Thursdays and Fridays are my longest days. I have to ride the train to Fukuyama for an hour both directions plus teach a whole day (from 10:30 until 6:30). By the time I get home it’s about 8:30. I literally come in and fall into bed.

Thursday was very confusing. I had everything that I needed, I got to the station to be picked up and I waited…and waited…and waited… After about 20 minutes I was wondering if I was just really early or if they had forgotten me. I got a phone call and it went something like this: “Amanda! Are you okay?” “Yes, are you okay?” “Where are you?” “The train station…waiting on you.” “You are supposed to be at Midori today (my Friday school).” “No, it’s Thursday. I go to Hikari.” “No, your schedule is switched this week.” “What?? No one told me!!” “I’m coming to get you.”

Needless to say, I was upset. It turns out that they had not given me the schedule that had the switch on it, nor had anyone told me. I was fine, it didn’t bother me (other than to irritate me a little because I didn’t have my materials for that school with me so I had to improvise) but they all FREAKED out when I didn’t show up at the station. It started a Japanese phone tree like you wouldn’t believe. I also got a visit that night from two of the Japanese teachers bringing me presents and new copies of ALL of the schedules. It was a good day though, all in all.

On Friday I went to my Thursday school (Hikari). They are preparing to have a Summer Festival on Saturday evening so they let me go home early. I was so thankful. I was so tired during my teacher lessons that I thought I was going to nod off. One of the teachers brought me fish as a gift! Now I have some tiny little pets for my apartment. I am going to take really good care of them. Although I said that in college and after my roommate and I went through 3 or 4 of them, her mom finally sent us glass fish so that we wouldn’t kill anymore. I am more optimistic this time.

Clo called me when I was on the train. She asked if I wanted to get dinner. I was excited to go out with a friend. While we were talking the train man came up to me and started talking Japanese. I think he was telling me that you can’t talk on your cell phone while you are on the train. I asked Clo later and she said yes, that’s probably what he was saying.

It was pouring down rain when I got to the station so someone came and drove me home. That was good because I had those fish and my bags…a disaster waiting to happen on a bike. I quickly threw my stuff down and ran off to dinner. I was SOAKED when I got to the restaurant. I had to walk because my bike was at the station, even if I had ridden the bike I would have been soaked. The people here are very good at riding the bike with one hand and holding an umbrella with the other. I just don’t have the balance and coordination yet.

Clo and I were at dinner for over 2 hours. We went to Sunday’s Sun. It was fun. We talked and listened to the music while we ate. They were playing all kinds of English songs that were from the 90s. Things like Backstreet Boys, Madonna, and the Macarena. It was hilarious. We made plans for Sunday and then headed home. Today looks cloudy and I am waiting for the rain. More later!

First Days of Teaching

2007-07-18T04:24:00.000-07:00

Teaching in the school has been a very enjoyable experience. It has been very strange in a way though. I don’t understand the children and I’m sure that they don’t understand me to a certain extent. In America, I know when I have taught enough for a lesson. There are a lot of clues that the children will give me: the get squirmy, they start talking, the start looking around, they ask when we are going to lunch... Here most (NOT all) of the children are so well behaved or so mesmerized by a new person in their classroom that they just stare at me. They don’t ask questions so I do not know when they do not understand (which I figure is more than they let on).

I also find myself doing these wild arm and hand gestures. It’s pretty funny. I’m sure they are wondering if all Americans do this, or is it is just me. I know that Mandy did it and I am sure Carla did it too. It’s just that I have to ask everything out in order for them to understand. It’s great though, I love it. It’s really preparing me for my Broadway debut upon arrival in the States next July (Caroline).

There are so many precious children. I want to rename them all though with names I can remember. The Japanese names are hard for me to remember. I don’t know if it is because I have so many to learn or is it is because the pronunciation is difficult. Probably both. There is always one…you know what I mean…that cute little thing who you fall in love with at first sight…and he/she turns out to be your BIGGEST challenge. I’ve got them at every school. If just goes to show you that children are children no matter where they are.

Yesterday I went to a large book store. Good news friends! They will sell the American Harry Potter on Sunday. I think I will order it from Amazon though because it will be close to $40. They store had a great English section. There were games, books, and magazines. I was so excited about the prospect of catching up on my Hollywood gossip. That was a bust. US weekly was a few weeks out of date and the price was about $15!!! I almost fell over. Cosmo was about $17. I looked to see how much some others were and Vogue was about $40…right up there with the new, hard back (I’m assuming), 800+ page Harry Potter book! I was shocked.

When I got home last night I crashed. I fell asleep about 6:30 and slept until 8:00 this morning. I was so tired. I am still getting used to my long days here and the long travel. I miss my car but I’m really excited about the exercise I’m getting.

I tried some interesting food today. It was tofu and tuna mixed together into little patties. It sounds disgusting but it was really good. I had some noodles that had sesame seeds on them. They were okay. The cook at Jyoto (my third school) had even made blueberry muffins. Delicious! I am still not eating well here yet. I eat lunch and that’s about it. I think it has to do with how tired I am. I sleep through dinner a lot and I might grab a granola bar for breakfast but that’s about it. I have HUNGRY days and not hungry days. I’m sure it will even out soon.

On Wednesdays I get finished at 1:00. I came home and read and then took a long nap. I feel much better now. Yoko just came by. She dropped off my bike key. I had a very unfortunate bicycle situation yesterday…it broke. Both tires were flat and the pedals did not want to turn and I couldn’t get the kickstand up. I was so mad. Instead of riding my bike home from the train station, I walked and pushed the bike. I called Yoko when I got home. She couldn’t believe that I walked home. She came at once to get the bike to take it to the repair shop. Turns out that the operator (me) just had the kickstand locked; that’s why it wouldn’t work well, but the tires were flat so they pumped them up or got new ones. I just got it back. Yea!

That’s all for today. I’m going to be in bed early tonight again. I have to ride the train for an hour tomorrow (both ways) to Hikari (pronounced Hick-ar-ee) Nursery School. I will work a LONG day so I want to be well rested.

My Train Station

2007-07-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

Just so you will know what I mean when I say “my train station,” I added some pictures.

Kitanagase Station! I do all of my coming and going from here.
These are the millions of stairs that my aching legs have to climb after the bike ride.
This is where I park my bike in the morning. It's way cool to have your own bike guys.
Can you see the train? That is the platform (over the bikes). We load and unload from there.

Toy Museum

2007-07-16T05:05:00.000-07:00

Before I went to bed last night I figured out that I was using the washing machine correctly. They clothes were taking forever to dry though and it just wasn’t happening so finally I took them out and hung them on the balcony like the locals do. I threw in another load to do while I slept. This morning those were not near dry so I hung them to dry while I was gone.

I rode to the station on my bike and I boarded the train. I rode all by myself to meet the teachers. I was so proud. We loaded up in their car and went to the museum. When we got there I thought we were goingLunch made us all sleepy but we had to go get me some indoor shoes. Here you take your shoes off when you go inside but then you change shoes into slippers or indoor shoes. Since I am teaching and dancing and moving a lot I needed shoes and not slippers. They took me somewhere that looked like a Rackroom Shoe Store. I ended up getting some Adidas that looked like water shoes but they were slip on, light weight, comfortable and ON SALE!

Next we hit the 100 yen shop and called it a day. We were all beat. I thought I was going to fall asleep in the car and on the train but I made it home before I crashed.

Fish update: I am closer than I was before. I think I might be getting one this week. I asked the teachers about one so I should get info soon. J to the toy museum. We were, but first we went to the SHOE museum! I was so excited! They shoes on display were all the way back to when they wore wooden shoes with spikes to step on fish and there were come that were boards that they tied to their feet for farming. It was interesting to see how their shoes had evolved. It progressed through the years incorporating other cultures into the museum. There were Native Americans, moon boots, high heels, and a variety of shoes for the whole family. They even had wallabees.

In another part of the museum, famous Japanese people had donated a pair of their shoes. There was a famous ballerina, sumo wrestler, basketball player, and baseball players…including Matsui (he plays for the Yankees)!!

Me in front of a giant shoe on the wall.
Giant flip flops on the wall.
Some teachers from two of my schools who took me out today.
The lady making my wooden Japanese flip flops.

The finished product. How cute!!
We went to the Toy Museum next. It showed many traditional toys in Japan and talked about the holidays that they use a lot of these toys, masks, dolls, etc. There was so much meaning behind every bit that we looked at. There was a lot in English too so I was able to figure things out as I went along.

Afterwards we went to the gift shop. I wanted a pair of those Japanese flip flops. They didn’t have my size. Here in Japan, I am the size right after their largest size. The lady at the counter told us where we could go get some though so we went down the street. I tried on a pair and YEA! They fit. It’s so neat because in this shop they MAKE the ones you want! You tell them which bottom you want (what color wood) and what band you want. Then they put them together right in front of you!
Us eating lunch at a Japanese restaurant. I'm learning chop sticks. Next we went to lunch. We went to a Japanese place and let me tell you, it is not like any Japanese place I’ve ever eaten at in America. They have the grill at the table but they don’t cook it there. They cook it in the kitchen and then set it on the grill at the table to keep it warm while you are eating. I don’t really know what I ate. It reminded me of a very thin pancake with noodles, cabbage, and shrimp mixed up on top of it and another very thin pancake on top. It was good though. I ate it all up.
My new indoor shoes. Very cool, huh?
Lunch made us all sleepy but we had to go get me some indoor shoes. Here you take your shoes off when you go inside but then you change shoes into slippers or indoor shoes. Since I am teaching and dancing and moving a lot I needed shoes and not slippers. They took me somewhere that looked like a Rackroom Shoe Store. I ended up getting some Adidas that looked like water shoes but they were slip on, light weight, comfortable and ON SALE!

Next we hit the 100 yen shop and called it a day. We were all beat. I thought I was going to fall asleep in the car and on the train but I made it home before I crashed.

Fish update: I am closer than I was before. I think I might be getting one this week. I asked the teachers about one so I should get info soon. :)

Rice Fields

2007-07-15T06:38:00.001-07:00

The rice fields start off as just dry dirt. Then they are flooded with water and then planted. You can see how swampy it looks but how neat the rows are.
This is a bigger picture of a rice field. At the bottom left corner there is a dirt slope so that someone can walk down into it.

This is a full sized view of a rice field. Hopefully this clears up some misconceptions. There could be some snakes hiding out in there but definitely NOT alligators!! :) When the wind blows it is really neat to look at.

Super Sunday

2007-07-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of the cute little shopping place across from my apartment.

What a day! I will call it Super Sunday. I woke up early and got to talk to my family on the phone. I love having skype. It’s so great to be able to talk to people like we were just down the street. I went to bed about 10:30 last night. The wind was still howling and the rain was beating at my door but I felt safe enough. When I got up this morning it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining for the first time since I have been here. It was warm and slightly breezy. Some kids were having a baseball game in the sandlot behind my apartment.

I decided that today would be a good day to explore the neighborhood. Around 12:00 or so I headed out to those cute shops across the street. They are called Arow & Department. I have always had great taste because no matter where I go, I find the most expensive shops. They had some really cute stuff. I wanted to buy a lot of things but I decided that this was only my first time out and I better hold off just yet. After that I headed back to the main road. I had seen a 100 yen shop down the street when we had ridden our bikes to school on Monday so I thought I’d walk to it and check it out. I wanted to get a few things so off I went.

I walked for a little while…man, this was taking a long time. I kept walking…where was this place? Did I miss a turn? I kept turning around to see if I could still see my apartment building. Yeah, there it was. Hmm…should I turn around and go get my bike? Nah, it wasn’t that far. I would have remembered. I kept walked for awhile longer. Two cars pulled over to chat. They were full of teachers from one of the nursery schools. They were going to my building to clean Mandy’s apartment since she had moved out. For a second I thought about hopping in the car with them and going back but I didn’t. I kept walking a bit more. Why hadn’t I gotten in the car and gone back?? Then angels sang out from the heavens, “AAAAAAHHHHH”…there it was, the 100 yen store. I am really bad with estimation but I think I walked a couple of miles. I walked about a 10 minute bike ride and my shoulders are bright red if that tells you anything.

In the 100 yen store I just had myself a little field day. It was so great. They have everything and not the normal junk you would buy at the dollar store. I mean high quality, cutesy wootsey stuff. I stocked up on much needed items (and a few things I could have lived without but they looked heartbroken sitting on the shelves).

Then I started the trek home. Wow, I thought I was going to keel over there a few times. I arms were loaded down with my great bargains and my feet were hurting from the flip flops…not to mention the sunburn that was setting in. I made it though, all the way back to the apartment.

I checked my email and called home to chat about the stores. It’s so great when you buy stuff and then can talk about every little thing you bought in great detail. It’s like reliving the whole experience. The teachers were still cleaning so I hung out with them some. Dear, sweet Misaki came through the door and saw me and made a beeline for me. She was so excited to see me. She brought me a drink and a snack. It was some bread thing with pudding in it. Very good.

After they left I was getting hungry so I decided to make my last stops for the day. I went across the street to the bookstore. It is two stories full of books. Most everything is in Japanese but I still managed to find my way around. Upstairs there is a TINY English section with books that are pretty outdated. We all know my love for Harry Potter. That was one of my reasons for going in. I wanted to see if they would have the last book in English. I don’t think so. They have paperbacks in English but they are old and do not look like the American ones. They did have the Japanese ones but they were about $40 each. I think I will have to send for one in America. I had the best time in the children’s books. Eric Carle’s books were in Japanese. I am going to go back and buy a couple one day. I already have them picked out.

My next stop was the grocery store. They have all of this food that is cooked and prepared for you to eat. It’s like our deli with the chicken and veggies, only theirs is Japanese food. I grabbed a couple of things for dinners and then left. As I was leaving something caught my eye…a fish!! They sell little fish that you can buy as pets. I am going to have to go back and get one once I do some research. I am already thinking of names for it. The girl was so excited that I was excited. We communicated through some wild hand gestured and smiles. My new fish will be so happy at home in the apartment.

As the evening comes to an end, I think about the day. I am reminded many times a day that I am a foreigner. I think, though, that I have somewhat found a solution (at least for walking around): big sunglasses. I wore mine today and I found that people stared less and honked their horns less as I was walking on the street. Maybe next time I’ll throw on a hat for good measure. I can’t imagine how movie stars do it…always being followed around with cameras and people starting and talking to them. It would creep me out.

I managed to figure out how to work the washing machine tonight. It has been working on my clothes for about three hours. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad sign. It is a washer/dryer combo so I think it is drying them in there too. I'm getting a little concerned. I'll let you know how it turns out. I've kept busy by watching Grey's Anatomy, occasinally going in their to look into the washer.

That’s the end for today. I have a big day planned for tomorrow. It will be the first time I ride the train alone!! WOW! Sayonara!

Day Eight

2007-07-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

Everything goes by here so fast. I can’t believe I’ve been here for a week. Immersion truly is the best way of survival because you either sink or swim! So far I have learned how to use money, figure out the train system, work all of my appliances that are in Japanese, figure out enough of the language to communicate, and NOT get lost. I remember when Candace came here and she emailed about trying to find food in the grocery store. Environmental print was her saving grace, as is mine. I have located many name brands that I recognize.

I woke up this morning and finished my book. I went down to Mandy’s afterward because today is her last day here. She is supposed to leave tomorrow but because the weather is so bad she is going on to the airport tonight. While I was down there Yumi and Misaki came over. Yoko had sent them to check on me because I was getting sick yesterday. Yumi pulled out a thermometer and said that she needed to take my temperature. Here they take them under the arm. It was normal. I was feeling better from last night too. I have taken some medicine and got a lot of rest. We decided not to do to the doctor because I am still talking antibiotics from home. She was so sweet though because she brought me water, fruit, and ice cream! It was so thoughtful of her.

Mandy’s friend Melissa was there at the apartment. She is from New York and is 25. She and I talked a lot while Mandy finished packing. Then the three of us headed out for some lunch. After lunch we went to the grocery store and met up with Caroline. We did some shopping for provisions because I am about to experience my first typhoon.

I’m sure if you have been watching CNN you have heard all about the weather here. It is supposed to hit late tonight (Saturday night). Right not it is really windy and rainy. I asked a million questions about where I should go (down low, a ditch??). All I have to connect this with is a tornado or a hurricane. They told me to stay in my apartment and not go outside. They said that the winds will get really strong and could blow signs and things away and they could hit me if I was outside. It reminds me of watching coverage from hurricanes and things. I plan to stay inside with my cell phone right next to me.

To prepare for the typhoon (I made the mistake of calling a tsunami and scared some of the Japanese teachers to death…kind of comical actually when we sorted it all out) I bought some cheese and stuff. I also bought notebooks so that I could prepare lessons while I was cooped up inside. I am so excited about all of the things that I can do in my lessons.

When we came back to the apartment (the grocery store is across the street) I was SOAKED. My light gray shirt was dark and my jeans were wet. I had been wearing my raincoat too if that tells you how strong the wind and rain were. Yoko came over and talked to Mandy about leaving for the airport and I went up to my apartment for a little nap.

It’s about 6:40 here and Mandy left awhile ago. It’s so quiet without someone to talk to. On the plus side, I have found someone to do my hair!! Caroline is going to get hers done this week and I am going to go with her to watch and meet the guy. He studied in London and I’m very excited. Not much else going on here. I’m in for the night…no shopping for me at those cute little shops. I am going to plan lessons, read, and maybe watch a movie.

Day Seven

2007-07-14T04:28:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Friday. I woke up early to a phone call from Yoko. She informed me that it was raining and that she would come and pick me up at my apartment and drive me to the train station. I got ready for school and sure enough, she was there, right on time. When I got to the station, Mariko was there to meet me. She was me escort today to Midori Nursery School in Fukuyama. We rode the train for an hour and then Yuko, the principal, picked us up at the station and took up to the school. As soon as I walked in the children were saying, “Hello Amanda Sensei!”

They had a school wide assembly for me (very small, keep in mind). It was great! All of the different classes stood up. They all sang songs and did motions. We ended my doing to Hokey Pokey. The kids were hysterical, especially the babies!

Afterwards I went to the 3 year old classroom. Yuko asked me if I minded teaching the 3 year olds for 10 minutes each week. She wanted me to teach them songs and dances. They all introduced themselves. (MY NAME IS….) It was so funny. It kind of reminded me of the time we had the recital and the little kids walked on stage during set changes and said, “My name is …. And I love my dancing school!”

I met the 4 year old next. I will see two groups of them. They introduced themselves and asked me questions. Then we read In the Mirror. The 5 year old class is small so I will see them all together. They introduced themselves, asked me questions, and then we read Mrs. Wishy-Washy. Their English was really great already. I’m excited about working with this school.

Something that I noticed in all of the schools that I have been in is the autonomy that the children have. If they get into an argument they are expected to work it out. The teacher may mediate, but the students do the talking-no matter what their age it. I am so happy to see this! I do this in my own classroom and it is encouraging to see it being done even with the 3 year olds. Another thing that the children do to solve problems like who will go first, second, etc. is play Rock, Paper, Scissors!! I asked Mandy if she taught the kids this game and she said no. It’s just really popular in Japan. It cracked me up because my own first graders do this in America to solve problems or see who gets something or goes first.

After meeting the children I went to the Kato’s house for lunch. I checked my email and ate and then I have about an hour to myself for a rest. I read my book which was so nice. I never get duty free lunch at school unless it’s a special day or something. Here I get is every day. Jealous, friends?

I gave the teachers lessons after that. We talked about the curriculum that I was going to cover and them we just had conversation in English. We talked about our families, pets, homes, etc. I had the teachers in two groups. Usually I will start at 10:30 and end at 6:30 but today I finished at 3:00. They took pity on the tired American who looked as though she was going to fall asleep on them. I am also getting a chest cold. I think it might be bronchitis. I used to get this when my room was damp and muggy and that is how the air is everywhere here.
The train ride home was great. Another hour of reading. It was raining when we got to the station so I got to ride home in a taxi. Very stinky. Back at the apartment I curled up with my book again and listened to it rain. Yoko came by. It seems that Yuko, the principal at the school, had called her and told her that I had a cough. Yoko brought me some cake and had come to see if I was sick. She said she would call me in the morning to see if I wanted to go to the doctor. Nothing is a secret with these people--they are all looking after me!

Today is Saturday. I wanted to go exploring across the street. There are these neat little shops I can see from my window. I got out my binoculars the other night and tried to see into the stores. I couldn’t see very well but I think some are clothes and one might be books. Anyway, I wanted to walk over there and check it out. It’s raining though so I don’t really need to get out in that.

Day Six

2007-07-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

Thursday was my first day to go off to work alone. I went to Fukayama to Hikari Nursery School. I rode my bike all the way to the train station. I was so proud of myself. Matsayuki met me at the station and rode with me to the school. It took about an hour to get there by train. I tried a new drink while I was on the way to Hikari. It is called C.C. Lemon. It is supposed to have a lot of vitamin C in it. It tasted a little like sprite. I am trying to fight getting sick.

When we got to Hikari I was just in time to see all of the children come out and dance in the playground. They are having a summer carnival this weekend at school and they are going to do this dance. Afterwards I met all of the students that I will be teaching. The 4 year olds introduced themselves and we did the Hokey Pokey. Then the five year olds introduced themselves and we did the Tooty Ta. We also read a big book together. It was fun. I ate lunch there and then was going to have teacher lessons.

Matsayuki’s house is right behind the nursery school. He is also a Buddhist priest so he took me inside of his temple. I had never seen anything like it before. It was very ornate with a lot of gold. It was beautiful. Outside of his temple and house he had a little pond with carp. They are huge! Some are orange, white, and black. The teachers told me later that they cost 1,000,000 yen each which is somewhat close to $10,000 each. I couldn’t believe it. He also showed me a separate room from the nursery school that we use for teacher lessons. It is next to his house. It’s like a little apartment. I have a break after lunch and I can go in here and take a nap or read or whatever.

I will be working with Matsayuki on constructivism this year. We watched a video of a speaker abd my job was to explain what some of the words meant. This shouldn’t have been that hard but at the same time I was so tired that I was trying to follow what the speaker was saying and comprehend it and he was constantly stopping the video and asking me questions about it and I was struggling to remember what context the word that he was wondering about was just used in…this will get easier I’m sure. It was really funny when I had to explain psychoanalytical to him. That was a trip!

After his lesson I met with the first group of teachers. We chatted and talked about ourselves. The second group of teachers were the ones that teach my classes of kids. They were really funny. They have planned a day trip for us on Monday. We are off work because of a national holiday so we are going to go to the toy museum. I’m excited. I read about the museam unline awhile ago when I was researching Okayama and Fukayama.

After the lessons Matsayuki took me to Fukayama Castle. We went to the top of it. The inside is a museum so we looked around. It was artifacts and things but since it was all in Japanese I didn’t understand too much. I was also really hot and really tired so it was a quick trip.

Back on the train we rode for an hour back to my station. I will do this by myself next week. I feel confident that I can do it. I’m getting comfortable with reading the train times and knowing which train to ride on. I also know how to buy train tickets and read the train map thing.

I rode my bike back to the apartment and then checked my email in Mandy’s room. When she got home from work she showed me how to set up Skype voicemail. I now have a local phone number that you can call me on!! If I am not there, leave a message and I can call you back.

We went to the grocery store to get some dinner. They have premade foods that are really cheap and good. I had something that looked like dumplings and in the middle was meat and spices and maybe some cabbage. It reminded me of an egg roll filling. I also had two shrimp. They were really long and fried. It reminded me of Captain D’s. We also walked around the street and found a neat little shop that sold cool home stuff. There were some neat vases made out of newspaper and there were spoons that were metal but looked like they had been hammered and then leaves cut out of them for straining purposes. It was all pretty cheap too.

I was so tired when we came back home. We ate dinner, Yoko came over, and then I went to bed. I tried to read some before bed but my eyes were closing. I finally gave in and turned out the light. Right now it is Friday morning here, Thursday evening in Birmingham. I’m going to go eat some breakfast and get ready to go while you are probably about to eat dinner and dash off to your evening plans. I miss you all so much and I wish you were all here on this adventure with me. I really want to climb Mt. Fugi…(cough, cough, Tara J) Seriously, if anyone wants to come, come on! I have a futon!

Day Five

2007-07-14T04:20:00.002-07:00

I’m losing track of the days. I have to think really hard to figure out what today is. It’s even worse when I start trying to figure out what day it is at home! Haha This is the end of Wednesday here. It was such a long day. I didn’t think it would ever end. I am sleeping better now. So well in fact that I didn’t want t get up this morning. It was raining and it made me groggy. Today was the last day that I would follow Mandy around. The next two days I am on my own.

We biked to the station. I got a little bit closer this time before I thought my legs were going to fall off. I made it though. It gets easier every time. It will be so awesome when I can write about biking to the station and not even thinking about how tiring it was! We were picked up by a driver who took us to our school. It was a nice school with many children but I was really amazed at the classes. At the other two schools the children were really mild mannered and well behaved. At this school they were very wild and hard for Mandy to get control over. I found out that there were a couple who were autistic and some with severe ADD. Mandy said that this was her most challenging school.

After the lesson we ate lunch with the children. They were really sweet kids. The were obsessed with rubbing me arms. They liked the hair on my arm—but I’m not really a hairy person. J They also liked to touch my nails. One little boy kept touching me on the bottom. Mandy said that he did that to her too. I was like, “Whoa buddy!” Another little boy kept giving me kisses on the cheek. It was a very interesting class.

The teachers threw Mandy a party too during nap time. We ate ice cream and some Japanese stuff that tasted kind of like what I imagine paste to taste like. We played Bingo and musical chairs! It was fun. Three of the teachers also did a dance to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. It was so cute.

We left there and went to another school. Mandy did lessons for 1st graders after their regular school. They were making something special for Tara Sensei who will arrive in 2 and ½ weeks. I was so tired at this point. Afterwards we went to the train station to go home. We stopped at Okayama Station (it’s really big) and I got some wheat bread and some cheese bread from a bakery. Then we got back on the train and went to our station.

The bike ride home was not bad at all. I realized why I hate my bike so much…the tire is flat. We are going to pump it up tomorrow and it will feel better to ride on. The internet was waiting on us in Mandy’s room. Mine is still not connected but I can use hers. I have a key to her room. I checked email and then headed to my room. I rearranged the furniture to better suit my needs. I think it’s a lot cuter now too.

Day Four

2007-07-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

I finally am getting on a normal sleeping routine. I went to sleep around 9:30 last night and woke up about 6:30. I know I will sleep well tonight though because I am worn out after today! I am taking full advantage of Mandy being here until Sunday. She has been here for a year and knows her way around so I want her to show me everything and explain all that she can before she leaves.

We rode the bikes to the train station this morning. It is further away from the nursery school but I made it. She taught me how to read the train signs and which train to get on. It’s not really that hard from the small station by our apartments. When we got to Okayama Station it got more difficult because it is a lot bigger. At Okayama Station she showed me the store Jupiter. It is a store that sells imported goods. They even had Combos! I picked up a copy of the newspaper that was in English and told foreigners of what was happening around the city. It’s pretty cool.

The school we were to today is the farthest school from a train station so someone comes to pick us up. When we got to the school we were greeted with smiling faces. It was mostly the same as yesterday. This school belongs to Yoko’s sister who is Matsumi’s wife. The five year olds, who I will teach, introduced themselves to me, asked me questions, read a book with me (a big book about me that Carla had made), and then we did the Hokey Pokey. It was cute. I also had a chance to check my emails while I was there. Thank you so much for all of you who have written me! I appreciate it so much. I am so sorry that I have not been able to personally respond to everyone yet. The internet is not connected in my apartment but we are hoping that it will be in the next few days and then I can respond to everyone individually. Until then I type these at night and upload them at the schools.

After school Mariko took Mandy and me to the bank. We closed Mandy’s bank account and then we went to the post office. In Japan you can open a post office account that is basically the same as a bank account. It holds your money and you can even send it to your account in America. It’s much cheaper and faster to do it this way too. We closed Mandy’s and opened one for me.

We went to the college next for Mariko’s lesson. She and Mandy just talked a lot. They practiced conversational English. After that she took up back to the train. Mandy and I went to a different stop so that she could show me some shops that I might like. One was a second hand store but MUCH nicer than out thrift shops. They have great kimonos there! We also went to the 100 yen store. It’s like a dollar store but you can get so much more awesome stuff there. We had dinner at a little restaurant. I even had fries!! I met Mandy’s friend Chloe (pronounced Klow). She is from Italy and it teaching high school here at a Catholic private school. She will be here until mid-August. She is really great. I’m going to hang out with her when Mandy leaves. She speaks and reads Japanese and has the most beautiful accent. I also met another friend of Mandy’s named Caroline. She is leaving Japan soon but her replacement, Melissa, is about my age. We are all going to meet up this weekend for dinner so that we can get to know each other and we can hang out while we are in Japan. It’s nice to have American friends to speak English with! I am also going to sign up for the JET program where foreigners can get together to go on trips and stuff together. Mandy did it and it’s pretty cool. It’s a non-committal thing so if I want to go somewhere I can and if I don’t want to then I don’t have to.

We just got back to the apartment about 30 minutes ago. The bike ride back was killer. My legs and butt are sore from peddling and bumping along the sidewalks. It was hot too and yucky out but I did it! I am so proud that I am taking these challenges and laughing in their faces! J haha I hope everyone at home is doing well. You should all let me be an inspiration to you to go out and get a bike and then ride it up and down the sidewalk with a busy rode on one side and a rice field on the other. I am always scared I’m going to fall in the rice fields. In case you don’t know what they look like, they are like a marshy/wet area with rows grass. No fences around them either.

I miss you all tons and I wish you were here to share this experience with me!