Atsui desu! It's hot!

The love of talking about the weather must be a universal trait. Since I’ve arrived, one of the most frequently used words around here has been atsui. Atsui=hot. It’s been ridiculously hot and muggy here. As we say in the states, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity! I can count on three fingers the number of days that I haven’t started sweating 10 seconds after I’m out of the shower. I do have air conditioning in my apartment but it’s only located in the living room and it’s quite expensive to run. I’ve really tried to do without it (I do have a few fans and usually a breeze) but a couple of nights I’ve turned it on and slept on one of my sticky, vinyl-covered couches. (If any exposed flesh touches the couch, it feels like it’s being ripped off when I move.) Once the temp gets comfortable I try and turn off the air but a minute later it’s super hot again. Japanese homes are not well insulated.

The staff room at my school is also air conditioned but for some reason they like to turn it off in the early afternoon when the sun is beating in. The rest of the school building is just plain roasting. On the positive side, I’m never freezing at work like I was everyday at the WF!

People here cope with the heat in many ways. Many carry around the traditional folding fans or plastic fans which are usually printed with advertisements. I’ve collected a few of the latter and they're very useful. Umbrellas are used for portable shade as well as for the surprise downpours. I especially love the ladies that use the clear umbrellas to ward off the sun. What??? People also tend to cover up more here when it’s hot. Apparently there’s an aversion to being tan – very unlike home. Hats are common as well as arm coverings when wearing short sleeved shirts (think leg warmers only lighter material and on your arms). There are even some (mostly old ladies) that have long gloves attached to their bike handles so they don’t get sun on their hands or arms while they bike. I’ll try and post a picture soon. So far I’ve been unable to surreptitiously photograph the crazy-looking ladies as they bicycle past.

As far as the sweating goes, I’ve become resigned to always looking shiny and feeling gross. Along with my plastic fan, I carry around a little towel with me which I refer to as my sweat rag. Pretty glamorous, I know. Most everyone here carries around a towel or handkerchief with them for the same purpose. A lot of people wrap them around their necks – I guess it stops the sweat from rolling down your back. I just keep mine in my bag and pull it out when necessary (every 5 minutes).

I’ve been told the weather should cool down soon. The autumn is supposed to be lovely – until the rain starts… :)

Service With a Bow

So far, it seems that things are quite a bit more formal and polite over here than in the States. Just a small example: in Tokyo, when several VIPs were on stage and giving speeches, hotel staff crouched behind their chairs and pulled them out/pushed them in each time the speaker got up. Seemed a bit elaborate and unnecessary, but I bet the VIPs felt like royal persons instead of just very important persons.

The other night I also felt a bit like royalty, or at least like a minor superstar. I was roaming around a nearby department store looking for the exit as it was closing time. All the employees were standing at attention and each one I passed bowed to me and either said "Welcome" or "Can I help you?" in Japanese (I couldn't quite catch which). Personally, I think that in their heads it sounded more like, "Why is that stupid foreigner here? Doesn't she realize that it's closing time and we want to go home?!?" Luckily, I can't read minds. Even if I could, I don't understand much Japanese, so I'd still be oblivious. Even when it's not closing time, whenever a store clerk sees a customer come in their store they ask if they can help (usually leaving out the bow though). They always thank you as you make a purchase and then when you leave too, even if you haven't purchased anything.

We went to an izakaya (restaurant that also serves beer) a while back to celebrate making it through our first week in Kanazawa. When we arrived, ALL of the employees excitedly shouted, "Welcome! Party of six is here! Woo hoo!" only in Japanese. As we were leaving, they all shouted, "Arigatou gozaimasu!!!" (Thank you very much!!!). They thanked us even though one of our party accidentally knocked down a sliding door...

Super duper politeness is definitely the rule here. Although it can feel a bit overdone when you're thanked six different times during your purchase of a soda, so far I'm really liking the appreciation. Who doesn't enjoy feeling like a superstar whenever you're out and about?!

Not Your Typical School Day

The school was a hive of activity this past Friday. All of the students and teachers were there. I, of course, was completely confused since school doesn’t officially start for a few more weeks. (Complete confusion has been a constant state for me since I’ve arrived.) I’m sure an explanation had been put in the newsletter and schedule on the board that I’m unable to read and hadn’t thought to ask someone to translate – I need to remember to do that from now on. Anyway, suddenly at 8:15 all of the teachers stood up, bowed, sat back down and the vice principal started talking. Apparently, it was staff meeting time. Once the meeting adjourned, the teachers started scurrying around and leaving the room and ''Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah'' started blasting through the halls. Students grabbed dust rags and vacuums and set to work cleaning the hallways, staff room and classrooms. Japanese schools don’t have janitors so students are in charge of keeping the school clean. The Vice Principal was also sweeping. I asked him if I could help but he said although it was very nice of me to offer, it was more important for me to study my Japanese. I would have rather cleaned.

I asked my JTE (the Japanese Teacher of English that’s basically my supervisor) if there was anything else in the schedule for the day that I should be aware of. She said they were showing a movie about peace in the classrooms at 9am that I could watch if I wanted to. The students had put together a movie using lots of writing on posters held up to the camera and voiceovers. I had no idea what they were saying but then they showed a cartoon about a little girl who took a trip to the atomic bomb memorial at Hiroshima. This past week marked the anniversary of the American bombings of Hiroshima (6 Aug.) and Nagasaki (9 Aug.). There’s nothing like sitting in a Japanese school watching a movie about people being incinerated by an atomic bomb your country dropped on them to make you feel completely horrible. It was nice that directly after the movie a teacher I’d never met introduced herself, welcomed me to the school and said she was looking forward to speaking English with me, but still…

On a happier note, after the movie there was a ceremony for the volleyball team. Apparently they are so good that they get to represent Ishikawa in the All-Japan Jr. High Volleyball Tournament in a couple weeks! I’m going to try to go cheer them on. I figure it will be good PR, plus, I do love volleyball.

The excitement of the day was over around 11am, but I did have lunch and communication hour with my teacher friend again and got to leave for the day at 2pm for a JET meeting at city hall. Next week will be a short week at school too because we have more days of orientation specifically for those of us living in Ishikawa. It will be nice to see everyone who’s located in different parts of the prefecture again. Hooray!

Everything on a Stick...

Yakitori is now one of my favorite Japanese foods. For dinner last night, I headed to a yakitori restaurant, where almost everything you could order came on a stick. It was just like being at the Minnesota State Fair! There was beef on a stick, beef tongue on a stick, tripe on a stick, chicken or pork on a stick, chicken skin on a stick, okra on a stick, shitake mushrooms on a stick, cucumbers on a stick, even fried egg on a stick! I'm totally going to order the egg next time because I just don't understand how it could possibly work... I think they had dessert on a stick too, but nothing to compare to those yummy fried candy bars at the fair. Tempura on a stick was available, but that's just not quite the same thing.

Anyway, the kitchen is located in the middle of the restaurant and surrounded by counters that people sit at. There's a large flaming grill in the middle that a chef is constantly moving skewers of meat, etc. around on until they get placed on a metal tray in front of you for your eating pleasure. You also get a sauce to dip the skewers in that I kind of wanted to straight up drink. Mustard is also provided if you like that sort of thing. We also ordered these tasty triangular cakes of rice that were grilled on both sides. Somehow it's so much better than plain rice, even though it's just plain rice!

Two thumbs up for yakitori! Also, just in case you weren't counting, "on a stick" appeared in this post 12 different times (13 if you count the title). I'm sure that wasn't the least bit annoying. Just be glad that I stopped there because I really wanted to keep going...

School Daze

My job in Japan is to help teach English classes at 3 different junior high schools in Kanazawa. I'll be at School A on Mondays, B from Tues - Thurs and C on Fridays. Right now the schools are on summer break until 1 Sept. but all teachers still have to go in to school everyday unless they take paid time off or have workshops or something. All the kids in club activities (sports, band, art, etc.) also come into school each day to practice all day long. They're also there on weekends but I'm not sure if they have shorter hours or not... I can't imagine spending 7-8 hours each day 7 days a week during my summer vacation practicing my French Horn or playing volleyball. I suppose I would have gotten really good though.

I'm posted in School B all break long but since there aren't classes, there really isn't anything for me to do. I've read through two team teaching and activity manuals, my handbook for living in Japan, and attempted to make it through two really dry books on US Politics and US Geography that the US Embassy so helpfully gave us. I'm bored out of my mind.

On the plus side, it gives me time to practice my Japanese and attempt to talk to the other teachers who, though they look really busy, I think are also pretty bored. It was a bit difficult at first because although a few were friendly, most of them made no effort to introduce themselves and/or seemed to be avoiding me. I was told by my English teacher that they are very shy and not comfortable with their English abilities but that I should really make an effort to go up to them because they are sincerely interested in me and do want to talk. At first I managed to talk to about 3 teachers a day for short periods of time but lately I've made some great breakthroughs. The trick is to show up without your lunch. One of the younger teachers goes and grabs lunch everyday and she's taken to inviting me along. Once we get back to the office, we sit together with some other teachers and attempt communication. It's been really fun and helps the day go by... a little... My next mission is to get myself invited to a happy hour! I'd actually settle for getting invited to any out-of-school activity!

Kanazawa Here I... Am...

On Wed., July 30th, I arrived in my new home of Kanazawa. All the JETs going to Ishikawa took a short flight from Tokyo to Komatsu Airport. (One cool thing about the plane - there must have been a camera mounted to the front because the tvs inside showed the view of the runway during takeoff and then the city and sky as we ascended. We were also able to see Mt. Fuji from the air - pretty sweet!) In Komatsu, we were greeted by experienced JETs and the supervisors from our school boards who took us to our separate towns/areas in Ishikawa.

There were seven of us headed to city hall in Kanazawa where a pile of paperwork awaited us. We had to fill out applications for bank accounts and alien registration cards and pay for our apartment deposits. Then a Japanese teacher at one of my schools whisked me away to look at my apartment (getting lost for about 20 minutes along the way). Once I'd determined what was needed, she took me shopping for apt stuff, then grocery shopping, then to the school she worked at so I'd know the route for when I started Friday, and then on to more shopping. It was all a bit overwhelming, especially as she mostly spoke Japanese, all the stores and products were different, and I couldn't read anything anywhere. She finally dropped me off at my apartment around 8pm... completely exhausted and alone... without a phone or numbers to call anyone... and not having a clue as to where I even was. I have to admit I was a bit freaked out. Luckily, I felt much better after getting some sleep (and a map)!

Here's a link to pictures of my new apartment (I hope the link works this time). It's in a great location and most importantly, it was furnished! Feel free to come visit me anytime!

Arrival in Japan

Konnichiwa! I apologize for taking so long to get this blog started. As such, there's a backlog of stuff I want to share so the first few postings may get a bit long. Sorry. Okay, to get started, on Friday, 7/25, my parents drove me to Chicago for an afternoon of orientation before I flew out. That night we were planning on going to downtown to do something fun and touristy. Instead, we spent all evening in the hotel room while I frantically repacked, weighing my suitcases on a scale we picked up from Target that night. Sorry Mom and Dad! The scale stated that my suitcases were way too heavy so I managed to throw out about 20 lbs. worth of stuff. Turns out, the scale lied to me. Now, I need to go shopping for some items I got rid of in a panic. Like my flip flops. Now, you'd think I would have kept those because, really, how much do flip flops weigh? Sigh... The only sandals I have now are my new Chacos which are rubbing my feet and causing some really nice sores. I thought these things were supposed to be super comfy! More lies!

Anyway, on to packing error #2. So, I have just been using my cell phone for a watch and alarm clock for months and months. Of course, although I knew my cell would no longer work here (oh yeah, don't try to call me at my old number - service has been cancelled now) somehow my brain didn't register that I would no longer have a means to tell time. Mom tried to offer me her watch before I left, but I didn't catch on. Luckily, my roomie in Tokyo had an alarm clock that she carried around with her as she was in the same boat. Once I made it to Kanazawa and couldn't rely on her anymore, I bought an alarm clock to carry around too, which helped me catch my bus to school on Friday. Unfortunately, I can't read any of the buttons or directions, so although I managed to set it, I couldn't figure out how to make it stop beeping and had to take out the batteries. Luckily, I got a new cell phone (keitai) yesterday so I'll just use that from now on. As a side note, it took about 3 hours to get the cellphone and that was with someone interpreting. I have to keep chanting "low goals" to myself.

Back to Tokyo... After a 12 hour flight and losing a day, we arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon. Our hotel was super nice, which was good as we spent most of our 2 1/2 or so days in Tokyo listening to speeches and going to workshops in the hotel. We did make it out to explore a bit in the evenings though. Some cool Tokyo sights: the features of the toilet in our hotel room, my first meal which I chose from a display of plastic food and then ordered through what looked like a vending machine, some crazy game parlors that had strange prizes like metabolic guages and food items in the claw machines. (Sara - I wish you would have been there to win me something using your mad claw skills!) On Monday night I went out to dinner with all of the new JETs in the Ishikawa prefecture (a prefecture is kind of like a state and Ishikawa is where Kanazawa is located). Everybody seems really nice and it was a good bonding activity. Plus, it gave us the chance to see more of the city. I totally want to go back to Tokyo soon - there's so much to see there!