Back to life, back to reality

Yesterday afternoon, I said goodbye to Ritchie at the train station in Tokyo and made my way back to Kehi. I'm back at school today after working only intermittently for the past two weeks and it is definitely a change from the sleeping in and late morning coffee drinking that I've been doing. Ritchie and I backpacked around Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo and saw over one thousand statues of Buddha (quite literally), learned more about Buddhism than either of us ever thought we'd learn, fed the sacred deer in Nara, and gawked at the Harajuku girls in Tokyo. My eardrums are still recovering from Carlton's rendition of 'Shot Through the Heart' at karaoke on Saturday night and my back is still recovering from sleeping on random futons at random Japanese inns. Now it's back to studying Japanese and leading the sleepy village life. It's tough to adjust.

Adventures with Ritchie

It's been a while since I've posted anything interesting and I apologize. I've been keeping busy the past week because Ritchie's here and we are having many adventures.

Adventure 1: Staying in the financial district of Tokyo where nothing happens and everything is closed on public holidays.
Adventure 2: Teaching the same lesson plan six times at elementary school on Tuesday morning to screaming/crying/running/jumping kids.
Adventure 3: Getting caught in Friday evening traffic on the drive from Kobe to Himeji. A one hour trip took three and a half hours - I blame Ritchie and his lack of a map.
Adventure 4: A night out in Himeji (or, as Ritchie's prefers to call it it: the Hi-minge) that resulted in a next-day vomit session in the McDonald's parking lot.
Adventure 5: Sending the wrong phone numbers to Carlton and Sindy so that they couldn't reach us and almost didn't make it into town. Luckily, however, they perservered and today I'm at school, wishing that I hadn't taken part in . . .
Adventure 6: Watching blessed shrines carried by drunk and exhausted Japanese men fight each other in the streets of Kinosaki to the beat of the Taiko-drum, followed by a traditional Japanese dinner and washed down with traditional Japanese beer and sake.

So far we've had a great week and there's still one more to go. This week we're going to Kyoto and Nara, and then meeting Carlton, Sindy, and The Crew in Tokyo before Ritchie flies back to Seattle. I will update with more adventures when time allows.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

"I want to be a pirate when I grow up!" the boy said.

"Really? A pirate?" Though taken aback by the creative answer, I inwardly laughed at the idea of this boy wearing a striped shirt and an eyepatch, yelling 'Aaargh!' while hobbling around on a peg-leg.

"Yes, a pirate! I want to fly in the sky!" he continued, enthusiastically.

Confused, I sneaked a quick peak at his paper. "Oh," I said. "A pilot. You want to be a PILOT when you grow up." Sadly, my hilarious image of the kid pillaging villages with his one good eye quickly deflated.

"A pirate!" he said again.

"A pirate!" the class echoed. "He wants to be a pirate!"

Maybe it's still funny, after all.

It's not all fun and games here, you know.

Doorjamb: 3, Ailey's head: 0

The doorjamb made three strikes this morning in it's on-going war against my head. Once when I stumbled out of the sleeping closet to turn off the alarm, again when I stumbled back into the sleeping closet to make my bed, and AGAIN when I was running out the door to school. The doorjamb is good at catching me unawares and I have very little knowledge in fighting guerilla warfare. Therefore, I have a sinking suspicion that the doorjamb is winning. I would kill it first, only I don't know how. The doorjamb seems invincible, like Goliath, only not as tall and therein lies the origin of this war.

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want!

The lesson I had planned for the 2nd year junior high school students today was occupations and asking 'Am I?' So I arranged for them to play 'who am I,' standard language game in which you have the name of a famous person taped to your back and you have to ask everyone 'yes' or 'no' questions in order to get closer to your answer. Toward the end of the game, most of the students had already guessed their identities and sat down, but I was questioning a girl with 'David Beckham' taped to her back. She went through the prescribed questions and still didn't know - she was at a loss and I thought I'd help her out.

'Your wife is a singer,' I whispered.

She stared at me blankly. 'You know, the Spice Girls?' I urged. Come ON! She continued to look totally nonplussed. 'You have to know the Spice Girls! They sing: SO tell me what you want what you really, really want! I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want! I wanna! I wanna! I wanna! I wanna! I really, really, really wanna as;fksj;kdfjas;dfsjka;ds (who knows what they say there anyway).'

I was dancing around the room! I was really getting into it!

'If you want my future, forget my past! If you wanna get with me, better make it laaayaast! So don't go wasting my precious time! Get your act together and we'll be just fine!' The student was no longer looking confused, but now looked at me like I was crazy and giggled behind her hand.

'Miss Ailey,' Kanda-sensei called. 'It's okay, I'm pretty sure she doesn't know who the Spice Girls are.' A boy walked by and pretended to kick a soccer ball.

'Oh!' the girl said. 'Am I Beckham?'

I'm in Osaka!

This morning I took the train down to Osaka and I've spent the day trying to find my hotel (approximately one hour), trying to find Osaka castle (approximately 45 minutes), trying to find somewhere to eat (approximately 20 minutes), and trying to find my drive to have one last night of studying before I take the GRE tomorrow(approximately 4 hours). Actually, the day has been great! It's exciting to get out of the countryside and be in an urban setting again. There are so many people and lights and sounds! It's quite overwhelming. Luckily, I did eventually find my hotel with the help of a man on the street who walked me fifteen minutes out of his way to the hotel door. And I did find Osaka castle by sheer luck, as most people on the street had no idea where it was. Finding somewhere to eat was easy, but it was more a matter of building up my courage. Sometimes I get tired of constantly looking like an idiot who doesn't know how to order, read Japanese, or slurp noodles properly. Anyway, tomorrow I take the test and then head back to the countryside for a busy, busy week at school. Wish me luck!

I never know what's going on

You know how queens and kings used to adopt mottos for their lives? I've decided that, were I a queen (and we all know that I actually am), my motto would be, 'I never know what's going on' as evidenced by morning here in Japan.

Almost as soon as I'd arrived, the other teachers filed out of the teachers' lounge and disappeared. Apparently today is 'sketch day' so there are no classes and the students are scattered around town working on watercolor paintings. For the better part of the morning, the vice-principal and I sat there staring into space. Sometimes he'd stand up, at which point I'd frantically begin working on a project in case he happened to come and peer over my shoulder as vice-principals love to do. But he never did and I hadn't gotten anything done.

Finally, Doi-sensei (pronounced 'doy' which always makes me laugh inwardly) asked me to come do the rounds of town with her on our bikes. We rode around for about an hour, stopping once or twice to chat with people working in their gardens, one of whom is an acquaintance of mine, Yutaka-san. Yutaka-san and I briefly discussed my friends staying at his pension and agreed to meet next week. Doi-sensei and I rode away to check on the rest of the students.

When we completed our rounds, Doi-sensei said, "Okay, now let's go talk to Yutaka-san," and began riding her bike back towards his pension. "Ugh," I thought. "I already agreed to meet with him NEXT week. Not today." But when we got to the pension, Yutaka-san didn't want to talk about my friends staying in one of his rooms. Instead he said:

"Let's eat grapes!"

Which made about as much sense to me at the time as someone saying, "Let's turn this dog inside out!" or "Let's change the rotation of the earth!" But I followed him and Doi-sensei for a few blocks until we came to his grape arbor. We went in and were surrounded by low-hanging branches, heavy with the meatiest grapes I have ever seen. "Please, eat them," Yutaka-san said, so I tentatively bit into one. And it was The Best Grape I Have Ever Eaten.

These grapes are unlike any other grapes that I've had. I mean, the grapes that you buy at Safeway are crunchy and watery and taste a bit like you're drinking a glass of semi-tart water, but these grapes are fat and firm and filled with thick, sweet juice. These are the grapes that I imagine Julius Caesar eating while being fanned by slim boys in loin cloths. These grapes actually taste like grape juice.

After eating an entire bunch of grapes, Doi-sensei and I said goodbye to Yutaka-san and returned to school with about two pounds of fruit. So I'm back in the teachers' lounge, staring into space and avoiding eye-contact with the vice-principal. The grapes are in the kitchen, chilling in cold water and I can't stop thinking about them. I want to eat some, but I'm not sure what the protocol is. Like I said, I never know what's going on.

And this (because who doesn't love a monkey?)

I can feel my life slowly trickling away

It's a beautiful, breezy day today. The sun is shining, the air is warm but not too hot, and I am sitting in my apartment studying for the stupid GRE. I could be doing any number of awesome things right now. I could be running, or riding my bike around town, or reading at the beach, or taking advantage of this three day weekend to see some sights, but instead I'm trying to remember how to compare fractions. Remember fractions? I seem to recall learning about them back in seventh grade or prior. For the past two weeks, I have stayed at home reading through this book. I've canceled plans with friends and avoided any type of fun because I am thinking about my future. When I begin to feel stressed about things like fractions, I calm myself by saying, "Don't worry, it's just your future." My life has somehow become a fun-suck. But even now I'm wasting precious study time. The wind is blowing and the air smells nice, like grass and trees and ocean, or at least that's what I'm imagining from my sad and fun-less desk.

New Pictures!

I've posted new pictures to my Flickr account, just check under 'Japan pictures.' Unfortunately, Flickr will only let me load about ten every month so I can only put a few up at a time. Stupid Flickr. Always leaves me wanting more.

Typhoon Number 12

Typhoon number 12 is passing over Japan. In truth, it has completely missed Toyooka, though it has managed to blow all kinds of rain our way. I have seen drizzle-y rain, pellet-like rain, soft-ish rain, and angry, agressive rain. The angry, agressive rain is the most prevalent type and it will rage for hours on end. Right now it is dropping away outside, filling our sports field with puddles the size of Lake Union and reminding me of life in Seattle. When I walk to school in the morning, my neighbors look at my bare-head in horror. I stare right back at them and want to say, "You think this is bad? I'm from Seattle, bitches! I was born for this. I use rainclouds as my damn pillows." Unfortunately, the only part I know how to say in Japanese is 'I'm from Seattle' and, anyway, it's probably best that I keep these thoughts to myself. Secretly, I love Typhoon Number 12 and don't want it to heave it's last on us. For some reason, the rain makes me feel at home and I'm glad of that.

Ailey's car goes to the beach

I took my car on a trip to Kumihama beach yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I took this picture with my super-awesome Japanese cell phone. It's small, but look at how NOT pixel-y it is! Please note how small the car is. When I drive it, I have to sit in the back seat.

Driving in Japan

The paperwork was signed, the money was handed over, and I took the receipt in my sweaty, shaking hand.

"Okay, okay," I thought. "It's not that different. No big deal. Look right, turn left. Remember look right, turn left. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe."

I turned the key and the tiny Daihatsu roared (well, more like meowed) to life. "Hey," the American leasing agent yelled, "Remember that we drive on the LEFT side of the road here!"

I reached for the blinker and the wiper blades began squeaking across the windshield. I tried for the brake and accidentally hit the gas. And that is when I knew - I was going to die.

Do you feel like a voyeur?

At Eryn's request, here are a few pictures of where I spend my late nights, my early mornings, and free moments in between. Welcome to my house! But, please, take off your shoes before entering:

Indoor shoes wait to be slipped on.

Yes, I really am this tall. Either that, or my doorjambs really are this short.

My kitchen/living/sleeping space. There is another room, but this one has the air-conditioner.

Notice the space-saving sink on top of the toilet reservoir.

The outside of my wee house.

And there you have it. Please feel free to pull up a futon anytime. There's always rooms for a few more!

Oh, sweet air-conditioning

Right now, I'm sitting in the teachers' lounge at my school. I do this every day - come in a little before 9 AM, cruise the internet, attempt to study Japanese, attempt to prepare for the GRE, cruise the internet some more, then leave at around noon to eat lunch, nap, and find other creative ways to fill the rest of my day, which usually includes some kind of excuse to catch the train into the city and drink a Mocha Blast. School starts at the end of next week and, from that time, I'm sure I'll be fairly busy. I've already committed to teaching an adult conversation class on Monday nights, as well as Japanese lessons on Wednesdays, and salsa lessons on Friday nights. 'Salsa lessons in Japan?!' you might say. Yes, salsa lessons in Japan, and I am as baffled as you.

After work yesterday, I wasted away my afternoon in a local internet cafe (We don't have a grocery store, but we DO have an internet cafe. Priorities?). I spent almost four hours talking to Ritchie via webcam and e-mailing with a travel agent to plan various trips and further mentally escape the life abroad. When I finally left, my eyes were burning with all of the gratuitous internet-surfing that I had done. I even found time to read Perez Hilton and find out just how far behind the news I actually am. Depressing. This might be the driving force behind me paying for internet at my house. Also depressing.

Tonight I'm catching a train to the next town over, Takeno, to take part in the festivities for Bon Odori. My friend Colin lives there and is helping his community set-up for the festival so my friends and I volunteered ourselves, as well. It should be an interesting time with fireworks galore. And hopefully street vendor food. And vending machine beer. All of these added together equal a satisfying Wednesday night for me in Tajima.

Well, I really should get some 'studying' done. And by 'studying' I mean that I'm going to study perezhilton.com to find out what's REALLY going on in my absence. Who needs Japanese?! Who needs graduate school?! Celebrity gossip is what matters in this world!!!

Until next time . . .

The missing blogs!!!

Okay, so there were only two really awesome, unpublished blogs. Apparently I haven't been working as hard as I thought I was, but there you have it - my thoughts, fears, moans, and tears from the past two weeks. All wrapped up in two new posts.

Genki Foreigners 8/6/06

It’s Sunday night and I just got back from a long run through the rice fields and mountains. As I was jogging along, an endangered white crane flew out of the rice field next to me and winged off into the trees. Cicadas were chirping, the sun was setting behind the hills, and I thought to myself, “Damn, me, I love Japan.”

Strangely enough, this was about one hour after I had been sitting in my apartment thinking, “Damn, me, I really hate Japan.”

Ah, the life of a foreigner in a strange country. The language is new, the people all look the same but nothing like YOU, and you bump your head on the doorjamb every time you leave the room. One week into my journey here, I can definitely say that it’s been a roller-coaster ride of emotions – not all good, but definitely not all bad.

There are a lot of things I absolutely hate about Japan:

1. The mosquitoes. I’m beginning to look like a leper with all of the bites up and down my legs. I will soon be assigned to a village even smaller than the one I’m currently living in. Eventually I’ll probably find out that it’s a leper’s colony and I’ll die there. It will be sad, but not unexpected.

2. The humidity. People in Texas complain about the humidity, but people in Texas have things like swimming pools and cars and abundant air conditioning. People in Japan have semi-warm tap water, poor insulation, and their own two feet to get them around. I’m sweating just thinking about it.

3. The distance. What can I say? I miss my friends, my family, and my boyfriend. I love Seattle and always will. That hasn’t changed just because I’m in a foreign country.

4. The language. Okay, this could be misinterpreted. In no way do I hate the Japanese language, I just hate that I don’t speak it. However, it’s to my advantage that I’m the only foreigner and English speaker in my village because I’ll be forced to learn in order to survive. My mom claims that I have an ear for languages, but I think it’s just a desperate will to live.

There are also a lot of things that I absolutely love about Japan:

1. The Shinkansen!!! Two words – bullet train. Does America have one (and, no, the mini train at Billy McHale’s doesn’t count)? The answer is no. America also doesn’t have electric toilet seats that are heated, make nature sounds to cover your body noises, and clean your bum with a gentle spray of misting water.

2. The friendly people. The people in my town are so friendly; I don’t even know how to describe it. Already I have a ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ who live across the street and look out for me. I can’t walk to the post office without someone trying to speak with me. Everyone has been awesome and so appreciated by the lonely American girl who’s far from home and doesn’t speak a word of Japanese.

3. The mountains, the ocean, the overall beauty.

4. The food. I don’t care how much you love Blue C Sushi, the sushi here is better. So is the bento, the teriyaki (this could be a lie because I haven’t tried it), the Sapporo, and the rice. Yeah, that’s right, even the rice is better here.

Overall, though, the best part about my trip so far has been The Challenge. I was looking for a challenge when I left Seattle and I have definitely found it here. The past seven days have been so difficult and stressful and rewarding and exciting that I can’t ever regret my decision to leave my life behind and come here for a year. No matter how much I cry, mope, or complain, I am still the genki foreigner and I am here to have an awesome time. So to that I say, Ganbatte!

Village life - 8/3/06

I arrived in my village two days ago. After a full day of traveling on buses, bullet trains, and kurumas (cars) I found myself in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by mountains and river. I’m a fifteen minute walk from the Japanese Sea – or the Inland Sea for those of you who are more Korean minded – and a fifteen minute walk in any other direction to rice fields and trees. If I’m looking for humidity I don’t have to walk anywhere because here it is! Everywhere I go, it’s there.

I’ve spent my first couple of days here watching Japanese television, exploring the village and local Shinto shrines, and generally stumbling my way through life. When at a loss yesterday for what to eat for lunch, I went to a local café where the menu was only in Japanese and without pictures! The waitress and I awkwardly stared at each other for about five minutes before I pointed at the woman’s food across the way and said, “That!” So that is what I got and it was delicious. I consider it a successful interaction.

I have also spent a lot of time with my landlord’s family who has adopted me as a sort of freakish, unintelligible, gaijin child. On my first night here, they took me to see the fireworks in town and then to a sushi dinner. The restaurant had a conveyor belt like Blue C Sushi (or, as Ritchie said, “Blue C Sushi was like the restaurant that you went to”) and offered such fair as bacon sushi and weird-purple-vegetable sushi. Afterward, we walked around a street fair where I fished for goldfish. I had several unsuccessful attempts and the woman manning the booth finally scooped six fish into a plastic bag for me to take home – most of the fish died overnight and I flushed the rest down the toilet. I’m convinced that the death of my fish isn’t a bad omen.

The Mystery of the Starbucks Coffee Press (far from home)

On Wednesday night, the teachers at my school and I celebrated my arrival here. We played Grand Golf, the female teachers went to the hot-springs, we barbequed, and we drank lots of local beer and imported Carlos Rossi wine. The festivities took place on a mountaintop about an hour away from Toyooka, the closest city of any size in this area. The mountain, Cannabe (easy to remember, as the name reminds me of Cannabis), is very popular with Japanese tourists, but little known to outsiders. The ski slopes are small and unchallenging, the hot springs are isolated, and the views are nothing in comparison to larger mountains. So, once again, I was the only blonde, green-eyed person in sight.

The alcohol tolerance level in Japan is zero, so the majority of the teachers were unable/incapable of driving the long distance back to their homes that night. We ended up staying in the small inn that catered our barbeque. It was a quiet, nondescript place, run by a local family. The floors were slanty, the mattresses were sunken, and I didn't step out on the deck for fear of losing my life. But it was comfortable and convenient, so I happily curled up in my western-style bed for a heavy night of sleep.

The next morning, as I was having a breakfast of cold omelette with ketchup and watery rice, I took a moment to look around and noticed something very surprising. There, in a glass-fronted chest, tucked among the tea-kettles, glasses, and ceramic cups, was a Starbucks coffee press. A Starbucks coffee press, all the way on top of that isolated mountain!

I couldn't help but wonder how it had gotten there. Of course, there are Starbucks in Japan, but none in Toyooka and many people don't even know what it is. Did some worldly Japanese person bring the press with them in the hopes of having a savory brew the next morning and leave it behind? Or did it come from further away - an American tourist far from home, perhaps, or an adventurous traveler just passing through?

I don't know why I'm thinking so much about that Starbucks coffee press, but it has crossed my mind several times in the past few days. Maybe because it looked as out of place as I have often felt in the past two weeks. Maybe because it reminded me of home in the middle of my totally foreign surroundings. In any case, I wish that I had nabbed it because I could really use that in my town. Though finding the actual coffee would be a challenge.