Marathon

The big day

I woke up early Saturday morning and went to the computer to call my family. Of course, no one was online but shortly thereafter I got a message from K asking if we could leave soon for Miyazaki. I threw my bag in the car and as soon as she arrived we left to pick up E in Beppu. K went for a massage while we grabbed lunch then it was a hurried rush to the train. Got on just in time!

Pre-race pump

The train ride proved to be more interesting than planned because while we were examining our marathon paperwork and memorizing when the water breaks would occur in the race the person across the aisle popped over and asked in perfect English if we would be participating in the race. We had seen him examining his own set of paperwork earlier so we knew he was participating but we didn’t realize he could speak English. Turns out he is a surgeon in Oita and spent some time in America doing his PhD research so he spoke fluent English. K and E were pretty pooped so they spent most of the ride sleeping/zoning out so I spoke to him for most of the train ride. It was so nice to talk so science for once! He does micro-metastasis research on primarily lung and breast cancer but since he owns a family clinic in Oita doesn’t have much time to do his research. I learned so much because I got the chance to ask about medical practice and the way the system works in Japan and ask about medical school and the like from someone who knows about the system. I wish we could skip university and combine bachelor’s with doctoral exams into a single six year program! We got to talking about health and I mentioned my ulcer and he even offered to let me come see him for a second consult. I might take him up on it!

Got off the train, checked into the hostel and then went about finding dinner. The doctor (who is a marathon veteran!) recommended a carb fest so just like when I was in high school before a big meet, we went to an Italian restaurant and ate all the pasta and bread we could handle. All the while watching “Meet Joe Black” and chatting about how all the waiters were acting like they hadn’t ever seen a white person before (que Eminem). It was an overall great dinner and we left feeling full and happy - good way to go to sleep before your first marathon!

Those frowns aren't faked. We felt like crap waddling to the bus.

On the way back to the hostel we were taking pictures and the first foreigner we had seen stopped us and showed us his bar. He seemed nice enough and the bar was cool but it was EMPTY. The restaurant had been too - we are talking more wait staff than customers. We asked him how he kept the business going considering it was a Saturday night and there were hardly any people in the restaurant. He responded saying he doesn’t and plans on closing before the end of the year... kind of sad. Miyazaki is clearly not the thriving metropolis. That was until we walked down a shady street and found the youth culture consisting of a bunch of sketchy bars, rap music and wannabe gangsters. Interesting little subculture we stumbled upon.

Woke up race day morning feeling grouchy but not miserable. We hadn’t slept much because the men next door were up late and their light shined into our beds. They also woke up at 3 in the morning whereas we weren’t planning on waking up until 5:50. Took a taxi to the race because fighting off the other 12,000+ participants to get on a bus or train would have just been too stressful. Dr.’s orders were to book a taxi the night before so we did and it worked out great!

Got to the stadium and registered and by this time we were feeling a little self-conscious about all the staring we were receiving and we still hadn’t seen another foreigner so we began to draw some interesting conclusions. When I checked in though it was a huge group of middle school boys who gave me the information and they immediately asked in perfect English where I was from. I told them America and they flipped out literally jumping up and down screaming “WE LOVE AMERICA!” This forced me to reconsider my opinions about the lack of foreigners in the city though I still hadn’t actually seen one. I got my T-shirt from the other end of the booths and the girls there said “Here you are, have a nice race” also in perfect English. K and E had had much the same experiences and when we met up with all our materials we decided that everyone in Miyazaki must actually secretly speak English and that the few foreigners who must live there either don’t ever leave their homes or we just weren’t lucky enough to catch sight of them. Either way, they must be excellent teachers or they just lucked out with awesome kids.

I didn't know the power rangers were coming!

Lined up for the race about two hours after arriving and while shoved into a thick crowd of people heard the whistle blow and... couldn’t move anywhere for another three minutes. It took up almost four minutes to actually pass the starting line and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Around 2K we started up a bridge because the route took up down the by-pass (Japanese version of a highway) where they had re-routed traffic to give us the entire road. From the bottom of the hill you could look up and see this giant mass of people moving in a throng up the ramp. I remembered going to Next Big Thing back in Tampa while I was high school student and seeing 10,000 people all gathered in a big park to listen to rock music and seeing the Gator stadium filled to the brim with 90,000+ people dressed in orange and blue but this was something entirely different. It took my breath away for a moment - at least until my legs reminded my lungs that they needed air to keep moving. First of all, there were 8,001 participants in the full marathon - including four Olympic runners. All ages, sizes and shapes but all except about 10 were Japanese. I couldn’t believe it! A mass of black heads and multi colored shirts swarming up a hill together, running. There were numerous occasions in that first 10K where you could see the swarm in its entirety both ahead and (I assume) behind and I will never forget how inspiring it was.

Some of the characters who ran - they didn't do the marathon

Around 15K the course changed, we were running down the downtown boulevard, which was closed on both sides to traffic and we turned right into this labyrinth of runners. The path wound in a way I can only show with a picture. It was really cool because while I was running in the first line, there were runners in all three of the other lines around me. When I entered the turnabout (?) the farthest right lane was thinly distributed with the fastest of the runners. I actually saw the fastest few only once when they passed us in the beginning of the route. I was on about 10K when they were at around 21K. They didn’t even look winded! I found out later four of those runners had been invited and two had Olympic medals! Wow.

The rest of the race passed in a mix of pain and euphoria as I passed by mile marker after mile marker knowing how much closer I was to finishing. You never know what you are capable of until you pass by the finish line at 31K and know you still have 6 miles left! I want to say I hit a runner’s high and just soared through the race but it wouldn’t be entirely true. The first 25K were great, the next 10 were hell then biting back a lot of pain I just ran my heart out until it was over.

I was a lot more tired than I look

I don’t know if I will ever run another one but I finished. 4 hours, 48 minutes and 12 seconds later. I still can’t believe I did it but it is certainly true that our bodies are capable of amazing things. I think if you are masochistic enough, everyone should try to run one of these things once in their life. Now, back to my soreness and classes!

Life as We Know It.

Ok, so I am sorry for those people out there who have been stuck reading this blog. Lately it has turned more into a diary about my own personal journeys toward fulfillment than about my life here in Japan. Although I consider them one in the same, let me give you a bit of a bigger picture view of my life here.

I work in nine schools so it took a while but I finally have a pretty consistent schedule. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go to elementary schools around the city. I spend a day at each one so it takes about 3 weeks to see them all. They try to keep them in the same area so for instance I have two schools in the village of Ota which is about 20 mins over a mountains range to the west from my house. I went to one school Monday then the second yesterday. I have a few schools only  minutes apart from one another in "downtown" Yamaga that I will see next week consecutively. Tuesday and Thursday I spend at my middle school. Tuesday I see the 3rd years and half the 2nd years. Thursday I hit the first years and the other half of the second years. Every elementary school is different in which students I see but most of them have me visit around 3-4 classes where they combine various grades and thus I see every student. Since all of my school except one have less than 50 students in total this works out. Yamaga elementary school, however, has about 200 students so I see half of them every time I visit.

My lessons also range because not only do the student's abilities vary but so do their teacher's styles and English abilities. Some teachers prefer I do the lesson completely independently while others like to take the lead and I work as mainly a sound-box. Neither situation is bad or good really and I just kind of jump into the flow of things however they are. I guess you can say my job is to be as flexible as possible and keep something up my sleeves for anything.

As far as actual teaching skill is concerned I believe this is something that I am going to continue to acquire as I gain experience. Hopefully I am not too terrible at it now though :-).

I love my teachers I work with and while there are some schools where I occasionally have trouble and some schools where there is ample miscommunication - frequently, I think I really lucked out here with everything. My students are a lot of fun and the elementary schoolers especially always surprise me. I have one girl, she is a first grader at a school of 24 students, who is also the daughter of a woman I work with at the middle school. She is awesome at English and is always using it whenever she can and jumping at any opportunity to touch me or learn about me. It's truly amazing and the other students are really inspired by her. So much so that school now has me going to their class regularly instead of just whenever their schedule fits me.

The students can sometimes be a hassle though too. I actually don't think I  mentioned this before but my job description clearly states that I am not allowed to play any role in the disciplining of students. Thus on the days when they misbehave I have to defer to the teacher. Sometimes this is fine - in middle school especially the teachers are quick to immediately and succinctly take care of students who misbehave. Typically publicly. Elementary school poses an entirely new problem though since I guess the there is no defined system. Some classes are well managed and the teacher holds a firm grip on the students whereas the others are out of control. One time there were no teachers at all and I was left at lunch with the students trying to make them finish their food (which was particularly gross that day) while bumbling through Japanese instructions about if they don't finish they can't go to recess. It was awful. I ended up calling in the tea lady from the office and she lectured them until she was red in the face.

Mostly though, I feel like I am only there for play - and the students know it. When I come they get a break form the everyday and we get to sing and dance while they put in 50-100% effort at using English. We read books, do sing alongs and watch movies. All for the sake of steering them away from the eventual destruction of their English confidence once they enter high school. Oh well.

In other news, training is going slow. Have to sacrifice a bit of extra training time because I need more healing than I thought I would post the 20K. I have officially three weeks until the marathon as a of Sunday and I will now only have one 35K run prior to the race. It is looking like I will be running 4K, walking 1K come race day to prevent myself from dying years before I'm due. A friend mentioned today that all I talk about when it comes to running is how much I hurt lately and she's right. But I feel like without pain there is no improvement and unfortunately I set the bar pretty high for my running abilities concerning this marathon. I just don't know if I can do it anymore but it loops back to the finish a few times before it's over - kind of like a four leaf clover actually - so if it gets too impossible I will walk until I can't walk anymore. Lol.

Also, one of my students has a crush on me and brought back a boat-load of English pamphlets from their school trip to Kyoto for me to peruse. K says I should encourage him and if he asks tell him he can be my weekday boyfriend. She even suggested some cute nicknames I could use for him in class. Poor kid. I'm only gonna break his heart. Love!

Another heavy one

Monday I was driving home from a dinner in Beppu with K and it just felt like serious talk night. We discussed our past and how coming to Japan has changed us - well in my case begun to change me. I guess I felt I needed to express to her my gratitude for getting me active in running. Perhaps I merely needed to put my own thoughts into words.

It sounds cliche but I am a firm believer in the saying “everything happens for a reason.” I am not religious by any means. I stoutly stand by my scientific values that not only does evolution happen but, it continues to shape the world. However, some things can’t be explained and despite all the terrible things that happen to people, if you change your mindset you will surely see a connection beneath it all you can learn from. I am not preaching and everyone is free to believe how they see fit, but this is some background from my side. Because of this philosophy, I have been examining the way some of my experiences have been shaped since the events leading up to my life in and prior to Japan. I was apparently stressing so much about coming here that it gave me an ulcer. I remember being so nervous for the interview that I couldn’t eat or sleep for 2 days. You can probably read about it in my earlier entries. I was also convinced I needed to be busy to function properly - which I talked about earlier as well. But despite it all, I made it to Japan and have been here for four months.

In fact, when I called the anonymous JET hotline to ask some questions I realized how good of shape I am actually in. As is routine, he asked me basic questions about my health and wellbeing before hanging up although I had called about something entirely trivial. I told him about my running habits, eating habits, study habits and work environment. He grilled me a little then finally finished our conversation by telling me ‘most other JETs around this time are feeling about 20%. The holidays are approaching, most have never been away from their families, let alone by themselves - especially during this time - and many just want to return home. They begin drinking a lot or partying a lot or hanging out only with foreigners. You’re in the best shape I have heard for a while. You seem comfortable, are living perhaps better than you did in America, and are reflecting on your life in deep and meaningful ways. Keep doing what you’re doing.” Now I am not saying any of this to brag, and clearly his pool consists mainly of people who call because they are depressed, but sometimes you need to hear things like this to help re-adjust your focus.

As crazy as it may seem, I have come to realize these are some of the best days of my life. I packed up everything into two bags and hoped on a plane to the other side of the world where I fumble through the language, am illiterate, and am working in a field for which I have no previous experience. I also got here, unpacked my bags and started training for a marathon of which I could hardly run one kilometer of when I started. Talk about stepping out of a comfort zone. Luckily, I have never been too adverse to change but as I look back, I see things couldn’t have worked out any better. If I had waited on this marathon thing, or said ‘no’ entirely, I likely would have gotten sick or depressed with my lot; but having this impossible goal has kept me out of the rut and got me squeezing exercise into my daily routine. If K had asked me on another day, I don’t think I would have said yes, because she caught me in between two periods of homesickness and loneliness. I don’t know what drove me through the grueling application and interview for this job but it has made me realize that, like shoving my stuff into two bags, I have to sift through my own mental baggage and blocks to focus on adapting to this new life. Perhaps everyone should pack up and go every 5-10 years or so. Maybe just take a sabbatical for a few months and teach in a third world country. It is effective not only for cleaning up the clutter in your home, but for cleaning the clutter in your life.

I feel cleansed. I finished a half marathon on Sunday. I had many demons and it was really hard. Some of it I walked and at 10K when I was running past the finish line knowing I still had 11K to go, I can’t lie and say I didn’t think about quitting. I mean, who would have known? I could have disappeared until my friends finished then showed up around the time I should have finished and crossed that finish line. But I couldn’t do it. When it came down to it, I just kept fighting. Even yesterday, when I was nursing sore knees and staring sadly past my students while they played soccer, I realized I had made the right decision. It was the first of many challenges I will face in mastering my own mind. It is one thing to say I feel more capable of motivating myself, but it is another thing entirely to test it. This time, I passed. Perhaps I am capable of being my own boss someday after all.

I still have a lot of challenges ahead here in Japan. And in life. But as of Sunday, I feel a little more confident in my ability to overcome them and looking back, I realize I have already overcome so much. There is nothing like talking to an old woman on a bus, or a group of teachers over dinner in another language and hearing them remark on how remarkable you are, and how much courage you have. Of course I wave them off and tell them it isn’t like that, but it stays with me and sometimes, I feel like I do have that courage. Sometimes, I feel like with the decisions I have made over the past year, like so many other JETs, I truly am remarkable. This job is so much more than a job. 

Japanese

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but knowing Japanese - even a little - has been the most amazing thing ever. Even if you don't know a lick of it, study it before you come please! Even just being able to say 'Hello!' or 'How are you?' makes people infinitely friendlier. They don't even care if you make a ton of mistakes and throw words together in an attempt to make sentences without any discernable grammar structure - as long as you're trying.

Preaching aside, I have made a lot of observations about Japan recently and I thought I would share them along with an update of my life to date. A lot of things have happened recently. I discovered Japan doesn't seem to have any discern-able HIPPA laws and thus all of the questions typically asked by nurses in the privacy of an individual waiting room are asked in front of literally a hundred of your closest neighbors. Including such gems as the poor high school girl next to me who was waiting to get an abortion and was asked by the nurse how she would like the placenta discarded. Really? Mine wasn't so bad, just people asking me when my last menstrual cycle was and the like, but still! Not to mention I had to wait in the waiting room in a wheelchair with an IV in my arm while a bunch of old people watched my mind start succumbing to the drugs and I begin to lose control of my throat.

School life has a lot of differences too. Besides taking off my shoes as soon as I get to school and when I move in and out of the gym, the bathroom, and pretty much any other room, the teachers all sit together in one big room where students can come in an out at their leisure and hover over your shoulder. I kind of like it when they some to see me since it's rare but you can see all the other teachers getting annoyed with it. The other teachers also, probably because of close proximity, always know exactly what you're doing even if you are very discreet. They are constantly reading my notes and looking at the study materials I have piled on my desk and even correcting me while I take practice exams. I tried to look up the Japanese word for nosey and have been unable to find an equivalent probably because the word just doesn't exist. Fine with me since I am nosey too and now I don't have to excuse myself for being up in people's business. :-)

They also handle some situations differently than I would expect. One of my teachers quit her job to get married and there was no fanfare or party or anything, one day she was just gone. K mentioned it is a Japanese thing to just let friendships have their time then fall by the wayside. I think I can learn from this. There are some relationships in my life that have had their time and now is the perfect time to let them go. Oh well. I still have plenty of time to learn.

Went to a party last Friday at one of my teacher-friend's houses. Her parents invited some of their friends and all got drunk while we ate a ton of food. It was delicious and I am so happy I am not allowed to drink right now because I want to remember every bit of their drunkenness. They actually asked me if there are still slaves in America! I wasn't offended or anything, more appalled by their ignorance. I vowed to do the best I could from here on out to make sure my students never suffer this kind of ignorance at my hand. Oh well. Still fun though!

I wrote another entry about the half marathon I will post in a bit so this is about all I have. I might add more later but I am running late for dinner so LOVE!

Relaxation

Usuki has a lot of foxes I guess

 So in accordance with the doctor's orders I have been trying to relax lately. I spent most of Sunday sleeping and have been even taking it a little easy on the running (mostly because the half marathon is this Sunday... but still). I did spend Saturday in Usuki though at a festival. It is the famous Takeyoi festival and they light thousands of lanterns made from carved bamboo all throughout the town. It was gorgeous!

The crazy thing was, it was also more foreigners in one concentrated place than I have seen since the Oita JET seminar in August. There had to have been more than 30 of us. The locals were freaking out and everywhere we went someone would shout "There's sooo many foreigners!" I guess I couldn't really blame them because between the alcohol and pretty colors we were damn loud. Thank goodness me and a few other people weren't drinking because we damn sure needed some crowd control. I"m afraid I don't have much in the way of other news. 

 Spent Friday night at tea ceremony learning the ancient arts of pouring tea gracefully. They want me to come back which kind of rocks so I will. It's about 5 grandma-aged women and a teacher from one of my elementary schools (who also invited me). The old ladies doted on me the whole time and sent me home with bags full of food. I was awesome! I can't wait to go back! They invited me to dress in a kimono and serve tea for the New Year's festival here because they said me bringing people tea would make them happy. Woot!

Today I also met the resident foreigner in Yamaga when she came to school to pick up her children. So nice. (No I am not just saying that because you read my blog!) Hopefully she can teach me how to battle the cold weather here so I don't freeze to death this winter. 

Tomorrow is a big seminar in Oita city and every ALT in the prefecture has to go - that's 88 of us. This will be the first time I have seen them all so I am kind of nervous. Hopefully it won't be as boring as people say :-). Well, that's all for now. Love.

The princess of the parade

All of these were made by local elementary schoolers

Takeyoi

Some of the group :-)

Doctor's world

I guess this is will be the life of my posting from here on out, at least up until the middle of December. Things have just been really busy here. On that note... I have been having stomach pain and some stomach issues for the past few months. Thought they would subside as I began adjusting to the food and the like but as of Tuesday I finally got fed up.

I decided to make a visit to the hospital. Met with a doctor and explained my symptoms in a mix of English and Japanese and he recommended I returned on Thursday (today) to get an endoscopy (they stick a camera down my throat and look around in my stomach). Turns out I have two ulcers. Yay. Doctor says it's from stress. I told him I feel more relaxed than ever then he asked how I was sleeping. I realized I wasn't sleeping well at all - and I hadn't been since I got here. He said the stress must be subconscious - probably from packing up and moving to a new country all alone - and thus caused the ulcer. Firstly - bacteria causes ulcers (Helicobacter pylori to be specific). Stress merely agitates them, but I could see his point. 

This whole endeavor showed me a lot about myself and Japan - besides the inside of my digestive tract. So let me start at the beginning of my adventure. First I was made to wait in a huge waiting room filled with old people. They called me into a strange room which was just multi-purpose room consisting of several beds and a table with shelves of supplies behind them. They asked me which arm I preferred and proceeded to start me on a saline drip. While I was waiting for them to get set-up I asked why all the supplies were labelled with the prices. Thinking this was how they tallied my bill I waited while she explained "It puts pressure on the staff to double check before making any mistakes. If we use the wrong supply it is wasted and thus the money is wasted. By knowing exactly how much everything costs we are less likely to make mistakes." What brilliant logic!

Needless to say, she still made a mistake. Shortly after getting my IV going, she realized she hadn't taken any blood from me and thus had to stab my other arm to get a few tubes. Oh well. Got into the exam room and after changing nurses, they gave me a series of instructions about what they were going to do to me next. Too many details to repeat but the important points are that they laid me down facing the screen so I would be able to see exactly where the camera was going and what the doctor was seeing. I might have thought it even more cool if I hadn't been trying really hard not to spit back up the giant tube down my throat. Gross.

Here comes the real kicker though. The doctor prescribed me the medicine, assured me I will begin to feel better in a few days and should be healed within 8 weeks. He then asked me if I knew of a certain bar. I have been there numerous times so I answered yes. He apparently has seen me there... I think he might have actually brought me a drink... Awkward. I will go back in 4 weeks but I feel better already knowing what is wrong with me. Tip for people who may need to go to a hospital though - bring money. You have to pay before you can leave - for everything. Now with standardized healthcare it doesn't cost a lot but once I walked out into the waiting room they asked me to shell out $60 right there. Thankfully it was exactly the amount of money I had in my wallet but it was terribly close and could have been real bad. Eeck. 

In other news, I got my hair cut. It's really short but I like it alright. I needed something I wouldn't have to worry about while I run and now I can just throw on my cap and call it a day. I also got a letter from my grandma this afternoon and a box of my winter stuff from my Dad. Now I should start to feel a little warmer a least since I have been freezing lately. The temps are in the 30s and 40s now dropping into the 20s at night. Eeck. 

I am going rice harvesting with my students tomorrow and I can't wait. Hopefully I will have some awesome pictures for you soon and hope everyone had a great Halloween. Love.

Almost time to relax

We went bowling and someone's fingers got stuck :-X

So, sorry I have been unreliable. Story of my life. I have been surprisingly busy and according to some this is incredible because it means I am not sitting at home in the cold and dark staring at the light of my computer. But for some this means disappointment since I still haven't mastered the ability to exist in two places at once.

School is great. Kids are great. Running is fine. Doing 30K this coming Wednesday. the half marathon is in two weeks as of Sunday and I am so happy to know I will be able to do it. Been having shoe trouble - namely that mine tore sole to sole during my 28K run last weekend leaving me with 5K remaining, swollen feet and no shoes.

We went on an adventure to learn how soba is made.

Otherwise, life is going alright. There was drama but I guess I deserved it since I haven't had a fair share of drama in about a month. I did the whole poor planning/double booking thing I was often guilty of in the States and managed to step on the wrong person's shoes.

Oh, it's cold here. I woke up this morning to the thermostat by my bed reading 6 degrees Celcius. My apartment is colder inside than it is outside. I have been using my down comforter they recommended they buy when I got here and it has helped some but there isn't much more I can do. I have a heated carpet but I can't use it with  my bed. Someone mentioned heated mattress pads? Guess while I'm shopping for long underwear and snow tires I can look into that?

I have been doing various activities with my kids - playing Taiko, teaching them about Halloween and being harassed. Well I guess since it's by a group of elementary school students I can't really file harassment. It is kind of flattering really until they start pulling so hard on my arms in multiple directions I feel muscles stretching. They are surprisingly strong...

My kids colored their own Jack-o-lanterns!

I film more of the English show next week and am planning on going out on Saturday for a Halloween party. For being the most rural prefecture in Japan, I feel like there are a surprising number of foreigners here. Should be fun if nothing else. I am working on the sports day entry still... of course by the time I get it done at this rate it will be time for culture festival. Well, at least this is something. :-)

Love.

Weekend in Osaka

I don’t even know where to begin. I guess I should start out with a bit of a downpour first and just start typing and see where I end up. Lately I have been occupying myself quite well and have been avoiding the computer as much as possible. Not on purpose per say, but more like because I have been trying desperately to get things to reach normalcy here and sitting at home, alone, browsing the net doesn’t exactly bode well for making a life for myself. I have also been spending a lot of time running and focusing on fixing my muscles to keep in shape for the training. When you are doing 20 plus K in a week (which will actually be 25 this week) there isn’t much more I need to focus on besides listening to my body and treating myself well and studying for the Japanese exam. :-X

I have been doing a lot on weekends to take myself out of the solitude of being home and meditating. This last weekend I took a break from things (mostly because I am broke) and relaxed with friends. Went to B’s and met up with P (a 4th year JET?) in her area. We got dinner then went home to drink and watch TV. It was a nice time and we spent a lot of it watching some trippy movie about Nemo and slumberland. We went to the city the next day but between a series of hiccups and drama about what the other JETs were doing we didn’t end up meeting up with everyone until they were finished with their activities. Dropped B and a few people off at the co-ed swimsuit onsen and met up with K and E for our run. It went fine though I am still hurting unfortunately. Seems like I get more sore the more I run, which I guess correlates but I was hoping my muscles would begin to adjust to the distances. Oh well.

School has been going well. Since sports day things have begun to take on a new kind of rhythm which is also refreshing. My teachers are adjusting to me, perhaps very well and I am falling in love with my job and my students. The elementary students especially keep me up and going most of the time. When I am not swinging on the swings with them at recess or playing games with them in class they are teaching me Japanese and experimenting with what foods on the lunch menu I like. They keep me on my toes too and everyone knows when I haven’t slept enough the night before and the like because my students run me like mad. This leads to me going to bed around 10 every night in order to get up at 6:30 and be ready for class with a bunch of hyper and active children. Even my middle schoolers enjoy teaching me and having lunch together. I don’t have any complaints at all really about how things have turned out. I have even gotten to get involved in some really cool stuff! My students met the local professional basketball team, so I met them too. Another day we made pumpkin tempura together. I played the recorder and the taiko drums and have done various cultural dances. We have made origami cranes and hung them on strings for a trip to Nagasaki. We also play games all the time - though not so much in middle school :-(.

I might be playing the same tune a lot but living out here in the boonies working in schools totaling anywhere from 13-150 students is teaching me a lot about learning and teaching in ways I never thought possible. Take today for instance, I had a meeting about the lesson plan I would use for the next time I visited that school and we ended up getting into a discussion about how Americans decorate their homes according to the holiday. I couldn’t believe I had never before thought about how strange it is that we value hundreds of dollars worth of decorative junk (not to mention the electric bill) all in the name of celebrating holidays half of us don’t even really care about.  I also had a philosophical discussion today with one of my vice principals about the intricacies of the Japanese language and detailed analysis of manga culture. He did most of the talking since it was all in Japanese. Turns out I am really good at listening (totally opposite of my English abilities :-P). So yeah, I am really getting into life here now. :-)

The sunflower ferry to Osaka

Let’s see, last weekend I started writing this and I had spent the weekend prior in Osaka meeting up with some friends and hanging out. We went window-shopping mostly but also spent an absurd amount of time in the Aquarium. I took a ton of pictures (too many perhaps) and also went to see an IMAX movie about the final Hubble mission. Luckily, they had English headphones I could use so I don’t have to guess at what they were saying.  Went down via overnight ferry on Friday night and left on Sunday night since Monday was a holiday. The ride was fine though terribly rainy the whole way. We slept on the floor in what K refers to as 'the slave ride to America' quarters. I can see the resemblance though I think for the price and the convenience it was rather sheik. Spent Monday running a nice long 18K and then cleaning.

This weekend I relaxed. Tried to finish this entry, studied, ran, onsen’d and hung out with friends, as I said earlier. It was really nice and calm. Actually I talked to a friend from back home last night and it made me realize that I have discovered a completely new side of myself since moving out here. I was having a lot of conflict in my last few months at UF because I felt as though I didn’t have the type of self-motivation I would need to do graduate school and maintain a future career as a PhD. Having no one to give me orders or direct me when I need to write papers, apply for grants or start on new research proposals scared me to death only a few months ago. But since coming to Japan, I realize I am capable of so much more than I thought. Not just with living alone and being under no one’s authority but my own, but working in a field where people often forget I am not quite an adult and taking up running as a hobby has really pushed me in new directions.

I seriously began contemplating this change on Sunday while running. My partners left me after 12.5K to finish their other 6 since I had planned to only run 15K. I was left to do the other 3K on my own. I actually had a moment where I thought “they won’t know if I don’t finish... and I am really tired...” but I instantly dismissed the thought and got back on my feet and finished. I think I would have quit a few months ago. I know I would have quit prior to coming to Japan. It isn’t about running though, I find that I push myself in other ways too - I study Japanese for a few hours both during school in my down time, and in the evenings. I also try to take really good care of my skin and body by sleeping early every night and eating well. In the States I guess I always felt like I was pushing to get things done and so I never had enough time. Here though, I feel like I have the time to take care of myself. It isn’t that I don’t feel stressed, because sometimes I do - especially when my students are having trouble or when tests are approaching. But, the Japanese way of life is starting to grow on me. In a culture where people take more time arriving so they have extra time to stay, I feel like I, too, have extra time to spend. Take for instance parking, if this makes any sense, they always back into parking spaces inside of pulling in forward. This takes more time initially but since it is so easy to leave, you feel like you are in less of a rush to finish. When they take off their shoes they even take the extra time to turn them in the opposite direction so they can just be slipped on when you are ready to leave.

I guess this post turned a little serious and I don’t know if it’s all a bunch of nonsensical mumbo-jumbo but I feel better and now you get a least a decent post. Even including pictures! There will hopefully be another update before the week is out with details and photos and videos about sports day. Oh, I forgot to  mention, speech contest also happened and although my student didn’t win, she did an excellent job and our hard work (literally until 8 almost every night we spent practicing) really showed.  I just got home from running and drinking with my neighbors so I am feeling really spent and I think I am going to pass out so hopefully I won’t go this long again without an update and you enjoyed it. Love.

Days drag into weeks and before I know it...

IT'S COLD! I can't believe how abruptly the weather changed! Last week I am sweating my figurative balls off and now all of a sudden it's dropped into the 50's during the middle of the afternoon. Well, enough of my complaining... onto sports! (I wanted to sound like a newscaster since sometimes I have to be one in class when I talk about what day it is and what the weather is like outside).

So sports day was last week and it was freaking awesome! I want to post a ton of pictures and everything but I have to wait since my camera died and I didn't get enough to make the awesome entry I had planned. Regardless, life here has drawn itself into a steady lull and with the winter comes soup and hot things so hopefully they can cancel out the weather and keep my spirits up. School is going well, still love my kids and I can't wait to show you the awesome pictures from sports day!!

In other news - hurt my knee running. Will have to slow it down a bit this week and do a slow 6-8K on Saturday or so. Not much else going on my end, hopefully things elsewhere are good? I will hopefully do a nice long post this weekend about sports day and all that jazz.

Oh, birthday party was a lot of fun and I spent much of the weekend in well earned relaxation and doing laundry and cleaning. Bills are piling up and so are invitations to go places. Turns out I won't be able to go on the trip to Hokkaido for the snow festival which I know pissed some people off because I didn't know for sure I had to cancel until school was like 'hey there's an event around that time so you can't go...' Too bad they won't tell me the event or when it will be for sure. Sorry again Alex!!

Well, off to bed for tonight. Love.

Birthday?!

I was informed by B this weekend that on Sunday the 19th we had been in Japan officially for 50 days. That makes today 53. Today I am sitting in the teacher`s room of Tateishi (the standing rock) elementary school and waiting for 10:30 to roll around. Two of the teachers just told me I look sad/not happy so I guess I need to genki it up. It is hot today which is strange because last week a cold front came through and brought the most delightful relief from the heat and humidity. The front only lasted the week and with a typhoon coming through China a bought of heat has returned to my sleepy town. Amazingly I know about these weather events from the principal of my middle school who between a combination of hand signals and Japanese explains the weekly weather events to me every Tuesday morning.

Sunset over Mt. Inasa in Nagasaki

This weekend is Nagasaki should be my big conversation piece I suppose but when I was asked to explain my trip to my class of second year students at the middle school yesterday I realized the trip wasn`t as fun explaining as it was experiencing. I will try again though. Friday night was an enkai with some of my favorite people in Japan. They are the four other second year teachers at my middle school and between the five of us we had an awesome time drinking and enjoying local cuisine. I don`t think I will ever get used to Izakaya style eating (it is like a series of tapas which are continuously brought out while your drink is refilled) since I can`t take down all that food but it is always entertaining watching everyone try! Mr. M and Mr. B are the gym teachers and Mr. B is also the youngest person on the staff besides myself. He also teaches social studies. Ms. T is the English teacher I always work with and Mrs. Toshi is the Japanese teacher. I don`t even remember half of what we talked about because as I am beginning to realize, Japanese liquor affects my memory more so than American liquor (or maybe I am just drinking more?). Nevertheless, everyone was laughing all night and they spent the majority of yesterday going on about how strong I am at holding my alcohol and making jokes about the hilarious Japanese mistakes I made (they don`t seem to realize about halfway through the night I switched to water :-P). The biggest and most entertaining of which is when I was trying to explain how I am trying to be frugal in Japan but the only word that came to mind was the Japanese word for cheap which, had I been in my right mind, I would have realized has negative connotations even in English but it fell from my lips regardless. They spent the next 20 mins laughing, Mr. M even falling over, and then quietly explained I can`t say that in Japanese because I sound like a streetwalker. Oh well, guess some things can`t be translated directly. :-P

Nagasaki bay from above

I of course passed out when I got home and woke up early to head over to Bungotakada to meet B for our trip to Nagasaki. After four hours on a train (one of them standing because there were no seats!) we arrived in Nagasaki no worse for the wear and proceeded to meet J (my friend from UF) and go sightseeing. The main points we hit on Saturday were some famous cathedral and the Glover house (spelling?) which belonged to some random Dutch guy who came over in the 19th century, took over a bunch of Japanese industries and sold guns to local trouble makers. Still not quite sure why they celebrate him but his house was nice. We also did some shopping/mall walking and then, as has become habit, went out drinking. The results of which led to a terrible hangover all the next day and the details of which are vague. In so far as I remember I tried desperately (too desperately) to help my buddy J hook up with every young Japanese woman I came across. At least my intentions were good!

Statue of Sadako (the paper crane girl)

Despite my hangover B, my new friend M and myself spent Sunday doing the regular sightseeing bit. We went to the hypo center from the nuclear bomb, the museum, some churches and then up the rope way to the top of a mountain. It was cloudy but I took a ton of pictures nonetheless and then me and B went home and passed out, much to J`s dismay since he had had to work all day and had been unable to hang out. Sucks to be a CIR since they have to work on weekends. ;-(

Monday was a holiday so we stayed for the afternoon and J and I woke up early (10) and went for a run together. B and M saw some awesome shrines while J and I ran through the city. We did 10.3Km which is a new record for me and I am still a little sore but I can`t believe I ran the whole thing. Got home around 7 where I subsequently met K for dinner. The train was packed on the way home and I felt kind of bad since me and B had seats whereas most of the car was filled with people standing and leaning on their luggage. Holiday weekend I guess.

The Hypo center

Yesterday was middle school and I had a nice, relaxing day since most of my classes were cancelled on account of last minute sports day practice. Tomorrow is sports day so hopefully this madness will end then! I like teaching these kids most of the time but when they are pooped out or completely distracted with sports day stuff then teaching them is terrible. Elementary today was nice (I been spending free time studying Japanese and writing this entry) and I am a little surprised by my finding this afternoon. In this school I have two kids who are my predecessor `s niece and nephew who both speak (I assume) fluent English. I thought this would change the dynamic of the class negatively but I was pleasantly surprised to find that since the children pretended to be terrible at English the other kids felt more confident and subsequently spoke out more. Interesting.

I don't remember the name of this guy
but when I pose like him people know what I am talking about.

Well, I will spending a lot of time on the computer at home today since my birthday is on Friday and I want to give everyone a call and tell them I love them so I think I will say bye-bye for now!

Love.

Food?

So it has been nearly a week again. After a really relatively uneventful week I find I am really really tired. My kids are great, I like my job and I live in one of the most gorgeous places I could have imagined - yet I feel sleepy all the time. Hm. Maybe I am just a bad grown-up.

Sports day is next Thursday and so my schools and students alike have all been focused solely on the upcoming event. They even cut classes every day (including some days where they have no class at all) in exchange for extra practice. Thus the students and teachers alike are completely distracted and I feel like I am not really serving much of a purpose. Once the event is over, however, I will hopefully get completely into the swing of things - finally! I have been trying to keep busy in the evenings and avoiding the computer because I find when I just sit down in front of this thing I start feeling sad. This is not to mention the noise complaint I found in my door today because I have been talking to people late at night on skype and it has been disturbing my neighbors. :-X

Spent an entire evening cleaning the apartment which I feel good about now since everything is super clean! I guess really I don't have much to update on - just wanted to post so you know I'm alive. Costco provided me with lots of completely unnecessary things which make my evening just a little bit happier. I also have been trying to put more focus into my running and everything. I haven't been paying enough attention to my health so it will be good for me to focus less on loneliness and more on improving myself.

I have an enkai tonight with some of my coworkers from my middle school so I should get going. I'm off to Nagasaki this weekend to visit J (a friend from back home) and so I will update when I get back with hopefully lots of pictures. Love!

And Another Week Passes Me By...

I can't believe it is already the middle of September. I never thought having a real job would be like this. I assumed the days would drag on and I would come home and pass out and have no life. Instead I find I am working with awesome kids and playing games all day while "teaching" English only to come home and face the choice of pleasant, quiet night at home or going to a local restaurant and meeting people. On the weekends I find myself a little restless and spend most of the time out in surrounding cities which has proved most entertaining - especially with my travel buddy B.

This week was pretty uneventful as far as school was concerned. I don't think a day by day replay is necessary except to say I really like my schools in the village of Ota. They are super small and relatively close and isolated on the top of two different mountains which I find incredible. The kids are also super smart and really happy.

Friday I went out with K and S for our regional get together with some of the other nearby JETs. It turned out to be a... complicated... evening and I don't know how much more I will say about that.

Saturday I met up with B and after a relaxing lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant we went into the big city to spend a day window shopping and hanging out. We went to Uniglo (my favorite Japanese clothing store) and I took her to Jusco (a Target equivalent). I was suppose to run with K in the evening and then we would onsen but both B and I were surprisingly pooped and instead went home and after making mac and cheese fell soundly asleep. Sunday I woke up super early to make up for my lost run and then a Japanese friend met up with us to drive to Costco. Long story short I was going to drive but the toll on the weekend is dramatically reduced for cars equipped with the sun pass equivalent here and I don't have one of these yet. Thus, in a show of generosity and curiosity he offered to drive us the 2 plus hours to Fukuoka in exchange for gas money and some toll money.

We made it to Costco but it was like a theme park! There were lines just to get through the door and then we were packed and shuffled through like cattle to go through the store. We managed to find a lot of stuff but I was a little disappointed about a few things. Namely I went there to buy peanut butter, syrup and a blow up  mattress - none of which I found to my satisfaction. There weren't any mattresses as far as I could see, the syrup was WAY overpriced and the only peanut butter they had was Skippy (I am a JIF girl all the way). Managed to get a fair amount of other stuff though including a memory foam pillow which I haven't gotten off of practically since I opened the box. Almost managed to bring it with me in the car this morning.

After Costco we started to drive back and coincidentally the most famous shrine in Kyushu was on the way home and we stopped there. It was awesome! So big and there was even a quaint little shopping district right nearby that reminded me of Kyoto. After the shrine it was only 4PM so, after being informed that there is an outlet mall nearby, we decided to stop off there. Finally got some new running shoes so maybe there will be some relief for my poor toes after all. I also learned a ton of Japanese and my friend learned a ton of English which is worthwhile in and of itself.

Work today was fun too and I found the first class of rambunctious and naughty Japanese children! They spent most of the morning trying to get me to say bad words, which I didn't realize until I had said a few of them, at which time they giggled and ran around in circles then said the next one. In class they were no better and their timid and kind teacher only seemed to encourage further bad behavior. She told me later she thinks they will calm down the next time they see me since I am still a novelty now. I hope so!

I did get a haiku from one of the teachers today which was really sweet though she might be the only teacher who gives a damn about me since all the other teachers were really distant (the exact opposite of the other schools). Hopefully I didn't make a bad impression or anything... :-(

Well, I think I am going to head back to bed since I am pooped! Love!!

Onto the Weekend

The gang at the cave

So I know it seems like I have been going out every weekend (and I have) but as exhausting as it is, I feel as though since I spend the week pretty much alone (except for my runs with K and run-ins with S) I should be having fun on the weekends. Friday night I went out with K to a local bar were we sang karaoke and met some local young people (finally!). When the bar closed were took a taxi to the local Denny’s equivalent (Joyfull) and hung out for a while until we decided to call it quits and went home.

Although I vaguely remember telling K I wanted to run Saturday morning, when she called me at 7AM telling me she was on her way I about cried. LOL. I ended up getting up to her banging on the door (apparently I had fallen asleep) and went running. We had decided it would be our long run of the week and so we took a foreign route. It turned into an hour and a half long stroll (6K of which I managed to run) wherein we suffered brutal sunshine and overwhelming heat. I tried to cancel out the discomfort by reminding myself of the beauty of the mountains rising behind the rice fields but it was a constant struggle. Next time it will be earlier to avoid the tortuous sun!

Paradise?!

Not long after the run I grabbed S and we headed to Bungotakada for a beach excursion with B. There was a group of ten of us of whom 9 are ALTs. We took the same bonnet bus B and I had taken to the temples and took off for the beach around 11. I am turning into a broken record but it was GORGEOUS! The sky was clear and the ocean looked amazing. I think it was a combination of the green cliff faces and the lush plant life that caused the scene to strike me as something out of Planet Earth. The pictures can’t begin to show you the scene but I will post them anyway.

After hanging out at the beach for a while and exploring a cave we stopped at the shrine (or temple?) that hosts the god women pray to for luck finding a mate. I went in and did some ablutions (as I usually do at temples and shrines since I feel otherwise I am offending someone) on my way down the cliff face for yet more photo opportunities. Again - the beauty was awe-inspiring. Makes me wish I could paint!

Saturday night I had a date and it was really nice. He’s a 23 year-old college student in Oita city and he’s Japanese. The language barrier wasn’t too much of a problem since my Japanese is actually getting really good and he did a 10 month study abroad in England so he knows quite a bit of English. What we couldn’t figure out we looked up and it turned into a really nice night. He took me to a candlelight festival then to the top of a mountain overlooking the entire Oita peninsula, which it turns out if one of the top one hundred views in Japan. I am still talking to him so I guess it went well?

Jurassic Park anyone?

Sunday I spent relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep. The typical Sunday stuff really - laundry, dishes, lesson plans, etc.

Monday I did my first full day of classes (four of them!) and they went varying levels of OK. The first class was 1^st and 2^nd graders and I had to use a lot of Japanese because the teachers didn’t speak English and the students just kept staring at me blankly when I spoke :-X. Hopefully when we start doing set lessons instead of my self-introduction things will go better. My second class was the fifth graders who, despite having an amazing teacher, are all very timid and quiet! I tried my best to get them up and moving as did the teacher but the lesson did not go very well. The principal came in to watch that one and she kept shooting me looks of sympathy. My third class went the best and I taught 6^th grade. They were so excited and curious and asked a ton of questions when I was finished. Some of the best ones were: ‘Were you born with that hair color?’ ‘Why is your skin white?’ ‘Why are your teeth so nice?’ My favorite though, was when the 11 year old hit on with this line: ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ ‘No’ I replied. ‘Do you want one?’ ‘Maybe’ I said. ‘How about me?’ I couldn’t help but giggle a little and after class he held my hand while we walked to recess together. So romantic! LOL. Makes me miss being a kid!

The students tried to teach me how to unicycle after lunch (turns out all the elementary school children here can unicycle to some degree) although I was one - wearing a skirt and two - typhoon winds kept knocking me off. Let’s just say I hope I will have better luck next time. :-) Most of the 3^rd and 4^th graders who I taught after lunch had already watched me fail in my attempts to conquer the unicycle so they were very receptive to me being there. It went really well and the kids seemed pretty confident in their English.

The Peninsula by night

Did some more running in the evening and went to bed early, which of course caused me to wake up early this morning to a very strong wind and the rattling of my doors. Went to middle school today and did my first teaching there with the 3^rd year students. The first class (ni kumi) was rough. I think it is a combination of the fact that they are the lower level students and that there are 38 of them shoved into a classroom. Let’s just say my pictures weren’t quite big enough.

Second class was the other group of third years all of whom were much more receptive and the class went much better. I also managed to worm my way into one of the first year classes for a mini-meet and greet during their phonics lesson. Today was a lot of practice for the school sports day and so afternoon classes were cut to make room for instruction about how to properly enter and represent your group. They will do a walk reminiscent of Nazi Germany to enter the field and I don’t know how I feel about that. :-X

Well, off to my first Judo practice and hopefully a relaxing night! Love.

And the Fun Begins

Wow, talk about a break between updates! :-X Sorry!

Things have been crazy busy here. Thankfully. It has been a whole week since I graced you with my boring life updates so I hope I will be able to entertain you for more than 5 minutes this time :-P.

Dancers at the fire festival

Tuesday was the enkai (drinking party) and everyone got really drunk. The celebration was for me, S, and another new employee (Japanese) at the BoE. She drove herself to maintain the excuse she would be unable to drink. I don't blame her LOL. The men all got super drunk, including S, and there were various chunks of conversation where they reverted entirely to grunting as a means of communication wherein I removed myself from the conversation. S also got pretty drunk (though I am sure he will deny it) and although I thought the whole experience might be awkward since my Japanese is only sub-par and only one person speaks any manner of English, it actually went surprisingly well. The food, however, was amazing! They just threw live fish and clams onto makeshift grills run off of wood they threw into a hole in the middle of the table. I couldn't believe how good it tasted even though there wasn't any seasoning or anything!

The school day on Tuesday was really fun! I went to Yamaga elementary school for the first time and spent literally all morning having a half-English, half-Japanese philosophical conversation about education and second language acquisition and different country's approaches to this learning style in children. I couldn't believe how well it followed and it wasn't until someone knocked on the door of the conference room announcing our lunch was getting cold that we realized we had wasted the entire day. Though I wouldn't call it a waste. We spent the after-lunch time making a newspaper about me for the students since I wouldn't be meeting any of them until the end of the month. I am terrible at drawing, hopefully the newspaper will still be on the wall when I go back so I can take a picture to show you since it's pretty hilarious!

Wednesday was the first official day of school and I went to the opening ceremony where I had to introduce myself to the entire student body. Luckily I wasn't alone since there was a new student from Hokkaido who had to follow me. After the ceremony the students sat in homeroom and various introductory sessions while I patiently waited at my desk. The students were surprisingly excited to meet me though, which my Mom has described as the best kind of ego booster. They kept hollering at me from every corner of the school saying 'HELLO!' and waving vigorously. It made me feel really special - like a TV star in a good way. One of the students actually hit on me which was incredibly flattering and entertaining since he is all of 15 and maybe in 5 years he will be quite the ladies man because he was very suave. Oh puppy love!

Clouds on the mountain

Thursday I went to elementary school where some college students from Saitama were teaching the other teachers how to teach English to elementary school children. They ended up teaching me too and I made a few friends along the way. There was definitely some advantage to having them show me before I actually began to teach on my own since the first lesson they did was a little slow for the kids and you could tell they were bored so I got to watch how they adapted it to the next class. I also got invited over with them to some hot springs in Yufuin for the afternoon but it brought about a whole new cultural issue I was not prepared to deal with... The ‘how to teach English’ teacher asked if I would join them for hot springing and a BBQ in Yufuin once we finished class at around 2:00. I really wanted to join them, especially since I knew I would be stuck doing nothing until 4 when my shift ended, I told them it was unlikely I would be able to go. She encouraged me to ask the principal. Knowing I would be asking if I could skip out on work to leave for a hot spring I asked a second opinion, the 5^th grade teacher in who’s class I ate lunch. She got really excited and actually walked me to the Principal herself so I could ask. Taking that as a sign, I asked and was rejected after a call to my supervisor. Thinking I had just made a huge culture f**k-up I called my supervisor shortly thereafter to grovel about language barriers and how I had meant no offense and I was pressured into it... yada yada. After reassuring me that he understood my sentiments about wanting to hang out with people my own age, I realized he wasn’t in the bit least bit upset. In fact, he wanted me to go but because my car sucks and the tires are bad he thought it was a little too dangerous (should I be hurt during work hours they would be liable and a drive to Yufuin isn’t exactly in my contract). That experience could have been really bad so I am glad everything but I learned my lesson about expressing interest in doing things outside of school during work hours - never again!

Friday was my first official day teaching but my elementary school 1^st -5^th graders were on a field trip so I had a whole three students to ‘teach’ for the entire day. They were a lot of fun though and I spent the morning learning Japanese with them then before lunch we did and English lesson. During the Japanese lesson we did a series of kanji sheets with a twist - they taught me how to write the kanji (Chinese character) then I told them the English word and they learned how to write and pronounce it. The kanji were for 4^th grade so they ranged from ‘first snow’ to ‘telescope’ making some of the vocabulary very difficult to explain. It was a lot of fun though and after lunch we played catch together (they even had a left-handed glove for me to use!) until it got too hot and we quit. I went home shortly thereafter.

This is getting long but I feel like I am only getting started... I will end here and put up another entry about the weekend so you can have a reading break :-P

Love!