a plea for help

Okay, so this isn't totally related to Japan, but I wanted to start of with a message to all my buddies in the Atlanta area:

These guys need your help!

Alerted by my good friend, the Duke of Shonk, I am greatly distressed to come across this news. For those of you who don't know, Wordsmiths is, while not the largest store, an absolutely lovely place to be. Their staff is friendly and outgoing, their special events often and fun, and their hours unusually long. It's nice to know that if I've got time to kill on a Saturday night, there's somewhere I can go that is not a restaurant or a bar. (And I've killed a lot of time at Wordsmiths in the past!) I've seen plenty little indie stores come and go in the boutique monster of Decatur, but this is one worth saving. Even if you don't want to donate your money outright, maybe go have a look around and throw them some business. Every little bit helps.





Alright, and that's the end of my public service announcement. News from abroad!

I arrived home on Monday to find that Stephanie had done an absolutely killer job cleaning the apartment. Seriously. I wish I had taken before and after photos. She packed away a ton of stuff, did the dishes, vacuumed about a million times, even moved furniture! The feng shui is way better now.

I began unpacking a bit while she stepped out to post some packages, and got most of my clothes, toiletries, et cetera put away, as well as setting out a few framed photos I had slipped into my luggage. I think my favorite is the one of myself and Reid at my high school graduation (it's a seriously good photo), so I gave it a place of honor in its own little cubby on the TV stand.

When Stephanie got back, I let her bum some illicit wireless on my computer, and then we went and got takoyaki. (So delicious.) We watched "Death to Smoochy" to kill some time, and finally went to bed.

Yesterday was her last day in town. I got rescued from my endless language study to go with Wakabayashi-sensei and Matsushita-san, a really nice guy who works in the main office, back to my apartment for the realtor check. Mostly Stephanie and I just stood around while they talked to the realtor lady about the broken kitchen fan and getting my name put on the contract. I would like to take a moment, though, to remark on how funny Wakabayashi-sensei and Matsushita-san act together. For a good portion of the ride to my apartment, they were debating (in English) which of their cars was "scrap," and from there proceeded into really slangy Kansai-ben Japanese. Also, Wakabayashi-sensei calls Matsushita-san "Macchan," which is essentially a really cutesy nickname. Me and Stephanie just looked at each other and giggled when we heard it.

Afterwards, I got to kill more time by accompanying Steph and Wakabayashi-sensei back to the phone store to finish canceling her keitai, and then she and I went to lunch. (Once again at Bisque. Anyone who comes to visit me will get taken there, because it seems to be among the best restaurants in town. I really like it, anyway.)

Back at work, I did more of the same, though Tanaka-sensei thoughtfully brought over a Japanese sweet called o-dango for me to try. Then I got money and maps for my trip to Kyoto Orientation, and then we went to see Stephanie off at the train station. By then it was almost four o'clock, and I get off at four fifteen, so Wakabayashi-sensei suggested he run me by the grocery store and just take me on home.

I met with Nelis briefly yesterday evening to suss out our travel plans for today, but other than that, accomplished very little. We're meeting today around 1:30 at Sonobe Station, from which we'll travel together to the Rubino hotel in Kyoto for our prefectural orientation. Somehow, I'd almost rather stay here, but maybe I'll do some shopping while I'm in town.

Well. Wish me luck.






Kansai-ben: a particular dialect of Japanese spoken by people in the Kansai area (which is often co-opted by comedians, if that tells you anything). It comes across as pretty casual and slangy, with a lot of "-nya" sounds in it.

o-dango: a type of Japanese sweet made, I believe, from flour. It's got a chewy texture, almost doughy, and tastes a lot like cinnamon. I quite liked it.

Monday, Monday.

I've only been in the office an hour and a half, and already I'm sleepy. (And a wee bit grumpy, as my back hurts. Must have slept in some funny position.) Excluding yesterday, though, I've been relatively busy since my last communique on Thursday afternoon.

True to my word, I got paid at four o'clock (already about five hundred dollars, and I'd only been on the job, what, four days?), and then we drove around town a bit. I remained glued to the car window, trying to fix the location of everything in my mind. I haven't gone on any long excursions into the wilds of Sonobe from the apartment yet, but I also haven't gotten lost yet, so I'll count that as a win.

Thursday evening, Stephanie and I hopped the train into Kyoto city to meet a few friends of hers for kaitenzushi. I have quickly discovered that I have an extra stomach just for sushi, allowing me to eat great amounts. Fortunately for my weight and my wallet, I managed to restrain myself from going overboard. (Though it didn't stop being tempting.) I was introduced to Stephanie's pals Nick and Jane, who both live in Arashiyama (another stop on the same train line as Sonobe, but much closer to the city). Jane is staying on another year, but Nick is leaving soon, and being replaced by a South African girl named Lerato. I recognized her from orientation, and we had a few nice conversations.

After dinner we wandered around a nearby shopping arcade for a bit, where I bought two pairs of lacy dress socks (huzzah dollar store) and a box of blueberry tea. When we went home, Stephanie got off with the others at Arashiyama. It was her last night to say goodbye to Nick, and they were going to set off some fireworks. I was really tired, though, so I went on home. By some miracle, I did not get lost in the dark during the twenty minute walk from Sonobe station to our flat, though there were a few nervous moments when I thought I had.

Friday at work was spent, like most everyday in the office so far, alternately brushing up on my Japanese or chatting with Stephanie and Wakabayashi-sensei. He is a trip to talk to, and we had some nice long conversations about law, and politics, and international relations. I was surprised to learn about the North Korean Mass Games, which somehow I had never heard of. That is some serious business.

Stephanie and I grabbed a large lunch at this really tasty restaurant called Bisque, and in the afternoon we went to get me a keitai and to have Stephanie's cancelled. It took two hours to get my plan and everything set up, and then have the phone activated, so we ended up getting off of work an hour later than usual. Poor Wakabayashi-sensei hates bureaucracy and paperwork, and he got stuck translating for me! (I think I'm going to give him some peach coffee I brought from home as a thank-you.)

On the upside, the phone is rad. Cute, pale pink, with an (admittedly not great) camera, text messaging, internet access (though I'll use that sparingly), et cetera. Through much trial and tribulation, I even navigated a Japanese website to download myself a fun ringtone; "Hikari no Machi" by the band TOKIO.

Friday night we went and met the other local foreigners at a place called Good Bar. The local foreigners mainly consist of: myself, Stephanie (who is leaving tomorrow), Nelis (the SA kid in my apartment block), Mike (an American here on another English teaching program, who is leaving soon), and Brad (a British guy here on the same program as Mike, but who is staying on). There's also Kristin, who will be working with me, but she's in Canada on vacation currently. Also, Mike is being replaced by some British person named Timothy Vickerman. I suspect he might hate us when he arrives, because we have already nicknamed him Vickers.

We arrived to find Good Bar closed, actually, but Mike just called the owner up, as they are apparently good friends. We poked around in the supermarket to kill time, and after fifteen or so minutes, the owner, Hiro, appeared to open the bar for us. I ate a decent ham and egg sandwich on garlic toast, and we all mainly got to know each other.

On Saturday, I woke up naturally around 9:30 a.m., and spent the morning laying around the apartment and finishing the second season of Dexter. (Whoa, by the way.) Stephanie had left before I awoke, off to visit her sister in Hiroshima for two days. Around 10:30, I received a text message from Brad, who was going into a local town called Kameoka for some shopping, and wanted to know if I'd join him. I got myself cleaned up and met him at the station at 12:30, only to discover that he was driving! So we piled into his little two-seater car, and hit the road.

In Kameoka, Brad mostly showed me some good shops to get used goods (called "recycle shops" here). I bought a cute pink umbrella, which I'm really tempted to use as a parasol against the melting summer sun. Then we went once again to kaitenzushi (it never gets old, I'm telling you), and headed back to Sonobe. As we approached town, Brad mentioned that there was a lake nearby, and did I want to see it? Neither of us had anything better to do, so off we went, driving on through Sonobe and up to Hiyoshi Dam. The lake was quite pretty, and we spent a good hour just driving on these nearly empty mountain roads around it, listening to KT Tunstall in the background, with everything all green and sunshiny and overlooking the water. It was a lovely time. Often we weren't positive where we were going, but we just followed the edge of the lake and rivers as best we could, stumbling across a little campsite, the town of Hiyoshi, and managing to accidentally find our way back to the Dam in the process.

At last on our way back, Brad was kind enough to take me by the grocery store, so I wouldn't have to lug my purchases home through the heat. I only bought a little bit to get me through the weekend; bread, jam, some truly good camembert cheese, Japanese rice snacks, and a bit of pre-marinated beef that didn't cook up so well in the end.

We broke for dinner at five o'clock, having had a four and a half hour adventure, and then made another short trip to Good Bar that night with Nelis. Poor kid had to work that day, even though it was Saturday, because his school was having an open house. He seems a bit stressed every time I see him, and for a variety of reasons; most of all, because this is his first time ever out of South Africa, and he doesn't speak any Japanese. I think he's beginning to settle in, though, and we're all trying to help him out where we can.

As for yesterday, I did a whole lot of nothing. I read some, sketched a little picture, and watched a whole lot of Japanese television. My excuse is that it's improving my comprehension. Yes.

Stephanie got home in the evening, and we cleaned out a lot of old food in the kitchen, and then, under the cover of darkness, she snuck a microwave left here by Kristin out to the garbage pile. Evidently, it would cost some 100 dollars to dispose of properly, which is why she was sneaky.

I also finally spoke to my parents via Skype, which was nice. I miss all of you guys in the States! Get this program, it's golden!

And this morning so far has been, continuing endlessly, studying Japanese. There is so much I've forgotten! (And also, I have nothing else to do, as Stephanie's last day was Friday, and Wakabayashi-sensei is in Mie Prefecture for the day. On my own, and trying to look busy!) Ah, well. Back to it, I suppose.



kaitenzushi: Literally, "revolving sushi." You sit by a counter, and a bunch of tiny little plates with usually two pieces of sushi each come scooting by on a conveyor belt. You just grab off whichever ones you want to eat, and then get charged for the number of plates you consume.

keitai: Japanese word for a cell phone.

Hikari no Machi: Literally, "City of Light." It's a good song, so check it out! :)

Sonobe-cho!

The last day of Tokyo Orientation was not so great. A bit of stress, a lot of sleeping. I woke up to a thunderstorm at one point, which meant a sweet view of the lightning from our room on the 36th floor. I slept through dinner, woke up to Briana returning at midnight, and watched two episodes of Dexter on my computer before crashing again.

Wednesday morning was check-out and get out. All the Kyoto JETs met downstairs at 9:15, hopped the train to Tokyo Station, bought lunch and then boarded the shinkansen just after 11. On the two-hour ride I sat between Fig and a nice girl from D.C. named Christine, who reminded me just a bit of the indominatable Jen Roust. Then we hustled through Kyoto Station, up two thousand escalators with all of our orientation luggage, and into some sort of international center. As we waited in line to be let inside, I met Cornelis Van Staden, the South African guy who is living in my same apartment complex. When we realized how close by we lived, we agreed to travel to next week's Kyoto Orientation together. (These orientations never end!)

Finally we went into a small meeting room. Inside were a bunch of Japanese people wearing business suits: the supervisors from our contracting organizations. Waiting for me was a friendly middle-aged man named Wakabayashi. After a short ceremony and some introductions, we were sent off to our various towns. Wakabayashi-sensei and I boarded yet another train out of Kyoto, northwest until we hit Sonobe, my new hometown! Along the way I learned that Wakabayashi-sensei is a kind and funny human being, who has done a lot of traveling and loves fast cars and guns. (Both of which surprised and tickled me, considering that this is Japan. Apparently he goes to a shooting range, and is a pretty fair shot. Also, he owns an Alpha Romeo, an Italian car of which only 1000 were made. He drives it on a closed course.)

Our first stop in Sonobe was at Sonobe Senior High, my new workplace. (Being ogled by students all along the way. Boy, we surprised some girls in the train station.) I met the principal, Mr. Mori, and a thousand other staff members whose names I'm working on. Also, I finally met Stephanie, my cheerful kiwi predecessor, with whom I've been exchanging emails for some time now. She strikes me as a lot of fun, and has been very patient and helpful so far. Too bad she has to leave just as I arrive!

The apartment isn't huge by American standards, but is very reasonable for Japanese. Three rooms plus the bath; kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom. All in Japanese style, with tatami and a futon for me to sleep on. There's sort of stuff everywhere, as Stephanie is just in the middle of moving out, but I think it'll be nice when I finally unpack properly sometime next week.

I and Stephanie were also kindly taken out to dinner by the principal, along with Wakabayashi-sensei and another English teacher named Takemura-sensei. She seems very sweet! The meal was delicious, and we had a pretty decent conversation -- half in English, half in Japanese. Back at the apartment, Stephanie and I watched Knocked Up and hit the sack. (We're sharing the apartment until she leaves.)

This morning Stephanie and I walked to school, and she showed me around me a bit and gave me a packet of information. Then Wakabayashi-sensei and I went and got me some passport-sized photos taken, and applied at City Hall for an Alien Registration Card. (For which I needed the aforementioned photos.) Coincidentally, we ran into Cornelis and his supervisor, who were there doing the same. It was nice to see him again; I hope we can become friends!

Next we stopped by the apartment to pick up a tax form I'd brought along from the IRS, which we gave to the office lady, whose name may or may not be Takaya-san. Stephanie and I braved the abysmal heat to go get lunch, a fried-chicken bento from a little stand run by two middle-aged ladies. It was quite good, but I couldn't eat it all, because my stomach was a bit queasy. (I think from being overheated. I drank a lot of water in response, and now feel much better.)

After lunch Wakabayashi-sensei took us to the local bank, where I opened an account, and Stephanie closed hers. And that's up to the minute! At four o'clock or so I get to go pick up my very first paycheck, for the five days I'll have spent here in Japan, and then we're going to go poke around town. (In Wakabayashi-sensei's car, thank goodness. It really is unbearably humid. Makes me feel faint!)

To make a long story short, I'm optimistic. Sonobe is small, but it seems like a nice enough place! :D







shinkansen: the bullet train! It goes 300 km an hour...so about 170 miles, maybe? Anyways, it's super fast, and costs almost as much as a plane ticket. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay!

sensei: the Japanese word for teacher, used in place of san

tatami: woven mats used in place of rugs or carpets

futon: a padded pallet placed on the floor and slept on instead of a western-style bed

san the Japanese equivalent of Mr. or Ms.

bento: quite literally, a lunch box. A plastic carry-out box of assorted foods, that usually come in pre-determined sets.