Zippys and Poker

I'm sitting at the Narita Airport meeting point, taking advantage of 500yen/day internet, and watching Muppet Treasure Island.  24 hours ago I was eating Zippys chili with my friends.

The past week was a whirlwind of friends and food.  I think I gained 5 pounds.  Trips home always seem to center around seeing people and eating as much as possible (usually at the same time).  Although it rained the entire time and I didn't set foot on a beach, I ate spinach-garlic pizza at Boston's, dimsum from Chinatown, Genki sushi, manapua, and Zippy's chili twice (and that made it feel like home).

I also beat my friends at poker.  That was a nice bonus :)

Home for Christmas

Christmas in Hawaii: trip to the Big Island, Chinese food, Christmas Eve church service, photos in front of the tree, opening presents, drama, and flying home.

We lost our dog.  Fluffy (don't laugh, I named her when I was 5 years old), our one-eyed, blind, deaf, 17 year old dog with liver problems somehow managed to get out from her little enclosure sometime in the night of the 23rd.  The next morning my mom and uncle searched for two hours around and under the house, but she was no where to be found.  I arrived on the Big Island later that day and we searched again, but we still could not find her.  It rained really hard that night and the next two nights.  We asked the neighbors, called the humane society, and searched everywhere around the house.  Nothing.

Honestly, I'm sad.  We adopted Fluffy as a distraction from a larger family issue (unknown to me and my sister at the time), and she's been a part of my life since then.  Her health has been declining for a few years, and when I left for Japan in August, I knew there was a good chance that I would never see my dog again.  While it's a relief to know that my mom won't come home from work one day to find Fluffy's lifeless body, it hurts to think that she might be cold, hungry, and lost with only the hope that someone will find her.

The image that keeps flickering on close-up on the 3-D IMAX of my mind (who gets the reference?) is of Todd sitting in our red reclining chair with Fluffy in his lap.  She loved him, and every single time he came over to my house, she would jump into his lap and stay there while he patted her head.

Anyway, I leave on Saturday to go back to Japan.  I'm now 99% sure I will be re-contracting with JET.

そんなの関係ね！

I guess I shouldn`t be surprised at where I am right now. Not the literal “at the computer in the office of my junior high school,” but in life. I`m incredibly lucky to have essentially fallen into doing things that make me happy. I fell into Willamette on a whim, and ended up being extremely happy (my friend couldn`t make her Willamette interview, so she offered her time slot to me. I went and met Teresa, who is an absolutely amazing human being, and in an hour she effectively convinced me to at least apply to Willamette. One thing led to another and months later, her words still buzzed around in my head and I accepted their offer with a “why not?” attitude). Now I find myself in Japan. While I considered applying for the program for awhile, I wasn`t fully motivated (as some of my fellow WU grads were/are) and I only started my application three days before it was due (including references and an essay).

Anyway, as Koshino Yoshio would say, “そんなの関係ね”(What does that matter?)

I don`t know. It`s the last day of school and I have nothing to do, and I just felt like writing a post that wasn`t simply a re-cap of my latest crazy weekend.

I`m going back to Hawaii tomorrow. I will be in warm, sunny weather in less than 48 hours (I`m making myself believe that it`s tomorrow morning, because technically, for me, it is). I leave Japan at 8pm on Saturday (tomorrow evening), and I arrive in Hawaii at 8am on Saturday (tomorrow morning). Ah, the joy of time zones.

I have to turn in my paperwork about whether I`m going to recontract or not. Although I`m 75% sure I`m going to stay, I decided to wait to make my final decision until after I come back from Hawaii. The combination of having a full-time job and being in Japan has really forced me to think about what I want to do for the next years of my life. Today one of my co-workers asked me when I decided I wanted to become a teacher. I responded that I still haven`t decided yet. The latest newsletter from the Programme said that procrastination is not a good reason for recontracting. I don`t think of this job as procrastination as much as I think it`s research.

Last week I called the summer school office for fun, and my friends updated me about hiring and the new computer system. The summer school office is a great temporary job. It`s fun, in a comfortable environment with people I enjoy, allows me to use Japanese, and plays to my organizational skills. I would be lying if I said I wasn`t a little jealous of the new hires. If that office was in Japan (and I was an average Japanese young single female), it would be an ideal job for me. Many of my friends who are average Japanese young single females and they are looking for essentially the same kind of work; something fun where they can use their English skills. The trick is that these women are not expected to work for longer then 10 years (if not 5). A shrinking majority of women in Japan quit work after they have children (I say shrinking because lately not many women are having children, but that`s a whole other story). If I had school-age children who would benefit from my employment, it becomes a whole other situation. However, I don`t.

What does this matter? I believe if I go back to Hawaii, I will probably end up going to UH grad school for English Literature and/or working at the summer school office. Last year, around this time, I was telling people that I would probably end up in Japan teaching English the following year. Five years ago, around this time, I was telling people that I would probably end up at a small liberal arts school, probably in Oregon. Both came true. Both worked out well. Both made me extremely happy, although they were, initially, my back-up plans.

I don`t know if anything will change if I stay in Japan another year. Yes, my Japanese will get better (I hope). Yes, I`ll make new friends and easy money and gain two years of classroom experience to put on my resume. On the other hand, I don`t want to go into travel, tourism, or international business, and Japanese ability won`t help me get a job as an English teacher (although it helps in the summer school office).

Construction and TIUA Predeparture

My Saturdays for the past three weeks have been consumed by construction and that makes me sad.

December 1st (aka my first free Saturday since October): Fire alarm man came to my apartment to install fire alarms. He then proceeded to go into a 5 minute long explanation of how to work the fire alarm in Japanese. The only thing I understood was that I should change the battery every 10 years. Eventually he noticed my blank look and asked if I understood. I shook my head no, explained my situation, and he said "pii pii pii botan poosh" which I directly translate as "beep beep beep button push." About an hour later another guy came to do something with the pipes. After about an hour of loud noise and general construction stuff, he said he would come back to finish next week (he had simply put holes in my walls and stuffed them with newspaper). Pipe man also requested that I move my cabinet, refrigerator, and cupboard out of the way and take everything out from under the sink and the bathroom.

Fastforward one week to December 8. I move everything I have been instructed to move. The info sheet said they would come between 8:30 and 4:30. I wait. I wait longer. I wait longer. Finally, 5pm rolls around and no one has shown up. Sadness. I check the sheet of paper they gave me. "17 12 16" (aka December 16). (Apparently he said "saraishu"(next next week) instead of "raishu" (next week).

Fastforward one week to December 16. My apartment is in general disarray. I wake up at exactly 8:30 to the sound of my doorbell. Pipe man hath arrived. Commence with frantic moving of furniture. My water is shut off. I have not yet showered, brushed my teeth, etc. He leaves at 4 after asking me if my children like my Christmas tree. After my answer in the negative, he asked if I would put my husband's present under the tree. At least he helped me move my furniture back.

On the bright side, construction is over. My water now tastes different and it foams with bubbles if I turn it on high power.

Meanwhile, Wayne and others from the TIUA staff came over from Oregon for the predeparture meeting from the 4th through the 8th. It was a long week of enkais and reunions and okonomiyaki.

Friday night was Bollywood night at an English Pub in Omiya. It was generally an odd night, but I got to catch up with my friends who will be off in Thailand until next year.

Last night was a huge TIUA 2006 reunion party. It was awesome.

Which brings us to now. I'm sick. I leave for Hawaii on Saturday. I have almost zero shopping done. My apartment is a mess. However, construction is over, I'll be on or near a beach in a week, and it's holiday season.

Evan and Nick

I lied. Evan had a cold and as a result I treated him to perhaps the most boring weekend in Tokyo/Kawagoe/Hidaka ever. On a positive note, my language partner seemed to enjoy meeting someone new and Evan and I ate ramen at my favorite ramen shop.

After his conference, he made his way back up to Hidaka just in time for our weekly mah jong night. I`m not sure if I`ve mentioned it before (and I`m far too lazy to check), but four of us in Hidaka have started playing mah jong every Wednesday night. By "playing" I mean stumbling through a game or two (we`re currently attempting to tackle the complexities of scoring).

Unfortunately for Evan, I had a plane to catch early on Friday morning, so I left him in my apartment (it would be cruel to make him also get up at 4). The 2-hr train ride to Haneda airport was surprisingly gorgeous (I got to see the sunrise over Tokyo). I made it through the airport with no difficulties (fyi, Skymark Airlines staff have remarkably good English skills), and promptly fell asleep for the entire duration of the flight.

Sapporo wasn`t as cold as I anticipated it to be, although I was shocked to find out it gets dark before 5 (I don`t know how people in Alaska can handle it. Yes, I`m referencing Melissa). The snow was fun and I managed to make it through the entire weekend without falling on my face (although there were a number of close calls). I met a bunch of Nick`s friends including a guy from Washington DC who I promised to take out clubbing with us in Tokyo sometime, and a Japanese guy who may be studying in Hawaii in the future.

Ironically, I didn`t do much in the way of "Sapporo stuff," but I did get to eat soup curry (basically exactly what it sounds like) and ramen with corn (apparently two of the things Hokkaido is known for). I was also introduced to Marimokkori, the mascot of Hokkaido. This little green figure represents the abundance of a certain seaweed found only in Hokkaido that is either known for making men fertile or making them larger and, as a result, has a rather prominent bulge. Marimokkori can be found in a number of different outfits and colors, but his most common incarnation is with a superhero cape.

Anyway, we wandered around Susukino (allegedly the AIDS capital of Japan). The area of the city was pretty quiet since it was early afternoon, but it was fascinating to see signs listing the names of the 20+ bars and clubs that were located in a single building that, to the unfamiliar eye, appeared to be a regular office building. We also visited Odori Park`s annual White Illumination display (basically like most Christmas lights displays except mostly white lights). At the center of the park was the German market. I found this fascinating because most of the booths were staffed by Germans. As the shopkeepers bustled about in their little lighted stalls and the Japanese shoppers peered into the stores, the market seemed almost zoo-like. Other highlights include the Sapporo Tower (which seems to be a knock-off of Tokyo Tower which is itself a knock-off of the Eiffel Tower) and a woman playing a synthesizer inside a giant bubble with giant speakers. As with any night out, we also went to an izakaya (restaurant where drinks take priority over food) and karaoke.

Nick is also getting sick. So is Dan. There is a good chance I will be getting sick this week.

I came home yesterday, had dinner with Dan, and watched the Sopranos. Today is Day 1 of final exams at my junior high school, so I have no classes. I taught for exactly 20 minutes on Thursday (and Friday was a holiday). However, my co-workers seemed to enjoy the cookies and corn-chocolate that I brought them, so the day is going well.

Hidaka city people festival and a teacher's trip to an onsen

My general habit with this blog is to post on Sundays. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted last Sunday that I neglected to update. Bad llama!

I'll start by sharing with you why I was so tired. Last weekend was the 日高市民祭り (Hidaka city people festival), and the office thought it was a good opportunity for us to teach the city about what an AET is (in JET lingo, my job is ALT - Assistant Language Teacher, in Hidaka, my job is AET - Assistant English Teacher). As a result, the six of us found ourselves spending most of the weekend at the Hidaka arena and making hand turkeys and snowflakes with children. Kaz did a lot of breakdancing, and I danced a little hula. A highlight of the weekend was dancing for the mayor who kept exclaiming "sugoi!" and insisting I teach the local hula group how to "do real hula."

*sidenote that has a related purpose*
At least four of us (maybe more, I'm not sure) take our dry cleaning to the same little shop near our apartments. She's super sweet, and recognizes all of us (not that hard, but still its nice that she asks us how teaching is going).

Anyway, she complimented Kaz's dancing by saying "黒人のおどりすごい！" which essentially translates to "the black person's dancing is awesome!" She previously said to another AET (in Japanese) that "your black friend has really good Japanese."

I also crashed my bike into a guardrail on the way to the arena. It hurt alot, and it was only a few days ago that I was able to sit on my bike with out pain. Sad, I know.

The smart thing to do after working from 8-4 when you know you have to do it all over again the next day is to go home and sleep. Dan and I went out instead. Our friend Albert hosted a party only four train stops away, so we really couldn't not go. Furthermore, he prepared Cuban food (black beans over rice), and I never had Cuban food before (it was pretty good!). To condense a long, awesome night into a short paragraph, we played a really fast game of "I never," had a mini-dance party, and took a ton of photos. One of my favorite moments of the night involved my friend Amy exclaiming "I've never felt pleasure like this before!" while I was giving her a back massage. The hilarity was further compounded when Albert, from whom Amy stole the massage by inserting herself between Albert and me, said "I want to feel pleasure too!" As expected, Dan and I (intentionally) missed the last train so the party turned into a big sleepover.

Unfortunately, the next morning, Dan and I had to go back to the festival. We left Albert's apartment at 6:30. It was painful for a number of reasons (not the least of which involved my bicycle and a guardrail).

Then I came home and slept.

You would think, since we worked the weekend, we would get Monday and Tuesday off. But no, instead we got two "substitute holidays" to be used for a day when we don't have class (in other words, the days we would be doing nothing in the 教育センター (education center). One of these days was used on Wednesday. I'm not really sure what the holiday was, but here are the facts I know: only people in Saitama get the holiday (therefore its not a national holiday), my VP told the other teachers that they had to take nenkyu (paid leave), and my co-teacher, when talking about the holiday, sang "Happy Birthday" to Saitama. Essentially, it seems as though its a birthday celebration for the prefecture, but they don't care enough to make it a real holiday.

Anyway, since we had Wednesday off, Dan, Zac, and I decided to go out and meet up with our friend Sabrina in her area of Saitama (for reference, Sabrina is the girl who missed her last train and ended up spending the night at my apartment). First stop was dinner at a restaurant that was half-restaurant, half-child's toy box, and half-greenhouse (it's like manbearpig. if you don't get the reference, don't ask). Next, we went bowling. Dan lost, and as a result, he lost a bet. In the interest of preserving your impression of my friends and I as responsible, mature people who are sane enough to work with children, I won't go into details except to say I will be surprised if we actually go through with the terms of the bet. After bowling was a bar where Zac could not keep his hands off a display of daikon (again, don't ask) and Dan and Sabrina were sure the waitstaff was laughing at them behind their backs. We missed the last train and spent the night at Sabrina's apartment.

Breakfast the next morning was at Denny's. As one of my TIUA students proudly said, "Denny's in Japan has rrrrrice!" (he was very proud of his ability to pronounce the letter"r"). We then watched Bourne Identity, and I felt sick from the shaky camera. Lunch/dinner was at an odd Chinese restaurant.

As with Sunday, after I returned home, I promptly fell asleep.

As if my life didn't sound crazy enough, the following Friday was my school's annual teacher's trip. We went to an onsen in "Tokyo" (actually far away from the city, but in the prefecture). It was absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of fun. The main downside was I was exhausted from listening to/speaking Japanese all day. The enkai (a work dinner party that is more about drinking and pouring drinks for others than the actual food) was a lot of fun and was followed by the best way I've seen to get people to sing karaoke. We played bingo (I had fun and made them call the numbers in English), and the winner was awarded a prize and forced to sing. I won a scarf and sang "Yesterday" with the art teacher who really likes English. The onsen was fun, and the water felt amazing (i think it was diverted from the nearby river). The next day we went up a mountain on a cable car and saw a temple. I'd write more about it, but that's about it.

I then hopped on a train and met my friend Evan (from Willamette). He has a conference in Tokyo this week, so he came up a couple of days early to visit. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do yet, but I'm near Tokyo, so I'm sure we'll find something interesting.

MYC and four days in Omiya

I attended Saitama prefecture's midyear conference last week Wednesday and Thursday. I will say this past week has been one of the most interesting weeks I've had since I've been here. On Tuesday I taught five classes (essentially by myself as always) at my elementary school. It was a weird day in that my emotions rollercoastered up and down all day. My vice-principal came up to me in the 2 minutes I was at the junior high school to make sure I was okay. He told me that if I wanted to go home, that would be okay. He was super sweet, and (embarrassingly) I cried. Then I had to teach three classes of 5th graders how to say "I have a pencil." I thought the day was going to be one of my hardest, but teaching really picks me up. The hardest parts of the day were the five minute breaks between classes since that's when I had my thoughts to myself. When I returned to my junior high school, my principal sat down next to me and started talking. His English is terrible, so we talked in Japanese. Long story short, he was also really supportive and told me I didn't have to go to work the next day if I didn't feel up for it.

However, the next day I had no choice but to go to the Saitama conference. The first day's speaker was interesting, but irrelevant. The second day's speaker was relevant, but boring. The highlight was the post-conference party and actually talking to the other Saitama ALTs. Again, long story short, Kristine and I had a minor disagreement that, in the end, solved an aggravating problem, Zac wandered away from the group, and everyone got home safely.

Fast forward to Friday night. I went out for the first time with a big bunch of people I didn't know that well without my security blanket of Hidaka AETS. It was awesome. Enough said.

Fast forward to Saturday night. I met up with essentially a smaller version of the same group from Friday night plus Shane and Ryohei. 8 hours of wine and 2 hours of karaoke later, and I can comfortably say I've made new friends in Saitama. There are facebook photos (and a video or two) to prove it.

It was a great weekend.