One noted difference between the Japanese workplace and the American workplace. Granted, I haven't before worked in an American office or high school, but the following is the initial impression I have. Japanese teachers work all year round. I'm not sure why, and I think a Japanese person would have some difficulty explaining why because it is simply the way it's been and will continue to be. While talking with Ueda sensei I asked the question of why teachers work in the summer and what specifically they may do on a day to day basis. With limited language abilities from both sides she answered that teachers prepare lessons, and many are supervisors of club activities etc., which meet all summer long. That fact there is quite different. Most American high schoolers are involved with their high school team's duties for 2 1/2 months, and, if they want to continue playing the sport for the other 9 1/2 months of the year they join a community club. Or a couple of community clubs. Here high school club teams practice and compete together 12 months out of the year.
Right now the All-Japan High School Baseball Championship tournament is in full swing. Last night while out and about in Kambara I saw one game being played on every TV I crossed- I saw it through the window of a neighbor's house, at the Ramen Restaurant and playing on the display TVs at Mega Mart. Unfortunately I couldn't watch it at my house because my TV only gets 12 channels. Total. No, I don't mean reception, I mean, the remote control only goes up to 12. Yes, it has a different button for channel 1, 2, 3...10, 11, 12. And of the 12 channels, 4 of them are the same station, 3 of them are the same different station, 1 of them is half a station and the other 4 don't work at all. Baseball must be a big deal here.
(following the breadcrumbs left on my tangent line) Even though teachers work here year round I (preliminarly) think that the way in which teachers spend their time at work here is quite different than the way people spend their time at work in the US. It seems to me that in the US office workers put their noses to the grindstone for 8 or maybe 10 solid hours working consistantly to finish certain tasks. Here (at least at Ihara High School)....
...let me take a moment to address something formulating in my mind at the present. I really want to make the effort to not apply my specific experiences to all of the Japanese. I realize that Ihara koukou is an individual school, and the way things are done here may or may not reflect on general rites and rituals of high school life throughout the rest of Japan. So, my musings are vastly preliminary - let's call them wonderings - until I have spent considerable time talking with other people, reading books and experiencing life here....
....At Ihara high school teachers wander in and out, often dressed in sports attire, read the newspaper, look out the window, go out for lunch, talk with me or Sarah, look up words in the dictionary, etc. I don't know how much production is actually occuring. And maybe it's a lot - I can't decipher what peopel are talking about so maybe it's entirely task related. (And maybe equally as true, American office workers could be off task for a large percentage of the time).
I noticed in listening to Sarah and Ueda sensei talk in Japanese the frequency of the word tabun. I was curious what it meant because I kept hearing it so often. So, I took out my trusty pocket dictionary (thanks Mike, it has come in handy) and looked up "tabun." It means "probably" or "maybe." Having some limited knowlege about Japanese culture I am reminded that it is a very indirect language where strong nos and yeses are avoided in most occasions. Using probably or maybe can make things sound like a suggestion rather than a command. It has been confusing, however, when speaking with JTEs who are using English with a Japanese cultural filter. I keep hearing "maybe, maybe, maybe" and have found myself using this word a lot more often as well.
I have come to be good friends with one of the JTEs, Kenmatsu sensei. She was born in the year Showa 32, the same as you, mom, but she hasn't turned 50 yet! (I'm showa 58. I've had to use that year to describe my age since most people here don't understand "1983." The system of keeping track of the years is based on the current Emperor. Year 1 is the first year of his reign. The years stop progressing at his death, and begin anew with 1 the following year. For example, the Showa period is marked by the rule of Emperor Showa who died in 1989. Taking over for him was Akihito who is still the reigning emperor today. Akihito will be given the honorary name Heisei after his death, thus this period is called the Heisei period. 2007 is "Heisei 19.") In one of our conversations she defined the "Japanese maybe" as 80% chance or more. "Maybe it's different than the American maybe?" She asked (meaning, "I know it is different than the American maybe!") When I use "maybe" I'm thinking right around 50% or maybe less. Then there's the Jack Johnson song Flake- "It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no, so don't tell me, you might just let him go..." Often Americans use maybe when there is less than a 50% chance. Tabun is a part of polite and indirect Japanese speech and translates poorly when used in the same way with English. I taught Kenmatsu sensei to use "I'm pretty sure" when she wants to say she's 80-90% positive in English, and I will certainly try to use the Japanese maybe more often as I learn the etiquitte of the language.
A few more musings:
I am sitting here at my desk as a "real world professional" for the firt time. It certainly feels more surreal being it Japan and not the US; but nonetheless I'm a college graduate and am getting paid to do things rather than paying to do them. The coffee has been replaced by green tea, and a snack of leftover sticky rice sits to my right. My newly purchased ohashi (chopsticks) sit atop the obento boxed lunch as I type this. Another mostly edible meal consumed quickly between "work." Today I had konyaku which is a type of a yam made into a gelatin (think dense yam flavored jello). I was told by kyotosensei that it is good for cleaning out the intestines. "Oh, sugoi!" I said and, "Oh, great..." under my breath. (Sugoi is an expression of great or wonderful or cool, haha.) As for work I spent the first 3 hours of the morning pouring over the Japan Times (published in English) reading all kinds of articles about news from around the country and world. I asked yesterday what I could be doing to help around the office and one of the answers was to read the newspaper and know about Japan. Horiikesensei (one of the viceprincipals) wants to talk with me in English about Japanese sports, namely high school baseball and summo wrestling. So I have to brush up on my knowledge of summo, which is at the same level as my knowledge of the Japanese language, or another obscure sport like cricket (hah).
I'm sitting here in one of my Dad's used workshirts thinking about the working world and feeling like a "big boy" now. I've grown into my father's clothes, yet am wearing them as if I'm still playing pretend. I wonder if I know enough for someone to actually be paying me to produce for them. I guess my job is to mostly be a good representative of my country and to make friends with Japanese people. If that's what I'm getting paid for, then this is the cush job. How can I spend my time effectively? How can I give back?
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Counting: not as easy as 1-2-3
In my quest to learn Japanese (I've been studying kanji for about 4 hours today) I have come across what are known in the Japanese language as "counters." In English when we count objects we say "One, two, three, four...." etc. A sudden image of Count Dracula from sesame street comes to mind! "Three, three bats flying in the dungeon, ha ha ha!" Or, 1 helicopter, 2 helicopters, 3 helicopters, etc. One banana, two bananas, three bananas...One pencil, two pencils, three pencils, four pencils - you get it, right? If you want to count in English, you use numbers. NOT SO IN JAPANESE. For almost every different set of objects you desire to count you have to use a different "counter." Here are some examples:
When counting people:
1. hitori
2. futari
3. san-nin
4. yo-nin
5. go-nin
When counting flat objects (paper or plates, etc.)
1. ichi-mai
2. ni-mai
3. san-mai
4. yon-mai
When counting books or magazines (Different from flat objects?!?!?!?!?!?)
1. is-satsu
2. ni-satsu
3. etc.
When counting small objects like oranges or eggs
1. ik-ko
2. ni-ko
3. san-ko
4. etc.
When counting floors of a building
1. ik-kai
2. ni-kai
When counting the days of the month:
1. tsuitachi
2. futsuka
3. mikka
4. yokka
5. itsuka
6. etc.
A general counter for cups, or several other random objects I've forgotten:
1. hitotsu
2. futatsu
3. mitsu
4. yotsu
5. itsutsu
6. mutsu
7. etc.
There is a different way to count small animals and large animals! And if you want to count cups that have liquid in them then you have to use a different counter! One of my JTEs has a book that lists counters and it is almost 2 inches thick. Learning about the different counters Japanese people use makes my English sound barbaric: "ONE book TWO books THREE books, derrrr! ONE potato TWO potato THREE potato, derrrr!........"
What a novelty! I think I'll stick to my kanji study for now.....There's only a small 2000 of them.
Luther
When counting people:
1. hitori
2. futari
3. san-nin
4. yo-nin
5. go-nin
When counting flat objects (paper or plates, etc.)
1. ichi-mai
2. ni-mai
3. san-mai
4. yon-mai
When counting books or magazines (Different from flat objects?!?!?!?!?!?)
1. is-satsu
2. ni-satsu
3. etc.
When counting small objects like oranges or eggs
1. ik-ko
2. ni-ko
3. san-ko
4. etc.
When counting floors of a building
1. ik-kai
2. ni-kai
When counting the days of the month:
1. tsuitachi
2. futsuka
3. mikka
4. yokka
5. itsuka
6. etc.
A general counter for cups, or several other random objects I've forgotten:
1. hitotsu
2. futatsu
3. mitsu
4. yotsu
5. itsutsu
6. mutsu
7. etc.
There is a different way to count small animals and large animals! And if you want to count cups that have liquid in them then you have to use a different counter! One of my JTEs has a book that lists counters and it is almost 2 inches thick. Learning about the different counters Japanese people use makes my English sound barbaric: "ONE book TWO books THREE books, derrrr! ONE potato TWO potato THREE potato, derrrr!........"
What a novelty! I think I'll stick to my kanji study for now.....There's only a small 2000 of them.
Luther
Picture links
Here are links to all the pictures I've posted on the web so far. I'm using facebook because it's easy and those who are on facebook can find and look at the pictures by accident (maybe the newsfeed is good for something). For the rest of you, here are links to my facebook postings that should work whether you have Facebook or not:
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093987&l=b79c0&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093993&l=47f99&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093998&l=9acf6&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094001&l=0dcea&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094027&l=c6e99&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094324&l=69635&id=59501063
The pictures are up to date as of 8/8/07 Japanese time.
You can read many short little quips and anecdotes underneath a lot of the pictures too.
More random musings:
The trains here run exactly on time all through out the day. I set my watch to train time because if I'm even 30 seconds late, the train has left already. From now on when I want something to be exact I'll say "train time." The tokaiddo local train line doesn't run as often as I thought it would- maybe only 3-4 times per hour depending on the work schedule. And trains don't operate between 11:30pm-midnight and 5:00am. Even in Tokyo. I guess they have a sense of what should be night and day. If one ever finds himself stuck in a city without a bed, there are still options. McDonald's is usually open 24 hours, so a purchase off of the hyaku en (100 yen) menu could get one a nap in a booth. A more popular option is the all night karaoke bar. For around 2000 yen (from now on, just move the decimal point to the left 2 spots to get US dollars) each a group can rent a small room with a karaoke machine and unlimited drinks from 12:00am-5:00am. A group of us are going to a 12-5 karaoke bar this Saturday, yet with purposefully missing the train.
I do not yet have a keitai. Apparently Docomo (the prominant service provider) won't let us get phones without our physical gaijin card. It must be the store itself because I know of several other new ALTs who have had keitais since this past Friday. It's unfortunate for me because I'm going to Kakegawa orientation (more orienting) on Monday where I'll be seeing all of the ALTs in our area and will want to get numbers and phone e-mails. Oh well, I'll just have to use a pen and paper and then enter all the numbers manually when I get my phone. Not as cool as beaming them from phone to phone, but I guess that's the way people used to exchange information...(I was going to say 100 years ago, but it's more realisitically 10). The phone I ordered is only 11 mm think when closed. Makes the RAZR sp? look clunky.
It's really odd to think that this is my home now. It really hasn't settled in. Learning the language is going to be a long, long process. If anyone knows of any good websites for learning kanji, (stroke order, pronunciations, etc.) let me know please.
Luth, ru-sa-
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093987&l=b79c0&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093993&l=47f99&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093998&l=9acf6&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094001&l=0dcea&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094027&l=c6e99&id=59501063
http://uwec.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094324&l=69635&id=59501063
The pictures are up to date as of 8/8/07 Japanese time.
You can read many short little quips and anecdotes underneath a lot of the pictures too.
More random musings:
The trains here run exactly on time all through out the day. I set my watch to train time because if I'm even 30 seconds late, the train has left already. From now on when I want something to be exact I'll say "train time." The tokaiddo local train line doesn't run as often as I thought it would- maybe only 3-4 times per hour depending on the work schedule. And trains don't operate between 11:30pm-midnight and 5:00am. Even in Tokyo. I guess they have a sense of what should be night and day. If one ever finds himself stuck in a city without a bed, there are still options. McDonald's is usually open 24 hours, so a purchase off of the hyaku en (100 yen) menu could get one a nap in a booth. A more popular option is the all night karaoke bar. For around 2000 yen (from now on, just move the decimal point to the left 2 spots to get US dollars) each a group can rent a small room with a karaoke machine and unlimited drinks from 12:00am-5:00am. A group of us are going to a 12-5 karaoke bar this Saturday, yet with purposefully missing the train.
I do not yet have a keitai. Apparently Docomo (the prominant service provider) won't let us get phones without our physical gaijin card. It must be the store itself because I know of several other new ALTs who have had keitais since this past Friday. It's unfortunate for me because I'm going to Kakegawa orientation (more orienting) on Monday where I'll be seeing all of the ALTs in our area and will want to get numbers and phone e-mails. Oh well, I'll just have to use a pen and paper and then enter all the numbers manually when I get my phone. Not as cool as beaming them from phone to phone, but I guess that's the way people used to exchange information...(I was going to say 100 years ago, but it's more realisitically 10). The phone I ordered is only 11 mm think when closed. Makes the RAZR sp? look clunky.
It's really odd to think that this is my home now. It really hasn't settled in. Learning the language is going to be a long, long process. If anyone knows of any good websites for learning kanji, (stroke order, pronunciations, etc.) let me know please.
Luth, ru-sa-
Monday, August 6, 2007
Hippy Shake and grocery shopping
The Hippy Shake bar is this "Americanized" place that caters to foreigners. There is no table charge for Americans, and drinks cost 500 yen instead of 700 (about $4.25). There were some good mixed drinks, with names like "Drunk Master" "The last samurai" and "Armegeddon." Scott- you would love this bar- couldn't help thinking about you while there. No dart board tho :_(
There were all kinds of posters and pictures from magazines taped to the walls including random things people from around the world had donated to the bar. The bathroom was a whole different world; aside from having a squat toilet, it had kiss action figures still in their original boxes glued to the walls.
I explored my neighborhood and the town next door a bit yesterday. I was on a mission to find a calling card to call home. 2 1/2 hours later I was speaking with my family. I did introduce myself to the nice lady who works at the kiosk at my train station in the process. Her name is ikumi-san. Maybe I will be able to call her obasan (auntie?) soon. My search for a card that worked took me to a konbini (convenience store) in the next town over. (It's the same like the twin cities where the towns just run together) One train stop down is the wonderful town of Yui. I think I will be making several more trips there over the next few months. I can buy all sorts of snack food (see picture) and dry ramen and even hot food at the Circle K (they cook the food you purchase in a microwave behind the counter). Also, there is a lovely little grocery store called taiyo-. I spent almost 50 min. walking down each aisle, examining and imagining what may be edible. I settled on some spaghetti noodles, ground hamberer (actually not that expensive), fruit, potatoes and a soda as well as some mystery foods. I bought this little fried thing for 60 en that ended up being a tatortot... sort of... I think.
My apartment is much more organized as well, I'm quite proud of myself for the set up I made using the materials and furniture provided. The bathroom hasn't been touched, however. I'm kind of dreading it/wating to buy a full body suit and a hose to get started. My tv is plugged in- I get 2 1/2 channels! I left one on for about 2 hours while I organized yesterday. It is quite interesting, and I think I will leave it on most of the time while I'm in the house. Maybe I'll learn to understand through osmosis.
I got hooked up to the internet at my desk at work today- I think it's ok. I know they said it was ok when I asked, but I hope they're not just accomodating me and are upset under their breath. I suppose it will work itself out. For hirogohan (lunch) we ate at this little Japanese restaurant on the corner run by an obaasan (grandmotherlike) lady. It was really great- I don't totally know what it all was, but I ordered my first tonkatsu- pork cutlet. I started eating it and Uedasensei said, "ru-sa- san, you're supposed to use the sauce." So I put the ambiguous "sa-su" (Uedasensei didn't know what the ingrediants were) on the fried pork and it made it even better. I will have to get the tonkatsu again. The old lady is really nice and I was told she said to come back and talk Japanese.
Japanese word of the day: umai - used by men to mean "delicious."
There were all kinds of posters and pictures from magazines taped to the walls including random things people from around the world had donated to the bar. The bathroom was a whole different world; aside from having a squat toilet, it had kiss action figures still in their original boxes glued to the walls.
I explored my neighborhood and the town next door a bit yesterday. I was on a mission to find a calling card to call home. 2 1/2 hours later I was speaking with my family. I did introduce myself to the nice lady who works at the kiosk at my train station in the process. Her name is ikumi-san. Maybe I will be able to call her obasan (auntie?) soon. My search for a card that worked took me to a konbini (convenience store) in the next town over. (It's the same like the twin cities where the towns just run together) One train stop down is the wonderful town of Yui. I think I will be making several more trips there over the next few months. I can buy all sorts of snack food (see picture) and dry ramen and even hot food at the Circle K (they cook the food you purchase in a microwave behind the counter). Also, there is a lovely little grocery store called taiyo-. I spent almost 50 min. walking down each aisle, examining and imagining what may be edible. I settled on some spaghetti noodles, ground hamberer (actually not that expensive), fruit, potatoes and a soda as well as some mystery foods. I bought this little fried thing for 60 en that ended up being a tatortot... sort of... I think.
My apartment is much more organized as well, I'm quite proud of myself for the set up I made using the materials and furniture provided. The bathroom hasn't been touched, however. I'm kind of dreading it/wating to buy a full body suit and a hose to get started. My tv is plugged in- I get 2 1/2 channels! I left one on for about 2 hours while I organized yesterday. It is quite interesting, and I think I will leave it on most of the time while I'm in the house. Maybe I'll learn to understand through osmosis.
I got hooked up to the internet at my desk at work today- I think it's ok. I know they said it was ok when I asked, but I hope they're not just accomodating me and are upset under their breath. I suppose it will work itself out. For hirogohan (lunch) we ate at this little Japanese restaurant on the corner run by an obaasan (grandmotherlike) lady. It was really great- I don't totally know what it all was, but I ordered my first tonkatsu- pork cutlet. I started eating it and Uedasensei said, "ru-sa- san, you're supposed to use the sauce." So I put the ambiguous "sa-su" (Uedasensei didn't know what the ingrediants were) on the fried pork and it made it even better. I will have to get the tonkatsu again. The old lady is really nice and I was told she said to come back and talk Japanese.
Sorry, I will not be able to post picutres, because my computer keeps freezing now 4 out of 5 times trying to. You'll have to go look at pictures on a different website when I get it set up. Gomennasai.
Japanese word of the day: umai - used by men to mean "delicious."
First weekend
There’s going to be a lot of “firsts” here in Japan.
It’s no wonder how other countries around the world are able to consume far less energy than the United States. Already in 7 days now I have noticed several things that save on energy costs. My hot water heater in my house doesn’t turn on until I turn the hot water faucet. Sliding doors are button operated instead of motion operated so that only people needing to go in and out will cause the door to move. The escalators stop moving when nobody is standing on them. My washing machine weighs my clothes to determine how much water it will use. And after that, dryers are rare – most everyone hang dries their clothing out on the veranda. Air conditioning is scarcely used – people walk around with towels drying off the sweat. And people actually do that – walk places. Bikes and covered bike corrals are everywhere. The trains are also highly efficient and widely used. My supervisor drives a bigger car than most people here. He had to park in a separate lot a few blocks away from the Kencho (prefecture office) because it was too tall to fit into the garage. Even his car gets 24 miles to the gallon of city driving. (It took me a bit to do the math – you can check it for me – he said he gets about 10 km to the liter.) But he said most other cars get about 30 miles to the gallon city. I see now that the United States uses much more energy than it needs to, and I believe this is in the name of convenience and progress.
Another quick point, and I may have mentioned this before, but trashcans are few and far between. I had purchased a bottle of Calpis soda (sounds like “cow piss”) at a grocery store before we went to watch the street festival in Shimizu and I literally walked for over 10 blocks before seeing a place to throw it away. Or recycle, I should say, recycling is a big deal here because they burn their regular trash. I haven’t done trash yet at my apartment because I don’t know what needs to go where, but I think by law I’m supposed to write my name on the bag so if something is put in the wrong place they can come talk with me about it. I realized now that if I need a trash can I should look for vending machines – there’s almost always a recycling center next to a vending machine because most Japanese people purchase an item and stand by the machine until they’ve finished the item and THEN throw away the packaging. It’s considered rude I guess to walk and eat.
Before I talk about the street festival and the Hippy Shake Bar, I want to tell a little anecdote about my Saturday afternoon. I had been at my apartment cleaning the kitchen and doing piles of dishes that had been left me when my supervisor, Masuda sensei, showed up at my door with my new washing machine. It is very small and easily lifted and moved by one person. After we got it hooked up he asked me if I wanted to go out to lunch with him and another teacher at the school Narusawa sensei (I believe that is his name). I hadn’t eaten lunch yet and thought it would be fun so I quickly put on some presentable clothing, grabbed my wallet and jumped in the car. We had a nice lunch; Narusawa sensei doesn’t speak much English so we struggled through some conversation. At one point he had asked my hobbies and I mentioned “gi-ta wa hikimasu” which means playing the guitar and told them that I was looking to buy a cheap one here. After some discussion they offered to take me to Shizuoka City which is about a 40 min. drive. I didn’t really know what to say because often Japanese people will make an offer fully expecting that it will be turned down. (I have heard that the rule of thumb is to refuse them twice, and, if they offer a third time then they probably do really want to help you out.) So, hopefully I refused strongly enough – I really didn’t want to inconvenience them, but I guess Norusawa sensei lives in Shizuoka city and Masuda sensei’s apartment is on the way so it wasn’t too much of a burden. The plan was going to be for me to take the train back anyway, so it was a one way trip car ride for them. So here I go, I pay for my 980 yen meal and hop into the car for a 40 min. drive not having expected to purchase a guitar for some time still. As we get a few kilos down the road I realize that I didn’t bring my money belt! I hoped that I had enough money so that I wouldn’t have to come back a second time to make my purchase, especially since Masuda sensei was driving me there.
So, anyway, we get to Shizuoka City and park and walk to a music store located on the main shopping strip of a 1,000,000 population city. It’s quite busy and the street is narrow, but that doesn’t keep cars from driving right down the middle anyway. The music shop reminded me of a music go round or guitar center. It was a couple of stories high and sold lots of CDs and DVDs as well. I wanted to spend a good amount of time making a solid decision, so Masuda sensei and Narusawa sensei left me to shop and get back home on my own. I tried several guitars and finally decided on the intro package deal (it came with a soft carrying case – that was the big sell point) and it sounded acceptable for a $100 dollar guitar. I checked the price of 12,800 yen against my wallet to discover that I had 12,000 in bills…a bit short. Reaching into my change pocket I discovered a little over 1000 in change; so, 800 to the guitar and (hopefully!) enough money to buy a one way ticket home… I was banking on the fact that most prices listed in Japan include the tax already calculated in. Finding this to be true, I laid my 12,800 down in the little tray, received my packaged guitar and skipped gleefully out of the shop wondering how much a ticket to Kambara was going to cost…
Getting to the train station I checked the price list and found that a one way ticket cost 480. I had 510. I had just enough money to get home. If meal had cost 40 yen more, I would have been walking from the previous stop all the way back to my apartment. Arriving at Kambara station I approached the public telephone and used my remaining 30 yen to call Sarah asking her where to meet for the Shimizu street festival.
It’s no wonder how other countries around the world are able to consume far less energy than the United States. Already in 7 days now I have noticed several things that save on energy costs. My hot water heater in my house doesn’t turn on until I turn the hot water faucet. Sliding doors are button operated instead of motion operated so that only people needing to go in and out will cause the door to move. The escalators stop moving when nobody is standing on them. My washing machine weighs my clothes to determine how much water it will use. And after that, dryers are rare – most everyone hang dries their clothing out on the veranda. Air conditioning is scarcely used – people walk around with towels drying off the sweat. And people actually do that – walk places. Bikes and covered bike corrals are everywhere. The trains are also highly efficient and widely used. My supervisor drives a bigger car than most people here. He had to park in a separate lot a few blocks away from the Kencho (prefecture office) because it was too tall to fit into the garage. Even his car gets 24 miles to the gallon of city driving. (It took me a bit to do the math – you can check it for me – he said he gets about 10 km to the liter.) But he said most other cars get about 30 miles to the gallon city. I see now that the United States uses much more energy than it needs to, and I believe this is in the name of convenience and progress.
Another quick point, and I may have mentioned this before, but trashcans are few and far between. I had purchased a bottle of Calpis soda (sounds like “cow piss”) at a grocery store before we went to watch the street festival in Shimizu and I literally walked for over 10 blocks before seeing a place to throw it away. Or recycle, I should say, recycling is a big deal here because they burn their regular trash. I haven’t done trash yet at my apartment because I don’t know what needs to go where, but I think by law I’m supposed to write my name on the bag so if something is put in the wrong place they can come talk with me about it. I realized now that if I need a trash can I should look for vending machines – there’s almost always a recycling center next to a vending machine because most Japanese people purchase an item and stand by the machine until they’ve finished the item and THEN throw away the packaging. It’s considered rude I guess to walk and eat.
Before I talk about the street festival and the Hippy Shake Bar, I want to tell a little anecdote about my Saturday afternoon. I had been at my apartment cleaning the kitchen and doing piles of dishes that had been left me when my supervisor, Masuda sensei, showed up at my door with my new washing machine. It is very small and easily lifted and moved by one person. After we got it hooked up he asked me if I wanted to go out to lunch with him and another teacher at the school Narusawa sensei (I believe that is his name). I hadn’t eaten lunch yet and thought it would be fun so I quickly put on some presentable clothing, grabbed my wallet and jumped in the car. We had a nice lunch; Narusawa sensei doesn’t speak much English so we struggled through some conversation. At one point he had asked my hobbies and I mentioned “gi-ta wa hikimasu” which means playing the guitar and told them that I was looking to buy a cheap one here. After some discussion they offered to take me to Shizuoka City which is about a 40 min. drive. I didn’t really know what to say because often Japanese people will make an offer fully expecting that it will be turned down. (I have heard that the rule of thumb is to refuse them twice, and, if they offer a third time then they probably do really want to help you out.) So, hopefully I refused strongly enough – I really didn’t want to inconvenience them, but I guess Norusawa sensei lives in Shizuoka city and Masuda sensei’s apartment is on the way so it wasn’t too much of a burden. The plan was going to be for me to take the train back anyway, so it was a one way trip car ride for them. So here I go, I pay for my 980 yen meal and hop into the car for a 40 min. drive not having expected to purchase a guitar for some time still. As we get a few kilos down the road I realize that I didn’t bring my money belt! I hoped that I had enough money so that I wouldn’t have to come back a second time to make my purchase, especially since Masuda sensei was driving me there.
So, anyway, we get to Shizuoka City and park and walk to a music store located on the main shopping strip of a 1,000,000 population city. It’s quite busy and the street is narrow, but that doesn’t keep cars from driving right down the middle anyway. The music shop reminded me of a music go round or guitar center. It was a couple of stories high and sold lots of CDs and DVDs as well. I wanted to spend a good amount of time making a solid decision, so Masuda sensei and Narusawa sensei left me to shop and get back home on my own. I tried several guitars and finally decided on the intro package deal (it came with a soft carrying case – that was the big sell point) and it sounded acceptable for a $100 dollar guitar. I checked the price of 12,800 yen against my wallet to discover that I had 12,000 in bills…a bit short. Reaching into my change pocket I discovered a little over 1000 in change; so, 800 to the guitar and (hopefully!) enough money to buy a one way ticket home… I was banking on the fact that most prices listed in Japan include the tax already calculated in. Finding this to be true, I laid my 12,800 down in the little tray, received my packaged guitar and skipped gleefully out of the shop wondering how much a ticket to Kambara was going to cost…
Getting to the train station I checked the price list and found that a one way ticket cost 480. I had 510. I had just enough money to get home. If meal had cost 40 yen more, I would have been walking from the previous stop all the way back to my apartment. Arriving at Kambara station I approached the public telephone and used my remaining 30 yen to call Sarah asking her where to meet for the Shimizu street festival.
The festival itself was crazy. There were blocks upon endless blocks of groups of Japanese people all doing the same dance moves at the same time. I guess neighborhoods or friends or clubs or schools (or something) would get together and make costumes and then practice the dance moves. I think there were only about 5 or 6 songs because we kept hearing the same ones over and over for about 2 hours. It ended about 9:30, so we headed for the Hippy Shake...
My second day
Lord, keep my family safe. I found out this morning about the 35W bridge tragedy. The baseball coach and math teacher came into the teacher’s office this morning, addressed me and started saying something about Minnesota. I couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying, and then the vice-principal (Kyoto-sensei) took me to the internet and I saw some pictures. Then the other teacher brought over a copy of the daily Japan Times and it was on the front page. It said 4 were dead for sure with several in the hospital and 20 people missing. I thought about my dad and sister immediately and explained to the teachers that I live 10 min from the bridge and that my family may have driven on that road. I wrote you guys an e-mail, but as I don’t have internet yet, I can’t check to see if you’ve written back until Monday- tomorrow I will actually try to see if someone will let me check the internet on their keitai (cell phone). I know if something really bad had happened, I would have been contacted by now, so I’m doing O.K.
I did try to call you guys tonight as well- at a pay phone near my house. I didn’t really understand the instructions, but I think I got to the point where it said I didn’t have enough money to call the U.S., but the machine wouldn’t accept any more coins, so I don’t know what was wrong. Maybe a nice person will let me use their skype tomorrow or something. I was kind of frustrated at first, but then I thought about all the people living in the U.S. who aren’t able to contact their loved ones back in their home country. I think about Iraqi Americans who have family in Baghdad and how they must feel every single day. I think I can make it a couple of days.
My house is getting cleaner sloooooowly. I spent another almost 2 hours cleaning the kitchen- I cleaned the walls and the top of the entire counter and the sink and stove. I have yet to touch the toaster oven or fridge. I also haven’t wiped off the cupboard doors under the countertop. I think I will get up tomorrow morning and clean some more (Saturday). Masuda sensei will drop off my washing machine around 11:30-12:00, then sometime in the evening I will meet up with Sarah and some other ALTs to go to Shimizu to watch fireworks. Another cleaning day ahead…
I have to ask Masuda sensei how to use the tatami mat spray as well- I don’t know if I wrote this earlier, but I have tatami mats instead of carpet (it’s a Japanese thing) and apparently there are little mites or bug thingy-s that live inside the tatami. If I don’t stick this needle in the tatami and spray the insides the mites will crawl up into my futon and then into my body and cause an itchy rash. Right now my face is pretty itchy (and breaking out) because of the sticky humidity. And the smell hasn’t left my apartment yet. I think it might be the smell of old smoke? I also notice I don’t have a smoke alarm…maybe a good investment.
I had a fun moment this evening trying to communicate with a train station attendant. I was returning from a dinner at a “Western” restaurant with some other ALTs in the area by myself. (The restaurant was called CoCos; I had green curry). I was looking at the train stops and wondering how much it would cost to get a 3 or 6 month pass to have unlimited travel between Kambara station (near my house) and Fuji station (about 3 stops north). So I walked into the little (air conditioned!) office and said to the man, “I have a question.” The look he gave me was just priceless. He cocked his head ever so slightly, widened his eyes, and froze. Then, without changing the expression on his face he started shaking his head back and forth. I knew I was in for some fun trying to explain my inquiry. Anyway, we worked it out with a lot of sign language and my severe lack-age of Japanese grammar and vocabulary. It would cost about $240 for an unlimited 6 month pass. I’m not quite sure if that’s worth it, nor am I sure if Fuji is going to be the direction I want to go- maybe I’ll get a pass to go to Shimizu.
Well, the eyes are closing unaided at the moment, so I’m going to go quick rinse off in the shower then lie down on my hopefully mite free futon. I don’t need my skin any more itchy than it already is.
Luther
I did try to call you guys tonight as well- at a pay phone near my house. I didn’t really understand the instructions, but I think I got to the point where it said I didn’t have enough money to call the U.S., but the machine wouldn’t accept any more coins, so I don’t know what was wrong. Maybe a nice person will let me use their skype tomorrow or something. I was kind of frustrated at first, but then I thought about all the people living in the U.S. who aren’t able to contact their loved ones back in their home country. I think about Iraqi Americans who have family in Baghdad and how they must feel every single day. I think I can make it a couple of days.
My house is getting cleaner sloooooowly. I spent another almost 2 hours cleaning the kitchen- I cleaned the walls and the top of the entire counter and the sink and stove. I have yet to touch the toaster oven or fridge. I also haven’t wiped off the cupboard doors under the countertop. I think I will get up tomorrow morning and clean some more (Saturday). Masuda sensei will drop off my washing machine around 11:30-12:00, then sometime in the evening I will meet up with Sarah and some other ALTs to go to Shimizu to watch fireworks. Another cleaning day ahead…
I have to ask Masuda sensei how to use the tatami mat spray as well- I don’t know if I wrote this earlier, but I have tatami mats instead of carpet (it’s a Japanese thing) and apparently there are little mites or bug thingy-s that live inside the tatami. If I don’t stick this needle in the tatami and spray the insides the mites will crawl up into my futon and then into my body and cause an itchy rash. Right now my face is pretty itchy (and breaking out) because of the sticky humidity. And the smell hasn’t left my apartment yet. I think it might be the smell of old smoke? I also notice I don’t have a smoke alarm…maybe a good investment.
I had a fun moment this evening trying to communicate with a train station attendant. I was returning from a dinner at a “Western” restaurant with some other ALTs in the area by myself. (The restaurant was called CoCos; I had green curry). I was looking at the train stops and wondering how much it would cost to get a 3 or 6 month pass to have unlimited travel between Kambara station (near my house) and Fuji station (about 3 stops north). So I walked into the little (air conditioned!) office and said to the man, “I have a question.” The look he gave me was just priceless. He cocked his head ever so slightly, widened his eyes, and froze. Then, without changing the expression on his face he started shaking his head back and forth. I knew I was in for some fun trying to explain my inquiry. Anyway, we worked it out with a lot of sign language and my severe lack-age of Japanese grammar and vocabulary. It would cost about $240 for an unlimited 6 month pass. I’m not quite sure if that’s worth it, nor am I sure if Fuji is going to be the direction I want to go- maybe I’ll get a pass to go to Shimizu.
Well, the eyes are closing unaided at the moment, so I’m going to go quick rinse off in the shower then lie down on my hopefully mite free futon. I don’t need my skin any more itchy than it already is.
Luther
Day 1 in Kambara
*Deep breath of air…*
It is not quite 10pm and I am exhausted. My first day arriving in Kambara has been very long- I met my supervisor and several of the other senseis at Ihara High School including the principal, vice principals, the baseball coach and most of the English teachers. The introduction ceremony was a little nerve-wracking because we each (the ALTs) had to memorize a 5 sentence introduction in Japanese. I think I got most of it right the first time, but I definitely got better throughout the day as I repeated it to the principal and a couple other teachers as well as a couple of neighbors.
I took a lot of pictures of my apartment. It needs some cleaning. Ok, that’s an understatement. It needs to be washed down with a hose. Luckily I can do just that in the shower room/bathtub room because the shower is mounted outside the tub. In a Japanese style bath, one is supposed to fill a tub with water, fire up the heater underneath, rinse, soap and rinse with a shower outside the tub, and then climb in when one is totally clean. The bath is more for relaxation and several family members will use the same bath water. Luckily for me the utilities guys came over to the apartment this afternoon and turned the hot water heater on at my house so I can have hot water out of the tap any time I want it. This is not necessarily common- I’m living in a (newer…kind of) house.
The rest of the house smells kind of moldy or something. I can’t smell very well, but I know it doesn’t smell good. I think it has to do with the very humid and wet weather? I do have an air conditioner unit in one of the corners of one of my 3 rooms- I have it running right now with all the windows open to get some air going through it and to make sure it doesn’t poison me my first night in Japan. I also have a dehumidifier that was quite crusty, but I cleaned out the filter a bit and have that going. I do realize that with the windows open I’m kind of dehumidifying the whole world, but again I’m kind of seeing what it’s going to do if I let it run. I’ve already got almost a cup of water in it and it’s been running for 30 min. now.
Everything is really weird here. I’m still not used to the cars driving on the left side of the road. I keep thinking that cars turning left from our right are going to smash right into us. Everything is much smaller too. The glasses at dinner are pretty small, so I think I haven’t been drinking enough liquids and am a little dehydrated. My supervisor (I still can’t remember his name tho I’ve been told at least 10 times), Oeda sensei, Yamaguchi sensei, another JTE who I forgot her name and Sarah (the other ALT I’ll be working with at Ihara High) all went out to eat and out shopping. They all led me around and made suggestions about to buy and let me browse a bit- I’m going to have to go back and spend a few hours in the 2 stores figuring out what is buyable for a 23 year old American boy. Both the Mega Mart (kind of like a miniature wal-mart) and the grocery store are open 24 hours, so that will be nice. I didn’t really know what to get at the grocery store because I can’t really tell what anything is. I ended up getting some eggs, a loaf of bread that is only 8 slices big (as big as they get), some kellogs corn flakes with katakana written on them, some soy milk and some ham. I also bought some me-ronpan or melon bread because Mike was always so nostalgic about it. It was pretty decent. I also tried some melon flavored Fanta at dinner tonight which wasn’t so subtle- a brilliant green color and sharp taste.
Sarah is really nice and showed me the route to bike to get from between the train station and the school. I hope I can remember the way tomorrow morning as I have to be at work at 8:00…
My eyes keep closing so I have to stop typing, but more will definitely be on its way. There’s just so much that it takes forever to write these overviews- maybe I’ll just stick to a few of the details and explain them more in depth next time…
Luther
It is not quite 10pm and I am exhausted. My first day arriving in Kambara has been very long- I met my supervisor and several of the other senseis at Ihara High School including the principal, vice principals, the baseball coach and most of the English teachers. The introduction ceremony was a little nerve-wracking because we each (the ALTs) had to memorize a 5 sentence introduction in Japanese. I think I got most of it right the first time, but I definitely got better throughout the day as I repeated it to the principal and a couple other teachers as well as a couple of neighbors.
I took a lot of pictures of my apartment. It needs some cleaning. Ok, that’s an understatement. It needs to be washed down with a hose. Luckily I can do just that in the shower room/bathtub room because the shower is mounted outside the tub. In a Japanese style bath, one is supposed to fill a tub with water, fire up the heater underneath, rinse, soap and rinse with a shower outside the tub, and then climb in when one is totally clean. The bath is more for relaxation and several family members will use the same bath water. Luckily for me the utilities guys came over to the apartment this afternoon and turned the hot water heater on at my house so I can have hot water out of the tap any time I want it. This is not necessarily common- I’m living in a (newer…kind of) house.
The rest of the house smells kind of moldy or something. I can’t smell very well, but I know it doesn’t smell good. I think it has to do with the very humid and wet weather? I do have an air conditioner unit in one of the corners of one of my 3 rooms- I have it running right now with all the windows open to get some air going through it and to make sure it doesn’t poison me my first night in Japan. I also have a dehumidifier that was quite crusty, but I cleaned out the filter a bit and have that going. I do realize that with the windows open I’m kind of dehumidifying the whole world, but again I’m kind of seeing what it’s going to do if I let it run. I’ve already got almost a cup of water in it and it’s been running for 30 min. now.
Everything is really weird here. I’m still not used to the cars driving on the left side of the road. I keep thinking that cars turning left from our right are going to smash right into us. Everything is much smaller too. The glasses at dinner are pretty small, so I think I haven’t been drinking enough liquids and am a little dehydrated. My supervisor (I still can’t remember his name tho I’ve been told at least 10 times), Oeda sensei, Yamaguchi sensei, another JTE who I forgot her name and Sarah (the other ALT I’ll be working with at Ihara High) all went out to eat and out shopping. They all led me around and made suggestions about to buy and let me browse a bit- I’m going to have to go back and spend a few hours in the 2 stores figuring out what is buyable for a 23 year old American boy. Both the Mega Mart (kind of like a miniature wal-mart) and the grocery store are open 24 hours, so that will be nice. I didn’t really know what to get at the grocery store because I can’t really tell what anything is. I ended up getting some eggs, a loaf of bread that is only 8 slices big (as big as they get), some kellogs corn flakes with katakana written on them, some soy milk and some ham. I also bought some me-ronpan or melon bread because Mike was always so nostalgic about it. It was pretty decent. I also tried some melon flavored Fanta at dinner tonight which wasn’t so subtle- a brilliant green color and sharp taste.
Sarah is really nice and showed me the route to bike to get from between the train station and the school. I hope I can remember the way tomorrow morning as I have to be at work at 8:00…
My eyes keep closing so I have to stop typing, but more will definitely be on its way. There’s just so much that it takes forever to write these overviews- maybe I’ll just stick to a few of the details and explain them more in depth next time…
Luther
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