DisneySea

DisneySea is the Disney theme park next to Disneyland in northern Chiba (near Tokyo). I went there last Saturday with my buddy Kana. A bunch of people were supposed to go but it just ended up the two of us. I woke up SO early to catch the train (it's about 2 1/2 hours from Tateyama). We met at 9:30 to begin our LONG day trying to cram as much of DisneySea in as we could! The coolest part of DisneySea was that there were so many different themed areas that looked like different countries. There was an Arabian area that had big buildings and mosques, an English castle, an Italian waterfront (with gondolas!), a Maine coastal town, and Central American temples and markets. I have always loved miniatures replicas of different places (like the "log cabin" I spent half of my childhood pretending I was a pioneer in!) so the atmosphere of DisneySea was right up my alley. We hit all the big rides- Indiana Jones, this roller coaster (my first time to go upside down! It was quite anti-climactic, probably because I kept my head down the whole time and the loop was really small!), Journey to the Center of the Earth (in Japanese pronounciation, "Earth" becomes "Ass"- no joke...we got more than a few laughs out of that one), and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Perhapsh my favorite part of DisneySea was the Broadway show. I have never been a huge fan of the shows at Disney theme parks because I love the rides so much, but we decided to go to the Broadway show towards the end of the evening. I was pleasantly shocked at how professional and entertaining the show was! It consisted of a variety of clips from famous Broadway musicals. There I was, singing along (and unable to stop myself from dancing in my seat), when I turned to Kana to serenade her with some "Hello, Dolly!" only to find her slumbering away! I don't know who was more shocked, me, or Kana when I woke her up. I have never seen someone wake up and be shocked that they had fallen asleep. Anyways, I think I probably enjoyed the show more than anyone in the theater because I was familiar with almost all of the music (and it was all in English and most of the actors were foreigners!) It was very cool and made me want to get on a plane and head to Broadway! Our last ride of the day was another round of Indiana Jones (such a great ride!) After our ride we ran to try and catch the end of the fireworks show. We weren't 10 yards from the exit of the ride when Kana told me she lost her cellphone on the ride. Laughing, I told her "funny" and kept running. She said, "Ellie, really, I lost my phone on the ride!" Again, I didn't believe her- how could you lose your phone on a ride when you take so much care NOT to lose it before the ride begins? But she wasn't pulling my leg- apparently it had fallen into the pouch we put our bags in during the ride. She quickly told a staff member and, sure enough, true to Japanese service, it was retrieved in only 15 minutes. I was pretty impressed...I thought for sure the cellphone would have been eaten by the ride. We ended up being able to see a bit of the fireworks before heading out. I had a long ride ahead of me so I had to catch a 9:30 train. Nothing can replace Disneyland in my heart, but DisneySea was a great time! I was ridiculously tired and fell asleep on the way home...but it was all worth it!

Where am I?

Every week I play tennis with a group of Japanese and foreign friends. The tennis courts are outside of the city, at the base of a small mountain (read hill), which means that there are LOTS of bugs, especially in the summer. Last summer I got used to the hair-raising sizzle of bugs as they hit the bright lights surrounding the courts (not a soothing sound). Now, I don't consider myself sissy or a classic girl when it comes to getting grossed out by bugs, but last week I thouroughly grossed out by some of the exotic bugs that were flying around our tennis game. I felt like I was in a remote South American jungle or the marshes of the Nile. These bugs were freaky! (And actually kind of poisonous!) The two worst were a millipede (or centipede...I don't know the name, but all that matters was that it had about a thousand small stick legs that were allowing it to zip across the ground at an alarming rate!) and this small beetle thing that was entirely too big. I took pictures. If you're interested, I'll show them to you and you can be grossed out for yourself. After this experience, I'm not sure if I would be able to handle a really exotic location. Having a permanent shiver running down your spine is not a pleasant experience!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I watched this movie for the first time yesterday. The scene where John Candy and Steve Martin are driving on the other side of the road is a fairly accurate re-enactment of my driving-on-the-other-side-of-the-road story. I blogged about it a few months ago, but if you would like a more visual telling of the story, please consult this film. The only difference is that I'm slightly more attractive than the characters in the film and there were no semi-trucks involved in my experience (thankfully :).

Hisashiburi (Long time no write)

I've been blogging in my head ever since I got back from my short trip to the States, but haven't actually made it to the computer until now. And so much has happened in just one week! (The result of living in a foreign place = everything is interesting, even after a year.) I'm getting in good-bye mode, because there is so much to say good-bye to...people, my job, places, food (mmm...gotta soak it in), my lifestyle, and the excitement of living so far away from home. It seems so early to say good-bye, but this next month is going to go by so fast that I need to start now. But I'm also not trying to focus on leaving...I guess my job for the next month is to try and maintain a balance between living in the moment and saying good-bye- a difficult task.

Musings

As I was biking to the grocery store after lunch at my friend's house, I started thinking about all the things I'm going to miss about living in Japan. I guess that means I have begun mentally preparing to leave (less than 2 months to go) and am starting to realize that there are many things about Japan that I have come to love. Here are a few (not in any particular order):

-Being able to bike or walk to work/the grocery store/the post office/the bank/the train station
-Being a celebrity at work (read- not really having to do real work because I'm a foreigner)
-Getting gifts from strangers (again, just because I'm a foreigner)
-10-minute walk to the beach
-Hanging my clothes out to dry (how environmentally friendly!)
-Soft Cream Cones
-Having something interesting to take a picture of everyday
-The office staff at my school
-Text-messaging
-A 3-hour train ride from my Japanese friends
-Green tea
-Convenience stores
-Recognizing/being recognized ever time I go outside
-Sesame salad dressing
-Being invited to awesome, 3 or 4 hour dinners
-My students
-Tea time

On the other hand, there are many things that I won't miss about Japan. Here are a few (in no particular order):

-Recognizing/being recognized ever time I go outside
-Hanging my clothes out to dry (they sometimes smell and are stiff)
-Sleeping on the floor
-Eating in front of my computer (due to a lack of table...)
-Trying to bake in a microwave
-Garbage disposal (still haven't figured it out...)
-School lunch
-Always being told I'm cute, beautiful, have nice skin, speak Japanese very well (ha!) etc. (although I love compliments, they can get a little old!)
-Long train rides
-Being far away from friends and family

I guess I started thinking about these things because I'm coming home in 2 days for a friend's wedding, and it made me start thinking about what it's going to be like when I move home. I think it will be a surprisingly melancholy transition. I've had lots of challenges and a pretty boring job, but in some ways life for me is easier here than it is at home. People are very aware of my limitations as a foreigner in Japan, so I am babied in many ways, and don't have to deal with "adult" things. But as soon as I'm back in the states, I won't have that special status anymore. I'll just be another young graduate trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. But it will be good to get on with my real life. This probably sounds really corny, but living in Japan is like living in a dream. Guess I'm gonna wake up soon :)

You should be so proud, I can speak English quite well!

This morning in a first-year English class I was doing the routine stuff- flashcards and dialogue repetition. After I read the first dialogue (which consisted of: "This is my teacher Lisa Brown. She's from Australia." "Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you, too."), I was quite surprised that I got a round of applause from the students! The first-year English teacher is pretty funny and relates really well with the students (sometimes he's like a comedy act!), so he explained to them why it was so weird that they clapped for my English pronounciation. He had a small conversation in Japanese with a student and then started clapping and saying how the student spoke such good Japanese and had such a good accent. I think the students could understand that my English pronounciation is nothing to clap about- it wasn't achieved after years of practice and intense study. Nevertheless, it just goes to show you how impressed some Japanese speakers are with good English pronounciation (this isn't this first time I've been applauded for my pronounciation!).

Everyday should be your birthday...

This was probably one of my favorite birthdays ever because I got so much mail! Thanks everyone for inundating my mailbox with letters this past week!