"Sakura, Sakura..." and First Lessons

The title of this post was chosen because sakura be everywhere, yo. In a way, it's kind of nice that the start of the school year coincides with the peak of cherry blossom season ... makes everyone feel better about going back to school, I guess.

This past week since training has been fairly laid-back. After we finished up and each gave our full 25-minute demo lesson to a small group of our peers, we had a nice celebratory farewell dinner -- ahh, back to the days of the expensive group nomihoudai "all-you-can-drink" with a set course meal. Oh well, it was worth it. The next day, we all checked out, turned over any extra luggage to the delivery service, and split off into groups that were going in the same direction. All in all, it was a pretty useful training, full of sage advice and amusing anecdotes. I still freaked out about my first real lessons today, though, because they were for 4th grade and special education 2nd-3rd grades, which have no textbook.

At Hiroshima Station, we met with our ICs, local Japanese people who help us get all settled in to our new lives. My soon-to-be neighbor and I were picked up by a very kindly middle-aged mom in a neon green VW beetle ... very cute, but pretty squished with all our stuff! She helped us get our keys, pay the gas deposit, and go buy things at various stores to start us off in our little one-person Leopalace apartments. She was so helpful and always knew where the best prices would be! On Monday she came back to help us and another new ALT get our foreigner registration cards and health insurance cards at city hall, open JP Post Office bank accounts, and get cell phones. I was very lucky to have corresponded with an ALT from last year who was leaving Japan--he sold me his iPhone so neither of us have to pay the very hefty contract-breach fee (it's a 2-year contract, but we are each staying for only 1). Just a small transfer fee and oh, the fact that I have to pay off the other half of the phone, which is about $300... yeah, they don't give discounts here for starting a new contract. Ouch. So anyway, with the extensive paperwork, that all took about forever and a day, but hey we survived and got some cheap tasty udon (made in front of us!) along the way.

Then I got a cold so I spent the better part of the next several days holed up in my place, though I did go out to explore some places with other ALTs and do karaoke. I also went to the gym at the community center in the park, which is...hrmm...fairly low-tech, shall we say, and doesn't even have ellipticals. It's fine, it's not super-pricey at least...but I did learn  that you have to bring your own indoor gym shoes or borrow theirs. I bought some right after because the pair they had was really old and squeaky!

This past weekend there was the Miyoshi City sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival) right in my neighborhood, at a park on a nearby hill called Ozekiyama. There was a pre-festival the night before, but it was dreadfully cold and rainy, so me and another guy left after less than 2 hours, but we got to see some real-time sand art and some traditional kagura dancing with live music and eat tasty festival food! I tried fried shark on a stick just to be adventurous. (Shark is a local specialty in Miyoshi because it would last those long treks up into this mountainous region. And here they call it ワニ, wani, which means alligator...huh?) The next day was more about the food and drinks because the weather sucked again, and it even started to hail at one point despite being sunny! Can someone explain this weather please? Yeesh. Then some of us went back to my place and played a bilingual Apples to Apples with English and Japanese on the cards! That made for an interesting time for sure.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...my first day of work! I didn't actually teach anything, ironically. It was at my biggest school of about 511 students, which I go to on Mondays and Wednesdays. They had an "inauguration ceremony" for the new staff, including me, in which the principal read our names and we introduced ourselves briefly. Everyone was so pleasantly surprised that I did it in Japanese. Also, some girls ran up to me in the hall and greeted me, told me I was the most kawaii sensei (cute teacher) even though they're the cute ones, and asked for many high fives, which I gave freely. Then there was the school entrance ceremony (nyuugakushiki) for the tiny, adorable first graders, whom upperclassmen led by the hand to their seats in front. I almost died every time they earnestly said "Arigatou gozaimasu!" to members of the PTA who all congratulated them on entering school. Then it was back to the teacher's room, where the people at my section of desks (the music teacher and the three 6th grade teachers) decided to take a group photo....but they walked outside with their indoor shoes on! I did the same, despite feeling wrong about it since that goes against everything we've been taught. Apparently some teachers will run out to their cars in indoor shoes, but we're not supposed to follow their example. Oh well, at least it wasn't muddy ...and the picture turned out well!

I helped put away some of the first graders' chairs in their rooms, and then it turned out I had to stay for the full school day plus a little extra--that is, 4:30--which is the usual time, even though I had no lessons. I just used the time to work out a general lesson plan with one of the 6th grade teachers and to go check out the denshi kokuban, or electric blackboard...it's basically a giant touchscreen computer with lesson materials in it! I wish we had that when I was their age... Incidentally, the guy at the desk to my right who showed it to me has the same last name as the guy to my right at my next school...whoa! It's not like it's the most common name in Japan, either. Another oddity: one of his students is named Abe Maria! He started humming the tune of "Ave Maria," I asked why, and he showed me the class list. I guess the Abe family has a sense of humor or a love of music.

Now for the next day (today), at another school of 150 students, with my first actual lessons! I managed to push through on a mostly-empty stomach, since in my rush and slight lateness, I didn't have time to stop and buy an onigiri (filled rice ball), and thus, I had only a fried egg for breakfast and a tiny yogurt, tiny pudding, and smallish banana for lunch. I've been surviving off of cocoa and sugared coffee throughout the day, and even now, the thought of food after work is magical. During lunch, one kid asked in Japanese, "Sensei, aren't you hungry?" I paused and said, "Ah, no, I'm fine!" Bald. Faced. Lie. "...I'll eat more after school." Not a lie.

Anyway, I luckily had the first couple periods to prep, including making a full set of flashcards for 1-20 since the school didn't have any. I beefed up my self-introduction--complete with flashcards, maps, a flag, money, and a bald eagle finger puppet--to last 10 minutes instead of the 5 we had rehearsed, and plunged right in! Thankfully, the cheerful kids were curious and responsive, despite being a little bit rowdy or sassy at times. By the time I had taught two 4th grade classes and eaten lunch with the 5th grade class, I felt like I knew what to expect. But then I had a special needs class with one 2nd and one 3rd grader, and I was nervous because that was new territory...but it turned out fine! I just did things more slowly with more repetition. They (and all the others) are so darn sweet! Sometimes they're a bit fresh, though -- one girl asked if she could call me "Nata-chan." Nope, kid, Natasha-sensei.

Tonight I'm going to a free Japanese lesson at the library with some other ALTs, and the next three days are school days, so let's see how all that goes. I feel a little bit reassured now that I know what it's all like!

Photo time!

Sunset sakura stroll in my neighborhood

Sunset sakura stroll in my neighborhood, part 2

A bunch of tiny tori-i (shrine gates) in the neighborhood~

Sand art at the pre-festival: it was in real-time and she kept changing it. So cool!

Kagura dancing: the part where the demons came out to kick butt and take names

Nighttime sakura: almost worth the horrible weather

Ozekiyama Park entrance

View of the north side of Miyoshi

My Tuesday school

Let the Training Commence (or in Engrish, "Let's Training!")

Typing this before 7:00 AM in my Okayama hotel room during training. I can’t believe I’m up this early, but at least the jetlag curse has been broken and I’ve gotten two good nights’ sleep in a row. Much better than waking up around 4:30 and not getting back to sleep…

If you go to Tokyo sometime, I definitely recommend Tokyo Skytree. On my only real day in Tokyo, I met up in the morning with a Japanese friend who came in from the neighboring city of Saitama to hang out there with me, since neither of us had been—it was opened to the public in May 2012, the month after I went home from study abroad (why?!). It was even more popular than I expected—the ticket sales began at 8, but when I got in line around 8:20~30, it was already around an 80-minute wait according to a sign. Thankfully my friend Kanaho, who had already gone through the line and gotten a ticket voucher, came and saved me. Meeting up without a cell phone can be really hard and stressful! How did people ever manage it? Anyway, the big crowds may have had to do with the fact that it was a long weekend (Friday was off)…which would later screw me over again.

            So, Skytree—the world’s tallest tower at 634 meters, but not the tallest structure because a building in Dubai has that title—has pretty much completely eclipsed Tokyo Tower in the observation tower department. It looked so small and sad from where we were standing in Skytree—and that was from the lower deck! We would’ve gone up to the higher one, but it was an extra 1000 yen, or over $10. They also have a glass section of the floor where you can walk out and look down at the ant-like people below—acrophobic people, beware!

            From there, we had enough time to visit Asakusa and the famous temple Sensouji. It was my fourth time there, navigating the throngs of people walking amongst the stalls on the way to the main pavilion. It’s basically the perfect place to get souvenirs before leaving Japan, while also getting fat off of street food like age-manju (little fluffy dough balls that are fried on the outside and stuffed with various fillings—I had ume, Japanese plum).

            Before getting on the shinkansen (bullet train) to Okayama that afternoon, I was going to see Harajuku with a friend but the friend canceled so I figured, ah what the heck, I’ll still go anyway…I was back at the hotel so I brought my suitcase and backpack in a quick taxi to Tokyo Station, thinking I’d leave my stuff in one of the many coin lockers and come back to hop a 4:30 train…but literally every large locker was full. The locker areas had cool little touchscreen maps showing where other locker sections were and what they had available, and every once in a while a small or medium would open up—I actually ran over to get a medium a couple times, but by the time I got there, people would already be buying it. Noooo! It was definitely because of that long weekend. I threw in the towel just after 2 (I had already been to Harajuku several times) and lined up at 2:20 for a 2:40 train.

Which reminds me… If the assigned seats are all gone, get there early, like at least 15 minutes early, or you might have to stand. Only the first 3 cars out of a maybe 12-car train are open seating. Good thing this was the first stop…a few people who got on at Nagoya, Kyoto or Osaka had to stand or sleepily crouch in the aisles. I got a nice window seat where I could catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji, the Kamogawa (Kamo River) and Kyoto Tower (I wanted to jump off in Kyoto!), and Himeji Castle engulfed by black scaffolding—sigh, when will that be finished?

An Interac head teacher from this area was waiting to meet me at the fountain outside the station, and brought me to the hotel, which was literally right across from the station, but the help was appreciated. I met the head of my branch and some other fresh faces, picked up my big ole 50.5 pound rolling duffel I’d shipped there, and headed off to my room, which is considerably bigger and nicer than the one I had in Tokyo.

People went off to find food fairly quickly, and we happily settled on the Japanese curry chain CoCo Ichibanya, which brings back memories from study abroad because one was right across from Doshisha’s campus. You can add so many mix-ins or toppings to your curry; it’s great. I had cheese and spinach in it because that was a legit thing on the menu and I like them both, so why not. Afterwards we found a place to do karaoke for an hour before crashing, and blasted such classics as “F***k You” (my go-to alto range fun song), and lots of ‘90s songs from folks like Britney and the Backstreet Boys. I felt alive again! I seriously wish there were more karaoke places in America—there’s only one similar place in Boston, a Korean one called Do Re Mi.

So far we’ve had two days of training—long and eventful days, but not too exhausting. I think I’ve learned all of the other 21 trainees’ names by now, but 3 more just showed up Tuesday afternoon (aw man, more names!). I have had more than one convenience store canned coffee a day though. The first day was mostly just policy stuff, objectives, rules, and piles of paperwork…I think I have a whole tree worth of paper with me right now. Yesterday (Tuesday) was more practical and dealt with life in schools and classrooms and stuff. We practiced our very first self-introductions to the class and were judged pretty harshly but it was to catch bad habits before they start. In the evening we also had a drug test and presentation on drunk driving and drugs in Japan (DON’T DO IT, your life will be over. They are adamant about anti-drug laws here, and the no drunk driving is kind of common sense).
          One cool thing that happened: some of us went to Japanese McDonald’s for lunch yesterday (more interesting options than back home!), and as we got in line some doll-like high school girls in short skirts (yes, these ones fit all the stereotypes) said “Hello” to us in English on their way out! We said hello back encouragingly and asked “how are you?” They said “I’m fine thank you” …well one said “I’m guddo” (good) but I think she wasn’t serious. As they left, one more said “I’m hungry!” Wait why are you leaving a restaurant hungry? Oh well, at least they’re using English! A lot of people here will be too shy to speak it, especially to random foreigners, but these seemed like the popular girls so I guess they were less inhibited.

"Tokyolo?" Er....Nope

This entry was started on the way to Tokyo Station from Narita Airport because I felt the need to passive-aggressively document the ridiculous and somewhat clueless group of 4 college kids in front of me on the train. First piece of gold: “Tokyolo!” (a strange bastardization of Tokyo and YOLO which I would only ever say ironically. I hope for their sakes they were saying it ironically, though something in my heart tells me they weren’t.)

Also, “Whoa, I totally didn’t realize this is a legit train” (referring to it being spacious forward-facing seats instead of subway-style … yeah kids, Japan takes things up a notch.) They were also congratulating themselves for even making it onto the train in the first place (partly due to a communication breakdown where they didn’t realize it was assigned seating). They also were relieved that everything had English written on it…but then realized that might be because it’s the airport. I hope those guys brought their phrasebooks, since they’ll have a hard time finding anyone who can speak fluent English to them…

Next piece of gold: they repeated Shibuya from the list of stops being announced, but said it like “Shi-BOO-yah!” on purpose. And then, “Can someone tell me what ‘buya’ means?” That makes the second time I rolled my eyes and thought kill me now.

Here, why don’t you just have a whole list of selections…

“I also wanna get a samurai sword.” (it’s called a katana)

“I want to bring back a nice pair of chopsticks to show off at a dinner party.”
          “I hope we get lots of Wifi so I can send lots of Snapchats.” (haha, good luck with finding free wifi in Japan!)

“I feel like we’re already Tokyo Drifting!” “Hashtag YOLO Tokyo Drift!”

Apparently they’re on some kind of organized trip, because they were talking about the itinerary and ditching certain tour stuff. That’s good for them because it seems like they don't know a lick of Japanese... But hey, they all ordered Asahi from the drink cart and predicted being hungover on the last day, so they'll probably just be drinking their whole trip away anyway.

Anyway, now back to our regularly scheduled programming. You have to strengthen your resolve before embarking on a 13-hour flight, that’s for sure. And preferably get minimal sleep the night before to force you to fall asleep there…which wasn’t a problem this time since my first flight was at 6 AM and I got about 4 hours of sleep. Also, I’m pretty sure Katy Perry’s “I’m Wide Awake” was written on or inspired by an international overnight flight because good lord, it is near impossible to get any quality shuteye, even after taking melatonin pills. I got less than 2 hours, I think, and the sad part is that’s as good as or better than my track record with flights to or from Japan so far (this is my 7^th). Maybe that’s an economy class thing?

A word to the wise: if you enjoy food, avoid taking Air Canada, unless you will eat almost anything. They seemed to think vegetarian and vegan were the same thing, since my bland meals lacked egg or dairy, but I guess that makes them healthier at least … and they also think that if you are vegetarian, then you have to have quinoa for both your main and side dish. Quinoa everything! I think I’m good on that for a while.

Other than that, both my flights were fine, with a good entertainment selection—I pretty much watched nonstop movies (Last Vegas, Anchorman, Captain Phillips, and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. I should have watched them in reverse order so the comedy of the first two would ease the tension from the others. By the way, this may offend you, but I didn’t actually find Anchorman that funny… sorry not sorry).

Time for sleep because those 2 hours just aren't cutting it.

Another Year: The Saga Continues

Hi again readers!

Yes, it's been a while. You thought I was done with this blog after study abroad, right? Hardly. Of course I was going back to Japan! I've decided to repurpose this blog from my study abroad days in Kyoto and use it to give updates on my year teaching English in Miyoshi.

Long story short, I went back to Tufts for senior year, graduated in 2013, and then got a job as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) with Interac -- kind of like JET, but a private company. After many months of anticipation, the time has come--I'm about to start my week of job training! It's in Okayama, the capital of Okayama Prefecture, and a surprisingly urban city given its rural surroundings. It starts on Monday March 24th, and we leave for our placements on Sunday March 30th. One of Japan's three most famous and beautiful gardens is there, so hopefully we won't be too busy to see that!

When that's done, I'll be all settled into Miyoshi, a city of just over 56,000 in Hiroshima Prefecture, just over an hour north of Hiroshima, the capital city (which, in contrast, has a little over 1 million, so almost the size of Kyoto). I don't know details about the apartment, but it's sure to be tiny, and I'll be helping teach elementary and middle school students. Here's some more info on the city.

And with that, it's time to sign off, since my layover in Toronto is almost up. I'm off to change huge wads of USD to yen so I don't have to worry about it there (it will come in quite handy -- Japan is very much a cash society), and then board the plane to Tokyo! I'm staying there overnight and exploring a bit before we have to be at the training hotel on Sunday night. A 3.5 hour ride on the shinkansen should give me some extra time to prepare my intro lesson.

See you on the other side.

The End, Part 2: Reflections (反省)

When it comes down to it, you really can’t quite describe the way it feels to leave a country you’ve resided in for almost a year and finally go back home. The closer you get to the date, the more you start resisting it and throwing an inner temper tantrum (“iya da! Iya daaa!”) because you realize how close you are to having your entire life for the past several months completely stripped away and replaced with a different one. That includes all the bonds you’ve made with fellow exchange students, Japanese peers, teachers, and host families; your daily routine; the things you eat; the things you see on the street or on TV; the language being spoken around you; the mindset; and…yeah, pretty much everything.

Even for those who like change, it can be somewhat daunting and jarring. Even if you’ve had pangs of homesickness, it doesn’t make it any easier to part ways with comrades from club activities, or people going to school across America from you. I’ve resolved to come back starting next summer to teach with the JET program—mark my words!—but that still seems so far away. And there’s no guarantee where I’ll be placed…I could be worlds away from Kyoto.

And now I’ve been back for over two weeks and I already can’t believe how long ago my final lunch with my Japanese class (a bento box picnic at a fork in the Kamo River) feels...but it was only a month ago. There is minimal reverse culture shock because home/America is like my template for everything. Okay, maybe it’s still a little weird to see such huge cars—SUVs are not a thing there—and people—everyone in Japan is roughly the same slender body type. It’s nice to have trash cans everywhere, but I miss the convenience of pre-warmed toilet seats, vending machines on every block (selling hot milk tea and coffee!), and being able to walk into a convenience store and buy a beer or a cheap snack like an onigiri (rice ball with fillings). It’s definitely nice being able to drive again, though—I had a love-hate relationship with the Kyoto city bus system that was more hate than love.

When seeing old friends up at Tufts, I got asked “How was Japan?” a lot. That is a lot harder to answer than you’d think. I should’ve come up with some witty summary, but in most cases I said it was not as weird as people made it out to be, but still sort of crazy and of course awesome, then shared an anecdote or two (like the time these random Japanese guys paid for some of us to dress up in cosplay and do karaoke with them. Yep, that was a night to remember). If I could have shared something I’ve learned off the top of my head, I guess I would have said that while it’s hard for an outsider to fit into Japanese culture, we’re really not as different as it seems. The people I met over there enjoy a good meal like us (albeit more mayo-filled), and a drink with friends just like us (emphasis on the drink), and procrastinate and have crushes and insecurities and think it’s awkward when an ex puts up pictures with their new boy/girl on Facebook.

The only thing separating us folks of different countries from bonding with each other is the language barrier, which is why I want to keep working on my Japanese until I’m fluent and can make more long-lasting ties. I also want to help teach English to kids there so that there is less of this anxiety towards English that prevents Japanese people from becoming real friends with Westerners, and from going abroad.

Language connects people. That’s why I’m gonna keep improving, even more than I did this past year, which was a lot, but still. Onward and upward.

That’s all for now, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading this to the very end. I could have updated more in second semester, but I got all busy and I’m sorry about that. Blogging stuff from abroad is hard because you want to share everything, so it’s a daunting task. Still worth it.

See you next time—maybe when I’m a JET. Peace.

In the Osaka Museum of History. Why so serious?

The End, Part 1: List of Special Achievements Unlocked While in Japan

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So I’m home now. Le sigh. I wish I knew how to quit you, Japan. ;_;
But anyway, here is some pretty cool stuff I did (in no particular order):

• Ate Christmas cake as my birthday cake with my family on a shinkansen (bullet train)
• Saw a Lizst-themed classical concert at the famous temple Kiyomizudera, all lit up at night (thanks host mom!)
• Saw apprentice geisha dancing and playing instruments expertly in a lovely theater in Gion (thanks again, host mom!)
• Petted a capybara (they feel like hay, but are cute and chill)
• Had a hairclip stolen by a sneaky squirrel-monkey:

• Had a ridiculous night with some classmates involving cosplay and deluxe karaoke, paid for by some weird random nihonjin guys
• Wrote an essay in Japanese (for a class other than language class)
• Got interviewed about farts by a random Japanese comedian in a black bodysuit:

• Performed in 2 choir concerts with the esteemed Kyoto University Gasshoudan
• Sang "I’m Yours" with 2 American friends at an in-choir event—and won the grand prize by popular vote (Watch here)
• Soaked in hot springs in the snow, and later in a windy cove by the water
• Went to KOREA! Without really knowing any of the language.
• Walked around the city in kimonos for free with my KCJS buddies, staring at the plum blossoms and also getting stared at:

• Went to a J-Rock festival and saw 3 of my favorite bands in one day
• Worshiped at the shrine where the sun goddess Amaterasu is housed in Ise
• Made Valentine’s chocolate for the first time:

• Led the search for my dad’s missing passport all over Tokyo (he did not get it back)
• Signed the emperor’s birthday registry (it's the one on the far left):

• Went on a date with a cute Japanese guy
• Dispelled stereotypes to said guy, such as the American diet consisting of burgers and Coke
• Got prize money for being one of four people in KCJS to “exemplify the spirit of the program” (which apparently had something to do with throwing myself into my CIP activity, the choir)
• Lugged over 100 pounds of stuff back home, with a transfer in San Fran ("Strong women, strong girls!")

(Late Post, February) "Clever Putty"

Oh jeez! Sorry guys, I realized I typed up this post back in late January or early February and forgot to complete it. Well, better late than never! Eheh...

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So here's the lowdown. Not much has happened the first couple weeks of the semester except that my coffee dependency has reignited and is back with a vengeance. Oh, and that women's issues class in Japanese that I mentioned? No assignments so far, and it will probably stay that way. SWEET. I just have to understand what the teacher says and the handouts she gives us. (Is this the life of a real Japanese college student? According to my sources, it is. Lucky bastards! Just kidding, they go through hell to get into college, so it's even.)

I do have a couple vignettes though. Yesterday I went with some friends for lunch at our awesome Thai place ("Asian Restaurant"). The previous time, I had tried to order this Thai red curry with pork and vegetables on rice, just without the meat. When I asked the waitress, she acted awkward and told me it wouldn't taste good. (まずい。おいしくない。) I pressed the issue a little bit but gave up and ordered something else.

But this time my resolve was strong! I was back for a rematch and I was going to win! Rachelle told me to put my foot down, like literally put it on the table, that'd show them. As it turns out, I didn't need to go that far. The same waitress came and I asked for the same thing, and she pulled the whole "it's not tasty" thing again, but I explained that I had ordered the green curry without meat before and liked it, and now I wanted to try this one. After struggling a bit and saying she didn't know if they could make it, she asked another nearby employee something in Thai, and then told me they could. Yesss, thank God. And then I ate every bite because guess what, it was friggin' delicious. Take that! (Clearly the lady has never tried anything vegetarian before.)

After that victory, we dashed frantically and uncomfortably back to campus ("curry running," we called it) for the Friday afternoon Kyoto Artisans class, where Akira Kurosaki, a woodblock print craftsman, had set up his stuff to do a demonstration! Holy shizznit! After lecture-type stuff, he showed us how he carves a block and how he gets the ink onto the paper in different layers. Then we got to try our own with black ink! Sooo cool! Mine weren't the best, but they are now hanging in my room. Oh, and when our teacher Bethe-sensei kept mentioning the Silly Putty (a.k.a. sticky-tack) he was using to hold the board down, at one point he just smiled and said, "Not silly. It is very clever." Bahahaha. Mr. Kurosaki, you are awesome.

Also on Friday, I escorted two of my friends to Kyodai choir practice, which they seemed to really enjoy! It was my first time seeing the choir since Dec. 18-ish, so it was nice going around and saying hi to the gang again. Three more KCJSers are coming next week, so it'll basically be a gaijin takeover. Woohoo! On another note, although it's already been a month since b-day/Christmas, got the Happy Birthday song sung to me by the altos and then later by everyone--me and this other guy sat in the middle, which was equal parts nice and embarrassing. I also had to sing a part in this song from the choir book called Vive la Compagnie that birthday peoples always sing. It was really high and I was nervous so I flubbed the lyrics at first (I can read, promise!), but did alright when the conductor let me start over. It was so.... gaaahhh, why is there no word for awkward in Japanese?

以上です！ That's all for now folks.

Hisashiburi (Long Time No Write): Winter Break Tales

So it's been a while...no, I don't expect you to forgive me. From now on I'll probably do mini-posts so this blogging thing doesn't seem as daunting for a lazy arse like me.

I guess we should get this catch-up over with, then...End of the semester was stressful as usual, but also sad due to all the fall students leaving. Immediately after the closing ceremony/luncheon at the nearby Bon Bon Cafe, I headed out to the airport with three friends...and went to KOREA! Woohoo! I wasn't there for more than a few days, but I want to go back sometime after I've actually learned some of the language, and when it's not the dead of winter. (Thanks, Seoul, for nearly giving me frostbite.) I've been describing it to my Japanese compadres as "like Japan's cousin," but to my native English-speaking peeps I've said it's like an alternate reality Japan with some China thrown in there somewhere. I mean, obviously it has its own culture too; that's just the impression I got. We saw Busan (port city) and Seoul and had a great time (went to lookout towers in both cities, haha).

Angel-in-Us Coffee (appears in City Hunter!) :3 The interior was adorable...and three floors

 ...and Christmas tree in a square in Busan!

N Seoul Tower. Imagine this amount of city-ness in 360 degrees. Whoaaa.

There was a plethora of cute cafes (they love koppi! aka coffee), pretty Christmas lights/decorations, and couples. Well, surely there's couples in Japan too; they just do a damn good job of hiding it. Like ninjas. (Woo, stereotypes~) We also went to a club--my first real one--called Cocoon which was basically epic squared.

Oh, and then Kim Jong-Il died just in time for me to get out of the area beforehand, ehehe.

On another note, I'm afraid of my budding addiction to K-dramas--two friends from the trip got me and the other friend hooked on City Hunter afterwards, which is sort of the Korean Batman plus Death Note cat-and-mouse plus a revenge plot, romance and humor, but even better than it sounds. Now after whipping through that, I'm on a period drama called The Princess's Man, but I'm worried nothing will ever make me feel the same again. Sigh.... (Well, it'll be okay; I thought the same thing after finishing FMA: Brotherhood. And I'm fine now.) I mean, check out the soundtrack here--so BAMF.

Love it like a fat kid loves cake. No, like a heroin addict needs their fix. Too bad it's over...

Then there was the Kyodai Choir Christmas-kai (Xmas party?) that I helped plan for, involving small group performances of songs, skits, etc., plus party games (like musical chairs), with small prizes at the afterparty afterwards. It was a 大成功 (big success)!

Few days of rest, and then off to Tokyo to meet my dad and be his guide before the rest of my family showed up! Helped him with some meetings and got to do some sightseeing, which was great until he lost his passport. Urgh. (For the love of Jizo, why can't the adults be responsible?!) So that wasted some time, and we missed the Emperor's speech at the Palace on his birthday, but made it in time to sign our names in his birthday registry.

Mine's the far left--it says my name and Amurrcuh. Yeah!

The others showed up and we were total tourists and went to Tokyo Tower (right next to the hotel, how can we not go?). My family basically Gaijin Smashed all over Japan, with my sister eating more seaweed packs per day than a chain smoker smokes , and my brother proclaiming everything "honorable" or "dishonorable," and my mom and dad just generally being awkward and speaking random phrases (i.e., domo arigatou--which no one says, it's arigatou gozaimasu). From Tokyo we went to Hakone (on Christmas/my birthday mind you, so it was stressful, but we ate "Christmas cake" on the bullet train so it's okay), where we stayed at a mountain ryokan (Japanese inn) near Lake Ashinoko (with a fake pirate ship and a cablecar, whee!) with onsen/hot springs and elaborate kaiseki meals. Getting used to the whole nakey thing was hard for them (I totally understand that feeling), but eventually even my sister was willingly going in. And man was it worth it--so relaxing!

The "money shot": pirate ship, Fuji (in the middle), tori-i (red arch).

Figuring out what the meal was and how to eat it was a feat for us.

Then off to Kyoto, where I showed them the Doshisha campus, Kiyomizu Temple, et cetera...And on my mom's birthday, we went to a monkey park on a mountain and saw adorable baby Japanese monkeys (nihonzaru), then dyed our own indigo T-shirts/banners with white designs at a local craftsman's. Oh, but before that we went to Nara and got attacked by hungry deer (think seagulls in Finding Nemo) and saw one of the world's largest Buddha statues at Todaiji Temple...it was my fourth time, NBD. My dad crawled through a child-sized hole in a pillar that brings you enlightenment in your next life, which finally gave my brother the courage to do so too. Yay!

While we're on the Todaiji subject, next to that pillar there was this little kid who just looks at my dad incredulously and goes "Gaikokujin?" (foreigner?) Which I then point out to him and my siblings, who are of course amused. My dad (who actually knows zero Japanese beyond "domo arigatou") replies, "Nihongo?" (Japanese language?) The kid nods in wonder. Dad corrects himself and goes, "Nihonjin?" (Japanese person?) The kid nods again in amazement, then goes back to his dad.

...I dunno, just thought it was cute and funny. (*⌒―⌒*)

Sure they seem cute, but wait till they see food---like sharks that have smelled blood... 

Yay Gollins at Todaiji. That building's the world's second-largest wooden structure FYI.

We parted ways on New Year's Eve as they went to Tokyo to fly out (there may have been some tears...I seriously miss those guys already), and I went to Kanazawa to crash with a Tufts friend while my host parents visited their parents' homes for the three-day holiday. Tufts folks, hear me: even in Lewis, you are FAR better off than in a Japanese university's international dorm. Just...I don't even. The people I met were really cool, but the weather sucked and there wasn't much to do (as the students agreed) beyond Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen (one of the top three Japanese gardens), and maybe karaoke or drinking downtown. Also, snowww. So much of it. And no shoveled sidewalks. (After going there and Seoul, I don't mind the cold in Kyoto nearly as much!) Then the snow followed me back to Kyoto, and there I stayed until...now! I hung out with people a few times though, like when my kouhai (underclassman) from Tufts' JCC came down to visit and we went sightseeing--there were people in gorgeous kimono for their 成人式 Coming-of-Age ceremony! And we went to Fushimi Inari, a shrine dedicated to the fox god up on a hill. You've seen it in Memoirs of a Geisha--the one with aaaalll the orange tori-i arches.

Hatsumoude--first shrine visit on New Year's...so crowded! 

Awesomeness of Kenrokuen, take 1

Awesomeness of Kenrokuen, take 2

And then the new spring semester students showed up, we had some getting-to-know-you dinners, and here we are in the first week of class. Huzzah! (Here we go again...) This time I'm going to take a course on women's issues in Japanese--woah snap, can she handle it? Find out next time on Natasha's Awkward Adventures!

Magic, or Kyodai Gasshoudan 82nd Annual Winter Concert

Wow. Just…wow. I feel like I bore witness to and took part in something amazing. Never mind the fact that I am shivering from cold and hangover as I write this.

I spent about 20 hours with choir people on Sunday—an epically long day that was the culmination of everything I had worked towards in my CIP (Community Involvement Project) since joining the choir in late September.  All the extra catch-up practices on top of the two regular weekly ones, and the retreat, and the dress rehearsal, it all led up to this, the year’s biggest event: the Kyodai Gasshoudan 82^nd Teiki Ensoukai (Regular/Scheduled Concert). I feel like it went really well and I wouldn’t do anything differently!

…Well, the day did start off a little hectic as I was supposed to wake up around 6:20 to get to the concert hall in Joyo (area south of Kyoto) by 9, but somehow my alarm didn’t go off and I woke up sleepily and then had a heart attack when my phone said 8:05. (Even though I had been thinking, “I am DEFINITELY not going to be late for this!” …Oy vey…) But I got there around 10:30 and quick-changed into Uber Ugly Costume and joined the girls still doing warm-ups and ridiculous exercises, just like always.

The rest of the day went according to the meticulous schedule given out to us. There were some final announcements and a few words exchanged among the voice parts—I was bad at improvising mine for the altos, but oh well. My crazy Westernized alto friend who was sick managed to show up about 45 minutes before the show started at 3, which was a relief since I wasn’t sure if she was gonna be able to come.

Finally we walked onstage for the Kyodai “E-ru” (jisho.org says “yell” or “cheerleading shout”), which is the choir’s theme song. I was in the front row and had just barely learned it, but whatever! I think it was okay! Maybe. And then the real thing began…

I wish I could say we all looked really snazzy, but I can’t say that about the girls. The costume is just not flattering…one of my friends who attended feels the same. It looks like wearing a white trash bag with a cheap corsage tucked into a long and shapeless black skirt. The guys looked way hotter than us—black pants with white shirt and blazer and red ties (ow-ow!). Then there was Miyako, the girls’ conductor, wearing a beautiful crimson A-line gown that had a couple of shoulder-slip wardrobe malfunctions during the women’s pieces…scandalous! And the conductor for the mixed pieces, Sally, who looks like a little girl, was wearing a tiny tux, which was basically the coolest and cutest thing ever.
No fair. We need to petition for better women’s choir outfits…

Anyway, the girls’ pieces in Japanese—a set called Hikari to Kaze wo Tsurete, “Going with Light and Wind”—were gorgeous as always. We couldn’t watch the guys’ songs since we had to do stretches, but we’d seen them at the dress rehearsal before. My friends, like I, thought their pieces were a little weird—one was about a small fish and one was about a serious man, walking seriously, crying seriously…and then killing someone seriously. Japan, man oh man, are you effed up sometimes.

Finally it was time for the slightly odd mixed pieces in Hungarian by Kodaly—two short and one really long one. I didn’t remember every single word, but I faked it well when I didn’t! Yay. And then the magic happened! I was already trying to be expressive with my face, but by the time the last one finished, I couldn’t keep the grin from my face and my eyes. As we continued into the encore (my favorite—it’s got a lovely melody and bittersweet yet happy romantic lyrics in Japanese), I just kept on beaming brighter than the stage lights, trying to share my happiness and satisfaction with the audience.

As soon as it ended, we walked off and then ran from backstage to the lobby to sing a couple of just-for-fun songs as people came out: men’s, women’s and mixed. Man, it was weird singing spirituals from the slave days surrounded by Japanese accents. Oh, and the Lupin the Third theme song with the girls. We sang one more and then hummed it as the PR boy and girl thanked everyone, then people started getting tossed in the air. There was so much love! On top of that, I saw my Japanese teacher saying hi from the audience and thanked her profusely, and then I saw my KCJS buds and Japanese friend coming through the crowd. I was so darn happy I just hugged them all—who cares if that’s not how they do things here? They had to skedaddle, but it was good even just seeing them for a bit.

After that people gathered their things, including goodie bags filled with dan-pure (dan purezento, or choir present) and rolled out. Those gifts are so adorable—it’s like secret Santa, except you make cute little notes to people and put it with a small gift or treat and distribute them to people’s bags. I’ve gone through most of mine now and it feels like Christmas came early, despite it having nothing to do with Christmas—so much love! I got stuff from people who I haven’t even talked to and people whose names I can’t match with faces. Now I feel sort of bad I only had time to make little ones for the altos, but that’s still a lot—19 people! Now imagine making stuff for 80!

So we all took the train up to the location of the reception, a large floor of an izakaya with dinner tables and couches and whatnot. Now this was not quite the afterparty I was expecting—it was more like a wedding reception than a wild party like I’m used to. Well, at least I got to sit with a couple of other new recruits, including a fellow alto who likes manga and is really good at drawing but is going to be a nurse. We had some nice good dorky chats. New otaku friend ftw!

Anyway, at this reception, there was alcohol and food, but it was mostly about toasts, congratulations, and present-bestowing at the front of the room. Fairly early on, one announcement from the women’s conductor turned into the men’s conductor proposing to her. Once I figured out what was going on, I was like, “Whoa, they were dating? Wait, what the crap? That’s adorable! But wait, what?? How old are they?” Apparently they’re around twenty-one. Dang!

So things went on like that, and I had lots of umeshu (plum liquor, good stuff) trying to get up the courage to talk to a certain person beyond the awkward interactions we were already having. I wanted to see how the rest of the night would play out, so I go, screw the last bus, I’m sticking around after the reception! Which I would learn was both a good and awful idea.

While the workers were cleaning up the space, people poured beer on two of the tenors while they stood in boxes, though I’m not really sure why. That’s probably the most frat-like thing in Japan I’ve seen. Appropriate, since one of the guys getting beer-ified seems like he could be in a frat. Then people sang more together, and then paused on a certain note as the former conductor called up their successor, hugged them and said things we couldn’t hear, and literally handed off the baton. People were crying, and I was actually pretty moved too. So that happened for men’s, women’s and mixed pieces, and then the PR pair called up their successors. It was so surreal, watching the end of an era.

Afterwards, we went outside until the real afterparty (nijikai) began at 1AM, and braved the cold while we went around the circle and shared some more words with each other. Even a few alumni were there and got all nostalgic! Mine was better this time and I thanked people for taking me in despite being an exchange student, and the fact that I was able to sing in the whole concert was thanks to them, among other things.

Then it was time for the nijikai, which was painfully expensive, but still pretty fun, and a bit more like the party I had expected. Still didn’t get to talk with that one person, but I had some fun times, and when Frat Guy started chilling at our table (these ones were low Japanese-style) I told him how I missed American college parties and how I think he’d probably enjoy them (trololol). We also talked about J-rock some, and a couple of other random dudes around me started chatting as well—it was weird being the center of attention, since I sometimes feel a little left out in choir. After drinking and eating still more, we headed outside at 3 and went to the Kamo River to sing until buses and trains started up. I probably should have taken a taxi home here, but I didn’t want it to end, and after all a cab would be pretty expensive…

We sang some stuff from the book of optional songs, conducted by the new peeps, with people occasionally chilling on the side or going to the convenience store. Eventually the trains started running so people rolled out, as it was really cold, but a couple of nice people stayed with me as I waited for the bus (in the warm train station—hehe I’m smart!) Originally I was going to go straight to campus and survive class, but I changed my mind on the bus and decided to stop at home first. Then my body decided that I was not making it anywhere and that I’d better stay and collapse.

So other than the fact that I’m sort of dead, along with my cell phone (seriously what is wrong), I’m still feeling the afterglow of choir-ness! I won’t see them much until later in January, besides the Christmas party in two weeks, but I feel a much stronger bond with them now. But damn, I am never staying out all night in the cold again. Not even the liquid jacket helped me there… There was also no liquid courage, but maybe being in Japan sucks that out of you and makes you repressed? OTL

Well, enough vague references for now, I have to go freak out about schoolwork—it’s the last official week of class! (Help. Please. Anyone.)

[*Update: that cell phone battery thing did not get better and resulted in me having to go through the hellish prepaid-phone-buying-process over again. uugh.]