Working!

So this post took me 2 weeks to get to finishing. I wrote this bit early September:

[On my way to school today, I was suddenly struck by a strange realisation:

It isn't as hot anymore.

Sure, my shirt was still soaked by the time I arrived at school and the staff room AC is still turned up all the way, but every time I passed under shade, there was a hint, just a hint, of autumn. The heat isn't suffocating anymore. The sea breeze is actually cool. Lazy clouds, softening sunlight, the lot. And the cicadas finally shut up.

Unfortunately the start of autumn is also the start of school. And labor day here in Japan is in May so forget the long weekend moral boost.

Yep. Work.

So school. You learn rather quickly that good teaching is a balancing act. You'll get eaten alive if you spend hours and hours on a class plan and the kids don't listen in class, but if you don't plan at all the students stop caring about class and it's a slippery downhill slope from there. Having JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) around helps a ton because, at the very least, THEY are excited about your class. And, of course, every good teacher should remember that, once, we too were the misbehaving miscreants that wanted nothing more than to sleep/eat/talk/text in class. You just have to rough it out and bring even more energy to the table. Don't forget to charm the alpha males/females of the class either. They're the cheat buttons for getting the class under control!]

Right so now, 4 weeks into actual teaching, I thought I'd take a little time out to tell you all about my visit school. Conveniently located 40 minutes south of Himeji on a FERRY, Ieshima High School (Ieshima is the name of the island) is a cozy little school with a student population approximately the size of an Orgo 2 class. And roughly the same why-do-I-have-to-go-through-with-this-crap attitude as well. Watch out, I'll starting making "Only at Ieshima" jokes pretty soon.

The ferry ride isn't really that bad. Honest.

The island has a cozy population of 2000, and in a city like Himeji, it provides a nice bit of boonies flair. It's gorgeous during the day, everyone is friendly so long as you're not trying to teach them English, and if you know where to look, this is where you can get literally-right-out-of the-sea-fresh seafood to take home for dinner. Literally.

Pretty, eh?

It's Japan, so naturally there's a shrine.

And to top it off, I teach there twice a week, which is a nice change of atmosphere from the industrial toxins I breathe in at Shikama. But the draw back, you ask? Well... let's start with the 5:30 am alarm I have to set to get to school on time. Then there's the completely unmotivated students, the completely disappointed students (who can't look at me beyond my asian skin color), and the completely asleep students.

But then again, they love me outside of class. I took my parents there last weekend when they came to visit and the kids were all over me. Which is always nice ^_^

..........

Back at Shikama, I come to accept that I'm not really teaching the 1st years since I only see them once every two weeks. My 5 third year students though, I love like they were my... hmm. Well, students. I'm in that in-between age where "siblings" doesn't cut it, but "children" is just weird. You get the point.

So for you other JETs out there interested in seeing what I'm teaching them right now, I give you my freshman year World Cultures syllabus... World Cultures. These kids only have another 3-4 months with me, and I know that's no where near enough time for me to make drastic changes to their English level. So I'm going to have them leave the school with a better understanding of the world outside Japan. In hopes of inspiring them to do great things.

Also it was an easy excuse for me to talk about Duke Basketball culture. ;-)

Yeah. Me. At Indy. This was on the AP. I'm awesome.

So we've brainstormed different aspects of culture (there are over 15), and each lesson I have so far has been based in one of those aspects. DukeBluePlanet videos for the day on sports, home made Linguine Puttanesca for the day on food, fun stuff. I've also given them a term project to present a cultural aspect of their choice. Just to give them a sense of what humanity is all about. Not that I know all of it. Also, mnemonic devices are always fun because you're making them doodle. What's fun in kindergarten is still fun when you're 60!

Right, so, before I sign off on this article, other happenings in the last 3 weeks.

- I bought a TV and PS3 and 2 games for cheap(ish)
- I've decided on an electric piano that I will purchase either today or tomorrow
- I found an AMAZING Kaiseki restaurant right in my area.
- Sports day turned into pouring rain day turned into we're-gonna-cancel-but-you-still-have-to-sit-at-your-office-today. After we sat and waited for 3 hours at the stadium.
- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert made me sad... because I can't make it to their rally on October 30.
- Homecoming made me sad because I missed it.
- But that's ok because I'm stuffing my face with the BEST Japanese cakes EVER.

This slice of heaven? Only a 2 minute walk away.

Lastly, I pledge to you the reader, now, to update my blog every week. Even if it is just a "I'm so busy c@|\| 1 h@5 h3lp p1z"

So. See you next week!

Two Weekends In Review

So if you don't already know what I do during the week, it's pretty much this:

Mondays - Shikama night classes, Aikido
Tuesdays - Ieshima, Sleep
Wednesdays - Ieshima, Dinner with Dan, possibly Kudo
Thursdays - Shikama, Dinner with Ken
Fridays - Shikama, Party it up in Himeji

Dinner plans subject to change depending on whether Dan or Ken actually come to Shikama (which is their visit school), and the amount of work they have that week. I also have Koto/Shamisen lessons - dependant on availibility - cooking classes, cooking in general, restaurant searching, visiting the Aioi JETs, visiting Wendy 'n Dan, visiting Ken's onsen place, and biking on the menu. As well as club activities (swimming and basketball for the time being).

Unrealistic? Very much so. But I digress. The focus is what I do on the weekends, which, I believe, is the more interesting question. Almost all Japanese public holidays (all 20+ of them) are moved around such that we get three day weekends EVERY MONTH except August, which is now thankfully behind us. Plenty of time to travel, no?

With sunsets like this though... who needs to leave?

So in true Nickistoolazytoupdatefrequently fashion, I present to you: where I went the last three weekends.


Weekend #1 - Miriam's place

This car is BAMF

If you ever have cravings to see rural Hyogo, Ikuno is the place to go. 90 minutes north of Himeji by train, Ikuno is a small lazy town with a population of... whatever is tiny enough that you can see the edges of town (yes ALL of them) from the train station. While it's not the tiniest village in Hyogo, it is plenty rural considering it's surrounded on three sides by gorgeous emerald hills, bounded by vast blankets of rice fields to the south, and pierced by the pristine river which flows through town.

Oh and there's a silver mine there. Miriam won't stop talking about it.

Also, temples and forests abound

If you are looking for a bit of hiking and exploration, there are plenty of trails in the hills, as well hidden temples. The hills are teeming with wildlife during the summer, color during autumn, flowers in the spring, and snowdrifts in the winter. Basically a beautiful place to visit any time of year. The recommendation from your guru, though, is actually autumn, since it's harvest season. The golden fields, many festivals, and finally-bearable weather really does bring out the best of rural Japan. (though Obon - in mid August - is also a good time to be up in the villages)

If you ever head up to Ikuno, there's a popular waterfall just 20 minutes out of town by car. There, you can escape from the drudgery of city life completely (the most likely reason for visiting the countryside in the first place) with a nice, quiet picnic in the hills. Test your courage by taking the 3 meter drop of faith into the water, it's fun, I promise!

Food suggestions: Ayu, Yassai. (sweet fish and mountain veggies)

Yes that's me in the middle

Weekend 2a: Kobe
For your information, "Kobe beef" is not actually made in Kobe. These wagyu cows are actually farmed/grown in the northern part of Hyogo in the Tajima region. But they had to call it "Kobe beef" because Tajima was apparently too difficult for the gaijin to remember. Kobe is an industrial city. There are no cows there, got it?

You should have seen their faces after they realised... no Kobe beef

The city.... oh the city. If you're ever there for a day trip, you will mostly likely end up in Sannomiya, the main JR hub. It's gaijin central, and it is the largest city in Hyogo. It's position on the map, however, often means that Himeji is actually favored over Kobe for JET gatherings. Or so I'm advocating, at least. All your department stores, arcades, food and lodging needs can be easily satisfied in Kobe. For partying, however, Osaka is the place to be.

There's your western bar

Expensive karaoke

Since there isn't much I can recommend in Kobe since I was there for all of one day, I'll use this space to discuss lodging.

Hotels in cities are expensive, which is why your options are often limited to capsule hotels, love hotels, or netcafes.

Capsule hotels: are ~2500 yen inclusive of the Japanese bath, but you sleep in a cubbie hole the size of a double bed. Not bad, but it's literally just the bed, with enough space to sit up. And there's free porn on the TV. Mandatory checkout time is 10am. You won't have to check out since you pay at the door. They'll wake you up and kick you out. (Cost: 2500; Sketchiness factor: 4)

Love hotels: in most cities are the cheapest form of lodging, AND most teachers understand that ALTs are trying to save money. On the other hand, running into any teacher at a love hotel will undoubtedly lead to awkward questions about why THEY are there. However, most places will require you go in with a girl, so make sure you balance the sex ratio. In Kobe, these places are hell expensive, but it's always an adventure staying at one of those rooms, regardless of whether you end up getting down and dirty (Cost: 4500; Sketchiness factor: 7)

Internet/manga cafes: are everywhere, and often have cheap all night rates. Popeye, for instance, has an all night rate of 2100 yen for a mat room (below), inclusive of shower, all drinks, internet, and access to their manga and movie collection. Downside is that you can't turn the lights off, and you occasionally are sharing the place with a horny, loud couple. Ummmm. Two couples in the case of this particular weekend.

We weren't smiling once the noise started. We were laughing our asses off

Weekend 2b: Gunma

Here's the golden rule of traveling: if you have the time, knock down most of your traveling. Just do it. Screw planning, be spontaneous. It's more fun that way. And that's how I ended up in Kanna, Gunma visiting Katie.

The one thing that is the same all throughout Japan

And that's where I discovered Miyazaki's inspiration for Princess Mononoke. But you'll have to take my word on it because I was too gobsmacked to take pictures.

Anyways, if you ever decide to chance the arduous hour-long drive up into the mountains of Gunma, Kanna and Ueno are the places to be. These single street towns are literally perched on the side of the mountain, mere feet above a white-water-rafting-worthy river. You can fish in the summer, hike in the winter, and really dig deep into rural Japanese culture. A word of warning: they do NOT speak English up there, and you'll be the only gaijin for miles.

Speaking of digging, there is a very nice dinosaur museum nearby. Apparently the tectonic movements pushed up fossils and dino footprints up into the hills there. The finds aren't too spectacular, but it is a large source of local pride (like Ikuno's silver mine), and the animatronics are VERY impressive.

I hope it's a replica x.x

Rawr offer me your children as foodddd!

Nabeyaki Udon Set

I should also mention that food in Kanto blows food from Kansai OUT OF THE WATER. T.T


The Shink

.... is hell expensive, but oh so convenient. Once you decipher the schedule. I figured it out in about 10 minutes, so it's doable. Good luck.

No cellphones in the cabin by the way.

Train bento lunches are lavish and amazing

Next up: Report on my first week of school, and Japanese FOOD

Brief updates

Ok, sorry guys. Had training last week (no internet), did a lot of traveling on the weekend (no internet) and for some reason my wireless refuses to work (no internet). Soooo no internet.

Until now!

So a big update is coming later today, so long as I find my cable so I can get the photos from my camera.

Chotto mattekudasai ne~

Himeji Oshiro Matsuri

Growing up with anime gave me two things: a completely unrealistic concept of romance and a burning desire to attend a traditional festival. You know, walking around in my yukata, stuffing my face with takoyaki or yakisoba, paper lanterns, fireworks, koi netting... Age (read: maturity + a couple of actual relationships) has since removed the hot omg-she's-too-good-for-me childhood sweetheart from the picture.

Actually, scratch that. It was my ego that did the erasing. Too good for me? psssshhhffftt.

But I digress. Behold the Friday omens for the weekend: Crystal clear skies, a smattering of awesomeness, and the cool, refreshing breeze that is group B. (the OTHER 400 jets)

Since I haven't done very many schedule/photo essay updates, and the weekend is too far in the past for me to accurately remember and describe how much fun it was. So I'll just post the schedule from last weekend, and comment on the highlights. ^_^

Saturday
11:00 am ............ Wake up. "oh crap nate's waiting for me at the station"
12:50 pm ............ Show up to the meeting point fashionably (20 minutes) late
1:00 pm ............ Okonomiyaki lunch
3:00 pm ............ Check out festival stuff
4:00 pm ............ Bored. Check out castle
5:00 pm ............ Matsuri parade!!
7:00 pm ............ Dinner at 280 (where EVERYTHING is 280)
9:00 pm ............ Karaoke, baby!!!!
12:00 am ............ @ home with Nate, we end up watching 40 Days and 40 Nights... don't ask
Late ............ PTFO
Sunday
12:00 pm ........... Lunch at ramen shop next to station
1:00 pm ........... Send Nate off, shopping at Himeji station
2:00 pm ........... Christine shows up... eh... 50 minutes late
3:00 pm ........... Baller koi skilz
4:00 pm ........... Locked out at home cuz Nate has my keys, koi start dying x.x
5:00 pm ........... Sketch/ninja climb in through my unlocked back window. Negligence 1, lock 0
Night ............ Random shenanigans at home... it's Sunday night...

First off, apparently okonomiyaki is THE thing in Kansai. Like... I've been craving okonomiyaki ever since ep 2 of Hana Kimi, getting it every chance I had in HK, and telling all my friends how awesome it would be to cook my own at those tables. And now, I'm already kinda sick of it cuz we've been eating it so much. >.> BUTBUTBUT each region also has their own distinct style of okonomiyaki, so I guess what I'm saying is I'm just sick of okonomiyaki... in... Himeji...

Nevermind >.>

Best place in town for okonomiyaki... if only I can find it again XD

So... we made the mistake of eating lunch before going to the festival. And thus, we missed out on the delicious festival food. (including oden... T.T) And got bored really quickly cuz there wasn't much else to do. Thankfully, Himeji Castle was right next door!

Himeji Castle (Himeji-jo) is one of many famous castles in Japan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and apparently a REALLY big deal in Hyogo. It's literally only one stop away from where I live, right in the heart of Himeji city. Except it's being renovated until 2014. And while the keep reopens in April, the scaffolding isn't coming down for another 4 years; awesome timing, eh?

I hear the view's much nicer without the metal crane

Artfully framed, even if I do say so myself

At least the interior is still nice

As for the festival.... just read the captions ;)

Shiromaru-chan wa kawaaiiiiiiiii *chuu*

I get the thumbs up from a ninja...

Miriam's too distracted to look at the camera...

Taiko drummers rocked the street out...

But not that many people were paying attention to the parade...

So these guys got called in to restore order...

Christine eats... uh... something...

Fishes for koi...

And I do both, at the same time. omnomnom

Ok, so I didn't. BUT I did catch 11 koi (and two rather large ones) before the net broke. On my first try ever! Then I decided to go for one of the gigantic ones, and... failed spectacularly. Could've totally gotten more fish otherwise. Sadly though, only four survived the trip home. (which included a train ride, a balancing act getting my four bags of shopping home, and being locked out for half an hour).

Oh right, yeah. I got locked out cuz Nate, who'd stayed with me that weekend, accidentally took my keys with him on the way home. Thankfully, for the fish, Kyle apparently left the back window unlocked, and I never checked. Soooo I climbed in. And because I'm Asian and NOT a Harvard prof, I didn't get the cops called on me.

Unfortunately, all of Christine's died, so I stole her fish food, and I'm signing off on that bombshell. XP

I Love Karaoke!!!!!!!!!

So this post will serve dual purposes: first to keep all you little gaijins out there informed of my life, and second to be an idea sink for karaoke songs.

Because no one ever knows what song to start with, and the first 5 minutes are always stony silence. Like right here.

Oh yes, I should probably mention first that karaoke in Asia is VERY different from karaoke in the States. And I didn't even know there was a difference until this spring break. They had karaoke night on Carnival Destiny, which turned out to be one mic, in front of a room of 100+ people, and all you got to sing were oldies. And there was a LINE UP. See, in Asia, you have karaoke rooms, where you go with 3 or 20 friends, there's always at least two mics, and they have these fancy machines for you to pick songs on. There're tambourines in one corner, cushy couches in the other, a nice stage if you're lucky, and they serve you food. And drinks. And the most up-to-date pop song collections.

... even if the lyrics are wrong and the videos are sh*t.

But you're there to sing songs and have fun with your friends, right? Stage fright should never factor into anything. So screw American karaoke. Order some booze and have fun. Welcome to Asia.

Sooooo just this last weekend, I got invited to a Sister Cities' party (above). Himeji's sister city is Phoenix, so naturally they know how to party it up :) For cheap too! So we got hustled into this ginormous 20 person room, which had a stage, and Daniel 'n I had so much fun we went back the next night with our own party of 20! I bawled my voice out both days and somehow managed to cut my hand on the tambourine. It bites. (below: not me, but the same deadly tambourine XD)

But, seeing as how the few karaoke pics I have are terrible and it's all from the same room... I leave you with a list of decent karaoke songs. And another picture of karaoke entertainment extraordinaire - JJ.

English
Eurhythmics - Sweet Dreams
Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama
Kevin Rudolf ft. Little Wayne - Let It Rock
All American Rejects - Give You Hell
Smile.dk - Butterfly (where's MY samurai :P)
The Beatles - I am the Walrus
Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way
.... you get the idea

Also on principle I refuse to put Bohemian Rhapsody and Disney on the list.

Japanese (in case a few of you wanted to have a go at it)
Sid - Uso
Cha La Head Cha La (DBZ opening theme)
Anything by Hikaru Utada
Anything by Ayumi Hamasaki (if you dare)
Home Made Kazoku - Arigato, Nagareboshi
L'arc en Ciel - My Heart Draws a Dream (but you'll have to drop the song a couple of steps)

My Most Amazing Day Yet

So today (really 2 days ago) at work: I did absolutely nothing. Normally I set daily goals: chug through a chapter of Japanese for JETs, learn a line of katakana (5 characters), try to plan a lesson, and don't spent too much money. I failed to do ANY of that yesterday, and it was AWESOME. :D

But first of all, welcome to Shikama Technical High School!

For those of you who are wondering, technical high schools in Japan are still high schools, but they focus on industrial/engineering courses instead. Most of the students end up going right to work after HS, and probably in factories. Hell, they have their own machine shop... uh, complex - it's that entire building next to the parked cars in the photo.

High school in Japan is three years - it's six years of primary school, three years of junior high and three for senior high. High schools are divided up by focus. You have your regular high schools, technical high schools, commercial high schools, and a bunch of others that I can't remember. But the point is, in my school of 1000+ kids there are maybe 20 girls. And most of them probably don't give a damn about learning English. I guess I'll just have to charm my way to them (time to break out the non-verbal communication 5ki11z!). On the other hand, I've heard that Shikama Kougyu Koukou (that's its name in Japanese) is famous for its sports teams; Particularly it's judo team, which won the prefectural championship or something last year. I won't be doing that, but ever since my days of competitive swim team training I've been DYING to dish out sets as a swim coach. So:*Buahahahahaha... hahahahaha... ha.*

School is about 20 minutes from my apartment by bike, and the ride is hot burning hell. I made the mistake of trying to WALK to school the first day because it was raining. The umbrella worked fine, it was just so f$*#ing hot that by the time I got in to school, my nice ironed dress shirt was a half see through, sopping, wrinkled mess. You learn to bring a towel to work rather quickly that way. (yes I was contemplating marrying the towel, that's how awesome it is)

In other news, since school is out at the moment, there isn't very much for me to do at school. I'm looking around at the teachers (who's left of the staff anyways, everyone's taken the week off) and I see people napping, reading newspapers, and generally wasting time. So therefore I am on facebook and gmail. All the time. But I haven't wasted it all either. I've prepared my introductory speech when I am officially inaugurated into my new ALT post on the 31st, and I have my first lesson planned out. But considering that I'm teaching only one first year English class a week (I teach it five times, but to different homerooms) and Oral Communications only twice a week, I don't think I really need to plan more than 4 lessons in advance. All of which, if I decided to actually do work, would take no more than 2 days to plan.

So I learned to play Shogi yesterday! That's Japanese chess, and it has a very complex set of rules that I actually rather like. You get to promote units (most of which have a very limited range of 1 square), you get to use units you capture (my favorite part. Attrition for the win!) and games can go on for 50-100 moves! You can really feel the tide of battle, as it were. And stop calling me an old man! >.<

My place.... oh my lovely apartment. I LOVE IT. It's a 2DK, which means it's got 2 bedrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. It's a fairly new place, and it's even got insulation, which is a) incredibly rare in Japan, and b) really useful in the winter because it means the apartment won't freeze over 5 seconds after I turn the heater off. I paid Kyle, my pred, 30000 yen (~350 USD with today's exchange rate) to leave everything in the apartment, so I got a fan, futons, extra sheets, an (Japan sized) oven, rice, more sauces than I know what to do with, detergent for every purpose imaginable, towels (a GREAT boon for that first night), speakers, a home made laptop cooler, board games, books, etc when I moved in. It was practically spotless when I moved in (sadly no longer) and I'm only paying 30000 a month. Isn't that the sweetest deal in the world? I know ;)

(My bedroom, the kitchen and the guest bedroom/storage. In that order)

Ok there are some drawbacks. First off, I'm the only JET in my ku (ward, kanji character is area/district), and the closest ones are Wendy and Daniel, who live a half hour bike ride from my place. I visited their apartment yesterday, and they have a sweeeeet location. 30 minutes inland and they're right next to a river, got nice green mountains 500m away, and the air there is so clean. I'm smack in the middle of the city, right next to the port, and it is hot, humid, polluted and congested as all heck. But it's at least convenient: I'm a 10 minute bike ride away from 2 malls, the JR train station, and all of Kyle's favorite restaurants (more on that in the next post). Wendy and Daniel have each other for company, but, quite honestly, my apartment blows theirs out of the water. However, their location is infinitely more enjoyable than mine. So it kinda balances out. And I will be visiting them a lot because it is sabishi where I live.

That means lonely by the way, so heap on the sympathy.

But it is deliciously pretty here on nice days. In that Japanese medium-sized town way.

Oh and did I mention I tried to go visit Daniel? Nick's Japan Hack #1: Don't ever try to find a place just by the address. They divide EVERYTHING into tiny bits. It's not a street address, but your city (shi) gets divided into wards (ku), then into areas (cho), then the area is subdivided into numbers (chome). And that's where your building gets it's number. The number is NOT on your door/postbox/anywhere. So good luck finding stuff. I had to ask 5 separate people just to get to Daniel's cho, and 3 of them pointed me in the wrong direction x.x But thankfully that leads right into Japan Hack #2: If you want to make Japanese friends, GET LOST! Literally.

This is what happened: I was running around Higashi Yumesekidai (Daniel's cho) for about half an hour asking for 2 chome, and nobody knew... apparently people only know their OWN cho, and their OWN chome. If you're in the right place, yay; if not, keep trying. Cuz the people you just asked? They won't know even if it's just the next street over. That is, unless you run into someone as awesome as Ryota.

He's just a friendly local I came across asking for directions. I guess my Japanese was good enough to convey that I was completely lost, so he whipped out his phone, called his mom and got directions for me. Which were apparently kinda vague and wrong, because we spent the next forty minutes running around the same 7 blocks looking for Daniel's place. But he stuck through and, two giant cans of pepsi and fifteen mosquito bites later, we finally found it! ... only to realize that Dan had forgotten about my visit and had gone to the grocery store.

But whatever. Point was, that we had somehow found a way to break the stupid language barrier ("Boku wa Amerika no Norusu Kararaina kara kimashita, where are you from?"), and bro-bonded on the perilous quest for Higashi Yumesekidai 2-50-113. It was chill - except really hot, actually. So we exchanged contact information at the end, and I made my first Japanese friend!

Yatta!

And so, I leave you with pictures of dinner with our new Himeji sister, Wendy, and omg convenient stores have EVERYTHING.