Weekend in Tokyo

This past weekend I went to Tokyo for the weekend to see my friend Aya before she moves to Hong Kong tomorrow. I was able to spend a lot of time with her and see a bunch of other friends, too. Many interesting/funny/blog-worthy things happened, so I'm just going to write them all in one post!

1). After almost 3 and a half hours on the train I made it to my stop near my friend's apartment. The train was so packed you could hardly move. When the train stops, you have less than 10 seconds to get off the train and onto the platform. I was, unfortunately, on the other side of the train car from the door that opened. I started getting ready to get off the train well before it stopped. I've had to push through people to get off the train before, but this crowd would not move! I started panicking because if you can't get through the crowd, you don't get off the train and just keep going to the next stop! My "sumimasen's ("excuse me!") were having little or no effect, so I had to get a little aggressive and actually push people so that I could get off! It was really scary, and I felt really bad, but what can you do when you have to get off?!?! Through much force (I had to pull my backpack through the crowd of people after me- I'm sure I probably caused a few bruises!) I made it onto the platform!
2). I met my friend Yuka for dinner (Subway sandwiches! I love Tokyo!). It was great to catch up with her. As we were talking, she asked me if I remembered a girl I met a year ago at her church. I asked her how I could remember her (ex. pink glasses, tall, etc.) and Yuka said, "Oh, she has black hair." I couldn't contain myself- she started laughing to when she realized why I was laughing. She tried to explain that Japanese people have "kind-of" black hair, "really" black hair, "light" black hair, and so on, but I assured her that the difference is pretty small, at least to me!
3). If you want to go "out" in Tokyo, you earlier have to come home before the trains stop running (around 12:30) or stay out all night until the trains start running again (5:30). On Saturday we decided we wanted to go dancing, which meant that we had to pull an all-nighter. I'm not really a night person, so it was pretty challenging for me- but I did it! (Yeah, I was pretty grumpy on the train ride home at 6:00 in the morning!) We went to a place where lots of foreigners hang out, so it didn't even feel like we were in Japan (all the music is in English, too.) The club was so crowded, and the music wasn't that great, but it's always great to be with old friends! The next morning we slept for about 5 hours, so staying out all night wasn't too hard on me!
4). I often think that the image of everything being really expensive in Japan are exaggerated because you can get good, cheap food and products. However, when I met my friends at an average-looking coffee shop for a quick chat at the train station, I was blown away- my small cup of hot cocoa was the equivalent of $5.80. When I saw the prices, I thought these drinks might be really big, but they were pretty small. Yeah, Japan is expensive.
5). The local train ride from Tokyo to Tateyama takes about 2 1/2 hours and makes many stops. Yesterday, about an hour into my ride, the train stopped for about 5 minutes at the Soga train stop. As I was sitting in my seat, reading my book, I looked out the window and saw a guy that looked like one of my vice-principals. I often will think that I recognize someone, so I didn't think much of it until I really looked hard at him. It was raining so the glass window was wet, but the more I looked, the more I realized it was him. He finally looked at me, and then I went to the door of the train to chat with him. He was waiting for the express (faster and more expensive) train back to Tateyama. It was so random! The train is really long, but I was sitting in the seat that stopped exactly in front of the bench he was waiting for on the platform. Weird.
6). About a half hour from Tateyama the train stopped for a few minutes. Lots of people got off the train, but I continued reading my book. A guy came on the train and starting making strange gestures for me to get off the train. As I looked around, I saw that EVERYONE was getting off the train. I was really confused because I had checked the schedule the night before, and my itinerary didn't note any train changes. But, since everyone was getting off, I followed the crowd of umbrellas up and over the platform (into the pouring rain!) I finally figured out that I was going to have to take the bus back, because the train had broken or stopped for some reason. A nice woman (who first started talking to me because my shoes were untied due to a lack of preparedness for leaving the train!) assured me that I should just get on the bus and that it would take me to Tateyama. I boarded the bus, which ended up making my already long journey home about 45 minutes longer. I ran into another English teacher who told me that the trains had stopped because it was raining too hard. I've heard of the trains being stopped if it's raining too hard, because there is a landslide warning. I had to adjust my fare (by over $20), and I wasn't sure where to pay because we were dropped off outside of the station. I then realized that I didn't have to pay! I rode home for only $4.50. It was a nice surprise after a long ride, although I did feel a little bad because I'm sure if I went into the station and told them I hadn't paid yet, they would have asked me to pay! By the time I got home (on my bike, in the pouring rain), I was soaking and had been traveling for almost 4 hours!

That's it!!! Until more adventures... : )

Bowling

I had to go to a city hall bowling tournament because I am a city hall employee. I wasn't too excited because I don't know the other Board of Education employees well, but, in Japan, even if you don't want to go, you have to... : ) The actual bowling and dinner afterward was ok, even though dinner was at a yakiniku place- basically big plates of meat, which isn't my favorite food, especially liver and chicken cartilage! Anywas, the most memorable part of the night was the bowling practice. Before the actual tournament began, there was about five minutes of practice. After living in Japan for awhile, I've learned the importance of practice and preparation, even for simple things like bowling. Anyways, here's what the practice period looked like: a whole bowling alley full of bowlers bowling down empty lanes. They were practicing so much that there wasn't time for the pins to be re-set, so everyone was just bowling down the empty lane. I thought it was pretty funny- it didn't seem to help me much, I got about 6 gutter balls (and one strike!)

Yumi

The second-year students made beautiful graduation invitations for the third-year students out of some shiny origami paper. The paper was really beautiful, and I talked to one of the second-year students about the paper for a long time. Sometimes conversations dwell on the same thing because there aren't many things I can talk about with the students given the whole language barrier. Anyways, the next day she gave me a small package after lunch. It was a small pack of paper with a note that said, "Ellie- you like this paper, don't you? Yumi." I was so happy! I hadn't really talked with her much before we talked about the paper, but it must have meant a lot to her. I really notice that many students are getting more comfortable with me because I've been around for awhile. It's fun!

Hashi ga tsukaimasuka? Sugoi!

At the 100yen ($1.00) store I found a set of 5 chopsticks for, you guessed it, 100yen. Since I've been running low lately, I decided to get them. As I was checking out, the cashier asked me if I could use them. When I told her I could, she exclaimed, "Wow!" Duh. They're not that hard to use. : )

Guess!

Today I went to Yokohama with a friend for the day. Yokohama has one of the biggest Chinatown's in the world, and was the first port opened to other countries after Japan's period of isolation. After walking around Chinatown and having an awesome lunch and Chinese snacks, we went to a museum of Yokohama and Japanese history. Just as we started looking around the museum a volunteer approached us and asked my friend if we would like an English tour. At first he said the tour would take 2 hours, but after she asked for a shorter tour, he said it could be done in 30 minutes. Our private tour guide, another volunteer, came and we started the tour. It was so great to actually understand some of the exhibits! The first half of the tour was mostly about ancient Japanese history, but the second part was really interesting, about Japan opening up to other countries, the war, and the Olympics. As the tour went on, the guide got more and more comfortable, and was really excited when I asked questions. He was clearly very interested in the museum, and he began to ask us to guess about different items or facts. For example, he showed us some models of the first American ships that came to Yokohama Bay. He asked us how many people we thought worked on the ship. "200." "More." "500." "Less." "250." More." After guessing about 10 different numbers, he finally told us! The look on his face was great- he was so excited as we guessed! Anyways, it was a great and informative tour, and made the trip to the museum well worth it (seeing as how I could understand most of the exhibits)! The two most interesting things I learned today were
1). when foreigners first settled in Yokohama, the government built many foreign houses in a certain area because they wanted to keep all the foreigners together and not let them spread out. The area was surrounded by a moat and became a kind-of artificial island that contained the foreigners.
2). the 1964 Tokyo Olympics dramatically influenced modern Japan. As a result of the Olympics, Japan pushed modernization (for example, the bullet train to get people to and from Tokyo to watch the Olympics). If the Olympics didn't come to Japan, there wouldn't have been a need for such drastic modernization.

Turn left at the first light

As I was walking to meet my friend Melissa for a quick powerwalk after school on Friday, an old woman was staring at me from across the street. I thought she was just surprised to see a foreigner (it's definately not the first time someone has stared at me!), but then I was greatly surprised! From across the street she asked me (in Japanese) for directions to the train station. I was flabbergasted (and really excited that someone asked me for directions, like a real local!)! After trying to give her directions from across the street, I ran over to the other side so we didn't have to yell. Using my excellent Japanese skills, I managed (I hope!) to give her pretty clear directions to the train station. (Translated, my directions were probably something like this: "Straight, first (gesture traffic light), right (point), straight, first (gesture traffic light), left, train station." She was pretty cool because she used a lot of gestures and could understand my gestures. Sometimes people don't seem to try to interpret gestures to much. Anyways, I felt good that instead of just staring at me, someone thought I looked knowledgable enough to give directions! Now I am an official local of Tateyama!

Ahh...Ace!

I am trying to go to volleyball practice more at my school, because that is one of the best ways to connect with the students. At my main school, volleyball practice is run like what I imagine military drills to be like- no talking, instense physical training, repetition, repetition, repetition, and a scary head coach. So while I'm at my other, smaller school (there's only 12 girls on the team) I am trying to go to practice more. Today the coach (my favorite English teacher) was in meetings during practice so it was just me and the girls. We did a lot of scrimmaging, and I taught the girls some volleyball cheers from my high school days... : ) They pretty much thought they were the coolest thing ever! They loved the cheer for an ace (unreturned serve) and would often do it even when they didn't get an ace! It was a great practice because they were really laid back (actually, not much volleyball was played!) I can just imagine them using their new cheer in the next tournament : ) !

Take me home, country road...

After a long night of delicious Nabe (famous Japanese winter food- boiled vegetables, tofu, meat, noodles, etc., eaten community style out of a boiling Nabe pot) and chocolate cake and cookies (a little post-Valentine's celebration), I started heading home around midnight. The dinner party was at my friend Junko's house, about a 15 minute drive from my apartment. My friend David and I left at the same time- he was right behind me. A minute or two into our drive he started flashing his brights at me. Dave and I give each other a hard time, so I thought he was just being a punk, so I slowed down (country roads in Japan at night = no one on the road). He passed me and so I flashed my brights at him. He stayed in the other lane for a long time, and when a car started coming towards us, and he didn't change lanes, I started worrying. Why wasn't he changing lanes? Not until Dave and the other car passed did I realize that I was in the wrong lane! I quickly pulled off the road just as the oncoming car passed me. OH MY GOSH!!! I was totally oblivious- after driving here for six months, I don't think about what side of the road I am because I am always on the correct side- except this time. Dave must have thought I was crazy! I quickly called him and totally him that I had just experienced one of the biggest brain farts ever- he said he was pretty worried about me when I flashed my brights back at him but didn't get over. I careful drove the rest of the way home, painstaking observing which side of the road I was on. The funny thing is, the last time I left Junko's house I did the exact same thing, except I had a passenger who corrected my mistake a few minutes into our drive. When you leave Junko's street you take a slight right after a stop sign. Apparently my brain just clicks to driving on the right side of the road as I roll through the slight right. Scary!!! Now I know to be extra-careful when leaving her house!!!

Are you talking to me?

As I was leaving school today, the office manager stuck his head out of the office and called my name. I didn't turn around at first because I was sure he wasn't talking to me. It's not that I think he doesn't like me, it's just that he never really acknowledges me or smiles at me. But most of the people in the office at this school are like that. When I finally realized that he had gone out of his way to get my attention, I started talking to him. Ok, here's the confusing part. He started asking me if I played tennis, and I wondered if he had seen me play before at Tateyama Sports Park, but he said he hadn't, so I wondered how he knew I played. And then he told me he played. And then I THINK (this was all in Japanese) he asked me to play tennis with him. I left the conversation saying, "Ok, next time," while still wondering what was really going on. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tell him when I'm free, or if we decided a day, or if other people are going to play- I'll post if there's any interesting outcome to this (kind-of) dilemma!

Let's Kiss...

So, I had this ingenious idea to do a Valentine's lesson with the Valentine's candy "Sweethearts" (you know, the little hearts with the Valentine's messages on them). I made about 40 big "Sweethearts" out of different colored paper and wrote messages on them. The idea was to divide the students into two groups and have the students search through the "Sweethearts" to find the "Sweetheart" message I would yell out. As I was going through the "Sweethearts," checking that the students understood the meaning, I slowly realized that the students were getting embarassed (audience: 40 13 and 14-year-old girls and boys)! In my mind, this was going to be a goofy, silly activity, but as I made the students repeat phrases like "hug me," "love me," "marry me," and "kiss me," I realized they didn't really think it was goofy, or silly. Thankfully, once we started to play the game the students weren't embarassed when I'd yell out a phrase like, "I love you," because they were concerned about finding the right "Sweetheart" to get points for their team. Lesson learned: Put yourself in the mind of someone going through puberty before playing a game using a variety of funny love phrases!!!

My speech

There is an international group in Tateyama, comprised mostly of older, retired men who have studied English throughout their life. They occasionally have potlucks for the ALTs in the area. And they sometimes ask ALTs to give presentations to their group, mostly about the place the ALT comes from. So, since most other ALTs have been around here for a few years and have already done their partially obligitory presentation, it was my turn. It was really fun to put information about Bellingham, Bellevue, and Seattle together. After all, they are my favorite cities in the world! I learned that the 520 Bridge is the longest floating bridge in the world, and that Seattle was named the most literate city in America in 2005. Who knew?! Although I was a bit nervous before the presentation, only 6 members ended up coming, and they were an awesome audience. I had a great time rambling on about my cities in Washington for an hour, and could've gone on longer! The audience was really interested and asked lots of questions, some of which I couldn't answer! (What makes a bridge a "floating" bridge? Can I fish off 520 bridge? Yes, they were quite intrigued with the bridge!) After living away from home, I realize how much I love Washington. Whenever anyone asks me about where I'm from, I feel like my eyes glaze over as I describe this magical place called Washington. I guess it's easy to put on rose-colored glasses when you've been gone for so long!

I am beautiful, no matter what they say...

Yesterday I left for a walk. I wasn't two seconds away from my apartment when a sketchy-looking guy passed me on his bike. Surprisingly enough, he gave me a loud, "Hello!," which I returned with equal enthusiasm. About three seconds later I hear "You are BEAUTIFUL!" from my new bike-riding friend as he rides on!

The Paper Bag

In Japan, whenever you buy female sanitary products, the clerk puts the products in a brown paper bag. Today I purchased some necessary items and before I realized it, the clerk had placed my products in a paper bag and THEN in a plastic bag. Maybe the purpose is to avoid embarrassment, but because all sanitary products are placed in paper bags, everyone still knows what you bought whether or not it is in a paper bag! I think the paper bag makes it even more seem as if you are more embarrassed because it seems as if you are trying to hide the products!

Random Thought

I think I've eaten more rice in the last six months than I have in my entire life.

A feast!

My friend Melissa goes to a family's house for dinner every Tuesday, and ever since I met them, I get invited every once in a while. The family has three children- their two older sons attend college in America, and their high school daughter is studying English. The mom is interested in learning English and LOVES traveling to New York to go shopping! I love getting invited over to their house because it is not a traditional Japanese house (it's big, comfortable, has carpet, and is homey) and because Motoko, the mom, is an AMAZING cook! She prepares so many delicious dishes- every week is like Thanksgiving! I always try to bring something to share, but my meager cookies or brownies look so pathetic next to the feast! So, a sample menu (last week's) was (and everything is homemade-the bread, everything!) potato soup, baked tomatoes with cheese, shrimp and banana fritters, mushrooms and cucumbers sauteed in pesto sauce, a big green salad, a HUGE plate of pasta with tomato sauce, cheesecake with strawberries, kiwis, and whipped cream, apple slices, and a box of See's chocolate. It's seriously some of the best food I've ever eaten, and the presentation is awesome! Needless to say, these dinners last quite a long time, (usually 3-4 hours!), and are filled with awesome food and conversation. Motoko's cooking is so good that she on a Japanese TV program a few weeks ago! I think her friends notimated her to participate in this cooking show that challenged people to cook a big meal for under 500yen (about $5.00). Apparently a TV crew came and followed her around ALL day (17 hours!) while she shopped and cooked. She said it was exhausting! Melissa and I watched the show with them, and saw the whole family and their house on TV. It was pretty cool!

Kilts

I have recenlly become a scarf-making machine. Last week I was wearing a scarf that I had just finished. My principal noticed it and we started talking about knitting. He was quite impressed with my skills, although they are quite simple! Anyways, he told me I should try knitting a kilt next. I was confused- a knit kilt! Sounds pretty risque!!! I told him I didn't understand what he was talking about and then I realized what he was talking about. The sister city school in Australia sent a bunch of kilts to the school, and they are currently on display in the foyer. These kilts are squares on fabric with different designs stitched in them- they are not the kilts I was thinking of! But I thought the name "kilt" was a little strange. Anyways, it wasn't until a few days later that my friend pointed out that kilt (ki-ru-to) means quilt. In Japanese, there is no "q" sound, so quilt becomes kilt. It all made since once I realized what a "kilt" really was!!!

No gas

Today I was so excited to make stir-fry for dinner. I usually make nasty stir-fry because all I use is soy sauce, but my friend showed me some good stir-fry sauce at the grocery store. So, I thawed my chicken, cut up my veggies, poured olive oil in my pan, and turned on the gas. But, alas, there was no gas! This was the first time I had any problems with my stove. I tried a few more times, and then realized that a small light had come on. I looked down and realized that it was a battery light. I didn't even know that the gas stove had batteries, and now they were dead! Since I'd already cut everything up I decided it would be worth it to run to the store for some new batteries. So I ran to the store, found batteries, came back home, changed the batteries, and then (this is how I wished the story would have gone) I had gas. But, alas, I still had no gas! The funny thing was I could hear the gas come out when I clicked it on, but there was no fire. The battery light had even turned off. After a few minutes of trying everything I possible could- checking the battery, trying both burners, one burner, the other burner...I gave in and called my superhero, Simon. Throughout the past six months he has helped me so much. This is his second year on the JET program, and he works in City Hall, so he often translates and helps me with official documents and such. After deciding on the phone that he didn't know what was wrong, he insisted on coming over (he was out and about at the time) to see what was wrong for himself. So he came over, and, much to my relief, was as perplexed as I was (I was relieved because usually I miss something really obvious- I was afraid he would come over and click one button and all would be fixed and I would feel really stupid!). But the problem remained, what to do about the gas. We finally decided that I needed to tell my supervisor so that a repair man could come out and take a look. But things just weren't adding up- why was the battery light turned off after I changed the battery and why did we hear gas coming out? So, since I of course had no matches, Simon ran to his car and got a lighter to try and manually start the fire. After a few humorous stories of singed eyelashes and eyebrows, Simon gracefully, but very cautiously, took a go at lighting the gas. It took a few times, but eventually the fire started. My friend has a temperamental stove, and she sometimes can turn on the fire, and sometimes has to use a match, so I figured that it what I would have to do from now on. But I still didn't understand what the battery had to do with anything. When Simon pulled the batteries out, he said, "Ellie, you have them in the wrong way." I said, "No!!! I checked them so many times!" He changed them around and, sure enough, the fire came on when he pressed the on button. I was flabbergasted!!! I didn't believe him, even after I looked at the symbols for positive and negative in the battery holder. Not until I looked further into the battery holder did I realize that I had indeed misread it. Of course. I ALWAYS miss the obvious! After a few moments of mentally kicking myself, I got over my stupidity, and could appreciate that my stove worked. Only a few minutes earlier did I think I was going to be out of a stove for at least a few days. Thankfully, I had whipped up a batch of cookies earlier in the afternoon so I could offer Simon some fresh chocolate chip cookies (and milk!). Just call me Susie Homemaker!

Venting

So, most of you probably know that my job isn't too difficult, and that I, in fact, don't have much responsibility at all. I have accepted this fact a long time ago, and try to maintain a positive attitude despite my frustration and boredom. Today, however, I was really frustrated. My teacher had called me this weekend to let me know he wasn't going to be in one class today, so he asked me if I could plan something. I was pretty excited to have the whole class to myself. When I got to work this morning I put a few things together, re-working a successful acitivity I had done with students at my other school. Just before class started, my teacher called me to make sure I had gotten his message. I told him I had. And then he told me that he wanted to students to study by themselves because they have a test on Thursday. I thought at first he maybe wanted to make sure I wasn't stressed out about planning the class. I assured him that I had enough materials for the class, but he told me he really wanted them to study, but that I could use half the class period. Basically, instead of speaking and teaching English, he wanted me to babysit them. There just doesn't seem to be much point for me to be in school if I can't even use a free period to do some English games or activities with the students. My role isn't really to teach, but more to be the school's token native speaker. It's frustrating when I know I am such a huge resource!

Strawberry Fields Forever

As I've come to learn, every town and city in Japan is famous for something. Whether it be the best persimmons, the saltiest rice crackers, or the largest variety of wildflowers, each town boasts some local product or activity. My town, Tateyama, is most famous for wildflowers and strawberry-picking in the winter. So, as a Tateyama resident, I decided I should take a go and see what all the fuss is about these delicious strawberries (they're in the supermarket now- not cheap, I might add!). There are a variety of strawberry-picking sights, but the one I went to today with some friends was 1,300yen (about $13) for all-you-can-eat strawberries in thirty minutes. Thirty minutes didn't seem long at all, but trust me, you can eat more strawberries than you want to in thirty minutes, as I've recently learned from experience! When you entered the greenhouse, everyone got a little tray with two sides- one side was filled with some condensed milk, and the other was for putting strawberry stems. We walked up and down the aisles of strawberries, eating as many as we could. They were so good! I didn't realize that there are different varieties of strawberries. We could taste a big difference better the different varieties- some were sweeter, some were mushy, and others were more firm. At first I thought I was going to be stressed out trying to eat as much as I could within the time limit, but it turns out that the time limit is more of a guideline because most people get sick of eating strawberries after 30 minutes. We ended up staying closer to an hour : ) We counted our stems after we left, and I was surprised that I had only eaten 36 strawberries- after all, I had been eating nonstop for a long time! I guess some of the berries were pretty big... Anyways, it was really fun, although I think I've filled up on my strawberry quota for the next year...

Work!

When I don't have class, I usually don't have anything to do so i just read, study Japanese, or talk to other teachers. I often go to the office to visit the secretaries, vice-principal, and principal because they like to speak English with me! I usually try not to stay too long because I don't want to overstay my welcome or keep them from working. After one whole period of just chatting (50 minutes), I asked the secretary if she was busy and I should leave, but she said I could stay, that I wasn't bothering her. So, I stayed. After about another half hour the vice-principal comes over to me and says, "Work!" At first, I thought he had finally realized that I don't really have any work to do, and he was angry. After he said, "Work!" he went into the copy room. I wasn't sure what to do so I got up to leave and go back to my desk in the teacher's room, but the secretary, probably seeing my confused expression, quickly told me that he just wanted me to help him fold some papers. He came back from the copy room with a stack of papers and motioned for me to join him at the table. I then realized that he had said, "Work!" because he couldn't say, "Ellie, would you please come and help me fold these papers?" It's always good to remember that intended meaning becomes skewed when language skills are limited! I'm sure I sound strange all the time when I'm trying to communicate in Japanese! Anyways, we spent the next 15 minutes chatting and joking about my new "part-time job" helping in the office. I have to say that I absolutely love the office staff at my school!