Okinawa

So, I made a trip to Okinawa recently over one of our three day weekends. It was exciting! Before I get into the details, I want to get my one disappointment out of the way. I went in the middle of winter thinking it would be a nice getaway from the cold and snow…and it was, BUT it was not the tropical vacation I was hoping for. For one, it was kind of drizzly and overcast when I was there, and secondly, although it was a lot warmer in Okinawa than Osaka, it was still not warm enough to swim in the ocean or sunbathe. I didn’t need a coat, and I could still sit on the beach and watch the water…and even put my feet in. It just wasn’t that warm. So I recommend going when it’s hot if you are looking for the lazy beach experience. I did still have fun though!

Okinawa is a tiny island way out there!

I took Peach Airlines. It’s a new discount airline in Japan. I got round trip tickets to Okinawa for under $300! You get what you pay for, though. I would describe Peach as charmingly ghetto. For one, it was located in a weird terminal that you had to take a bus to. There weren't any gates. You just sat in a big waiting room until they said you could walk to the plane. Yes, walk. There was no walkway from the terminal to the plane. You had to walk outside to the plane and climb stairs into the plane. There were no free drinks or snacks. When I got to Okinawa, it was the same thing; weird terminal, no gate, long wait for a shuttle bus to the main terminal. The up side to peach was that the workers were nice, the plane is pink and cute, the flight attendants are wearing the cutest uniforms, they plane J-pop as you board and get off the plane, and you had the option of buying food that actually looked really good. I got there kind of late at night around 9 pm on a Friday after work. I checked into my hostel. I booked a tiny little one person private room for one night…it was only $30! I decided to go out and look around a bit after checking in. I went to Kokusai-dori (International Street) which is the main drag in Naha, Okinawa. Naha is the main city in Okinawa. It was all lit up, and even though I have never been to Vegas, I feel like maybe that Kokusai-dori would be comparable to Vegas because it was warm, there were palm trees, everything was bright and flashing, the streets were packed, and the atmosphere was very lively and playful. There was a really touristy feel to it too. I just walked a little, overwhelmed by the new sights, and even though I wanted to eat some Okinawa food for dinner, it was pretty late at night, and I wasn't sure what restaurants were open…and I didn't feel like sitting down and eating a nice meal alone at 10 pm. So I went to McDonalds, a little disappointed in myself. I tried to make up for it by finally ordering the ebi filet (shrimp filet) that I had been meaning to try. It was not as good as I hoped, but I was glad that I tried it. By the way, I was expecting to see a lot of American military men out and about, but was surprised to see none. I later found out that recently the curfew was pretty early due to reasons you can probably guess. I’d rather not get into that because it upsets me. In any case, it was strange because I didn't get many glances like I do in the mainland, and when I went to order my food at the counter, she didn't even give me a chance to start speaking Japanese, she just started talking to me in English…guess they are pretty used to Americans in Okinawa not being able to speak any Japanese. Before I move on to the next day, I just want to say that my overall impression of Okinawa that I formed starting from the first night was that it was like there were a bunch of Japanese people vacationing on a tropical island. I say this because it didn't really feel like I was in Japan exactly…it was more international feeling. However, there were Japanese people everywhere (and also some people from other Asian countries who obviously were tourists). The area was very touristy, giving it a vacation-y feel, and I was, of course, on a tropical island. Hence, my impression of Okinawa was such.

Peach airlines.

My hostel the first night: Grace Inn.

Kokusai-dori (international street).

 The next day, I checked out of my hostel and began exploring the main street and its offshoots in depth. I had lunch at an Indian restaurant which was delicious. I had truly spicy food in Japan! I decided to head to Shuri Castle (one of the main sights in Naha), before continuing to explore. The castle looked different compared to many other castles in Japan. One of the highlights was that I paid 300 yen to enter the tea room in the castle. I got all you can drink, delicious, high quality jasmine tea and a variety of tea cakes. Also there were workers there who explained the history of the castle and the sweets. From the castle (which was on a tall hill/mountain) I could see the ocean for the first time. I was really excited about that! When I was leaving the castle, I had one of those truly priceless moments; the ones you don’t expect, but turn out to be one of the most memorable moments. I was walking up some stairs outside when I saw what looked like a family up ahead. There was an older man and woman, a little girl, and a puppy. The woman and the girl were looking around in the grass while the man sat on a stair playing the guitar and the puppy sniffed around (it was tied to the handrail). It was a really cute baby yellow lab, so naturally, as I approached I smiled and asked if I could pet the puppy. We said hellos (they spoke a little English with me), and the man continued to play the guitar. I decided to sit down and chat with them. The little girl and the woman were looking for four leaf clovers. The girl found one and handed it to me. I wasn't sure if she was showing me or giving it to me so I handed it back, and she told me to keep it as a present. It’s moments like this that I cherish most. I thanked them, and left feeling refreshed. The train in Okinawa is actually a monorail. Very simple. I sort of felt like I was in Disney World haha! I took the monorail back to the main strip, and continued my exploring. Some staples of Okinawa which I discovered were habu sake (sake with a whole dead poisonous snake in it D:), Shisa (the dragon-dog looking mascot of Okinawa (they usually are in pairs-1 boy and 1 girl)), beni-imo (purple sweet potato treats), glassware, bouncy balls that looked like breasts :S, taco rice, sea grapes (a type of seaweed), little treats shaped like privates :S, chili sauce, coin purses made out of a dead/dried frogs, shamisen (Japanese instrument), and more that I’m probably forgetting.

Shuri Castle

Nice tea and sweets at the castle.

The four leaf clover.

Breast bouncy balls. :S

Penis candies. :S

Habu sake.

Umi-budou (sea grapes).

Glassware.

Shisa.

Beni-imo.

Taco rice.

Later in the day, I met up with an Okinawa JET who is also from the Chicago area. We met before departing for Japan. She was kind enough to host me for the rest of my trip. We actually stayed at her friends’ apartment (another JET) on Saturday. Her friend lived right in Naha. That night we basically met up with a bunch of Okinawa JETs and got dinner and drinks. We ate at a place called Picnic Land, I think. The service was unbelievably slow, but it was kind of a cool place. It was fun talking with other JETs. From there we went to something called a “snack bar” where one of the JETs performed some songs. That was entertaining. Then we did karaoke at the same place. There was one guy there that looked like he was just tired and sleeping, but when we eventually got up to leave, we realized that he was like blackout drunk and couldn't even stand on his own two feet. That was kind of creepy. Some people took him back to his hotel because he is actually from an outer island of Okinawa. We went to my friend’s friend’s apartment and went to bed.

On Sunday, we woke up and began the journey to my friend’s town, Yomitan. It’s north of Naha past some huge American military bases. I never realized how many bases there were in Okinawa. I just thought there was one or something, but there are several kinds all over the island! We made it to her town. Her apartment was so nice and big!! One thing I noticed was that the two bathrooms I saw (hers and her friend’s) had no bath. I guess it’s probably always too hot to bathe. I was very excited for this day because I was going to get to go the beach finally: the thing I was most excited for! We took a bus from her town to another town called Chatan. In Chatan, there is American Village. It’s actually very legit compared to the one in Osaka. We spent the whole day there. There was live music, stores, restaurants, beaches, and other entertainment. First, we ate at an awesome Mexican place called Obligado’s. The portions were huge! The first beach we went to was Sunset Beach which was kind of small, but I enjoyed putting my feet in and playing in the sand. Then, we shopped around, listened to some live music, did purikura in a huge arcade, and ate ice cream before going to a larger beach. We went to Araha Beach which was absolutely beautiful! The water was turquoise! I played in the waves and the sand, watched and listened to the water, and searched for seashells. The shells on the beach were amazing! There were so many different shapes and colors! A lot of it was bits of coral too! Araha Beach was by far my favorite part of the trip. We returned back to my friend’s apartment. I slept very comfortably that night (she had 3 huge couches in her place!).

Obligado's.

We ran into some of Gina's students at the arcade.

They were playing this game hardcore! This is an

example of Japanese culture at its best!

American Village a night.

Sunset Beach.

Araha Beach.

Araha Beach.

Listen to the water. :)

The shells/coral I found.

The next morning, I started the long journey back to Naha airport. Do you know A&W? Like the root beer? In America, there are some A&W restaurants, but they are kind of old and going out of business, I think. Well, in Okinawa, they were all over! I ate at an A&W in the airport before flying back to Osaka. Root beer isn't that common in Japan, so it was so good to taste it again! I got curly fries and chicken nuggets. Despite the lack of ketchup, I must say that they were seriously the best chicken nuggets I've ever had in my life! A nice old lady saw that I still had some root beer left after I finished my food, so she gave me two Okinawan donuts (another staple I forgot to mention) and told me that they went well with root beer. They did. Japanese people are so nice and give you stuff all the time. That basically sums it up! It was a good trip. If I ever go back, I’ll make sure to go back when it’s hot, and I will lie on the beach and snorkel the whole time!

A&W. Best chicken nuggets ever!

Okinawan donuts. Thanks nice lady!

Christmas

So, as you all know, if you read my posts, I went home to America for my two week winter break, and I don’t regret it in any way! Some people travel to other countries during the break or save a bunch of money by not traveling, but I am so happy I went back home! I was at the point where I needed to see my friends, family, and boyfriend, and I was definitely at my Taco Bell breaking point! The two weeks went by really fast as I expected. I didn't really have a lot of down time because I was meeting friends and family day after day, but I’m not complaining. I got to see pretty much everyone! I will admit that I completely stuffed my face with delicious American food the whole time I was home. I was so sick of Japanese food at the time. Currently, however, I am completely fine with Japanese food after having a break. I don’t think I was every hungry once when I was home because I was always eating… I ate Taco Bell, Hooters, Buffalo Wild Wings, Lou Malnati’s Chicago deep dish pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, Casey’s Taco Pizza, and of course, a bunch of delicious homemade food…including me favorite: taco salad. I’m sure I left out some places too, haha!

Hooter's buffalo chicken and shrimp and curly fries with cheese
dip of course.

California Pizza Kitchen's pear, gorgonzola, arugula pizza...
you won't find anything like this in Japan. 

Taco salad! My favorite!

Crispy potato soft taco from Taco Bell. Dear Lord Jesus!

Lou Malnati's Chicago deep-dish pizza.

I got home late on Saturday December 22^nd. The flight itself was fine as far as I can remember…I think I slept a lot. I saw my teacher on the plane and we talked a little. Things got really stressful, though, when I reached San Francisco airport. I had to recheck my bag (and there was a problem with a broken conveyor belt or something so I waited in a huge line of people trying to transfer planes), go through customs and security again, and switch terminals…all in like an hour. By some miracle I got on my plane 10 minutes before it was supposed to take off, but then of course, we sat on the plane for like two hours before it took off because there was a problem finding all of the baggage. So, when we finally took off, they gave us a reassuring “We think we have all the bags now.” Of course, when I landed in Chicago (my parents had been waiting for me for hours in the parking lot…and they hadn't gotten dinner yet because we planned to go out), it was about 10 o’clock at night, and they lost my bag. I was so tired and upset, I had my mom come inside the airport and talk to the worker about how to get my bag. It was kind of an underwhelming welcome home. So, we stopped at Taco Bell on the way home, and I felt much better haha! My dogs were really excited to see me. My parents got a new dog, too, while I had been gone. I was excited to meet her, but she didn't ever really warm up to me until it was time for me to go back to Japan :/ The 23^rd, my mother and her friend planned a scrap-booking night at our house. I was really excited! We made a lot of food, but unfortunately, my mother’s friend forgot to bring her pictures, so we couldn't scrap D: Instead we ate the food, drank Rumchata (I missed that, too), watched a movie, and chatted with my mother’s friend’s sons, and an Indian exchange student who was living with them for Christmas. That was fun! Now I want to go to India even more!

Moguls

Mia

Our new dog, Eevie! Plus snow! I missed not having
snow in Japan.

The next two days were Christmas Eve and Christmas. On my first full day home, my sister and I decorated one of our Christmas trees together which is a tradition in our family. I love it so much! We always have a big family Christmas party on Christmas Eve. We exchanged gifts, caught up, and of course, ate! Then on Christmas morning, we opened gifts from Santa and ate cinnamon rolls which is also a family tradition. My friend, Mitch, came over on Christmas night, and we caught up. He came to visit me not long after my Christmas break.

EXCITEMENT!

The day after Christmas, I believe, my boyfriend from Minnesota flew in to see me. That was nice! We spent around 5 days together. We relaxed and watched movies, and we went up to Chicago for a day which is something we like to do together. It was really nice seeing him, and it wasn't too hard to say goodbye because he was coming to Japan in a few months (he’s here now!!).

In front of "The Bean."

Huge Christmas tree in front of the John
Hancock building.

The rest of the time spent after he left was meeting friends and family, shopping, appointments, etc. I was not ready to leave when it was time to go back to Japan…but luckily, one week after returning to Japan, Mitch came to visit from America. That helped me ease back in to Japan life. It’s hard because I won’t be going back to the U.S. until next Christmas…I can hardly believe it L At the same time, I know that my time in Japan is short (even though I did sign up for another year ;) ). I love living in Japan except for missing home. My time to be back in the U.S. again will come.

I took my mom and sister out for a last dinner together at The Melting Pot,
my favorite restaurant. My Dad had to work, but he saw me off the next day.

People Visiting

 I am running a few months late with my posts, but I hope to catch you up on some of the important events in this post. I’ve been staying up to date with basically everything except for the big excursions/people visiting. So let me give you a timeline here…Since November, I have had a few people visit, and I've gone to Okinawa, up north past Tokyo to Ibaraki and Tochigi-ken, and home to America! In this post, I’m only going to tell you about when people came to Osaka to visit me. Since I have been busy, they will probably shorter and less detailed than I want them to be, and it’s been so long that I probably can’t recall the details very well.

So first, back in November, my friend from college who is also a JET but is placed in Hokkaido flew down to visit me. She was the first person to visit after my friend from Ohio. It was a short visit. She came on a Friday night. We got some take-out and chilled out while we watched and laughed at the first Twilight movie. The second day was crazy! It started off nice and peaceful with some lunch at an Italian restaurant in Kyobashi followed by shopping downtown and dinner at El Pancho. We wanted to meet some of my JET friends at a bar with no real intentions of staying out until first train. They were all about going to one of those WhyNot? nomihoudai (all you can drink) paries at Pure so we decided to join. It was jam packed! I must say, while avoiding the Armenian creeps and other weirdos, I met a lot of cool people there! We had to make a decision if we wanted to head home or stay out all night. Since it was a special party, they handed out ticket to everyone for a free drink if you go to the after party at a different location. It seemed like everyone else was pulling an all-nighter, and the new Japanese friends we just met asked us to come to the after party with them, so we did. Oh, the commitment of an all-nighter…why Japan? WHY?! Anyway, I don’t even know/remember where the after party was at. I just remember that after getting our free drinks there, someone decided that we should go to Cinquentcento. So the group of five of us (my friend and I and the three Japanese people we met (2 boys and 1 girl)) went to Cinquencento. By the way, a random thing I was surprised by was the fact that the Japanese girl we were with was underage and drinking in all these bars! I didn’t know people in Japan even tried to get away with stuff like that. I thought they were too respectful of the laws lol! I guess were not so different after all. No one was even carding her. She looked old enough to me but she was only 16!! That’s younger than my little sister! After thinking about it, I felt really strange about partying with someone younger than my sister. She just seemed so mature, though. At Cinquencento, we met a person from New Zealand. He was very nice. All the three Japanese people left Cinquencento to catch their last trains (theirs were later than ours) because the two boys were in med school and had stuff to do the next day. So, the nice New Zealand guy we met suggested we go to Sam & Daves. It’s a dance club I had never been too. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back because it was so packed with straight up creepers. The second Anna and I stepped in, these Indonesian guys that didn’t know English started trying to dance with us and hit on us…they kept trying to speak to us in Japanese, but we couldn’t really hear anything. Anyway, it was really crazy there, and by the time the first train came, I was so ready to go home. We slept like all day the next day. Maybe that was the night we watched Twilight and got take out. I can’t remember. Either way, Friday and Sunday night were both relaxing. I think we actually went to McDonalds the first night now that I think about it. She left Monday morning with a very crazy impression of Osaka :P

Yummy Italian restaurant. Basically her visiting consisted
of us eating a bunch of food because she lives in the middle of
nowhere in Hokkaido and doesn't have any good places to eat.

Dinner at El Pancho.

Dessert at Partyland.

Dancing at Pure!

My next big visitor was my really good friend from high school, Mitch! He flew all the way from America! He came like a week after I came back to Japan after my Christmas break in America so it hadn’t been that long since I saw him (only one week really lol). He stayed a whole week! Although I hadn’t had much time back in Japan to start missing everyone again, for some reason, I had a really hard time saying goodbye when he left…I had to instantly do some therapeutic shopping lol! Because he was here for so long, I don’t really want to write a novel about every little thing we did so I will give you and overview. First though, I just want to say how interesting it is to me to see how people react to Japan who don’t know much about it. Things that I don’t notice or have gotten used sometimes surprise people who have never been here. For example, when he go to my apartment, we ate some food. I gave him some chopsticks to use. He looked at the chopsticks and said something like, “Wow! These chopsticks are so legit!” I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he said, “I’m only used to using the crappy cheap wooden ones that you break in half.” I have never once thought twice about my chopstick or considered them fancy haha.

So anyway, the first day he was here, we went to Nara. I loved how he appreciated Japan so much. He thought it was really beautiful. We ate our first meal out at a matcha café. It was so nice and delicious. He came up with an adjective for the place which he then used throughout the rest of the trip, “zen-y.” He also decided that when he was here, he wanted to eat as much Japanese food as possible which was kind of fun! I did a really good job of well rounding his Japanese food experience. We had takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, kaiten-sushi, kushi-katsu, katsudon, udon, yakiniku, and more! It was strange for me because my last visitor from America, wasn’t too keen on trying much Japanese food. The night after going to Nara, we went to Tennoji for kushi katsu which ended up being his favorite meal I think. The next day, we went to downtown Osaka and shopped, did purikura, went to kaiten sushi and a bar, and he bought me one of my favorite gifts ever…a hookah! We returned home and went to my favorite little bar in my town. This is the bar I mentioned in one of my very first posts; the one that I really liked, but was not confident enough to go alone…well, that’s changed!! Yay me! The next day we went to Kyoto. It’s so hard to do Kyoto in a day, but we managed to explore all of Arashiyama and still make it to the other side of Kyoto to see Kiyomizu-dera. We did something in Arashiyama that I’ve never done before…the monkey park! It was so cool! We got to see monkeys in the wild and feed them nuts and apples! The next day, I had to go back to work so I gave Mitch ideas of what to do while I was working. When I returned home, we would usually go out somewhere for dinner and just kind of chill. I can’t remember everything he did, but I know he went to Osaka castle and Spa World. I was so proud of him for going to Spa World all on his own! Most foreigners would freak out about it, but he seemed to end up really enjoying it! I think he ended up leaving on a Saturday afternoon. I do recall two more things of interest. One, we went out for dinner at a yakiniku place right in my town, and it ended up being one of my favorite dinners I've eaten in Japan! The place was super nice on the inside, and the waitresses were so kind and friendly. We did tabehoudai (all you can eat). My friend loved grilling the meats and veggies. The only bad part was that I had my foot bent at a weird angle the whole time we were there for some reason, and when I stood up after like two hours, I literally could barely walk! It was so hard to walk home! It was a bit better when I woke up, but it still hurt for a few days :S On his last night here, we went to Umeda (north Osaka) and got dinner at an okonomiyaki place, and we went to Round One and played games which was fun. We ended the night by going back to the bar in my town. It was really good having him here!

Maccha cafe!

Mitch with a deer in Nara.

He liked kushi-katsu.

Arcade.

Feeding monkeys in Arashiyama.

Yakiniku.

Lastly, I want to end by saying that in about one week, something major is going to happen…my boyfriend is coming to Japan to live with me for over two months!!! My lifestyle is going to change drastically during the time he’s here, and I probably won’t know how to resume my life as normal once he leaves…I don’t want to even think about that. I think it will be really fun to show him Japan like I have with my other friends, and it will also be really nice to have someone here to help me out with the housework lol. I think it will really strengthen our relationship, and give us a taste of what it will be like to live together if we ever get married. We've already made some travel plans like an overnight ryokan stay in Kyoto and a five day trip in Tokyo. We are going to go to the Ghibli Museum which I’m so excited about! I've been there once, but I loved it, and I will get so much joy out of seeing his reaction to it seeing as my boyfriend is an artist. I’m going to be living in Japan differently for the next two months. I’m excited to see things from a different perspective. I hope he likes it here!

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Getting Sick: So there was a period of time where I got really sick and couldn't come in to work. The only reason I want to mention this is because I was surprised at how caring everyone was. One of my JTEs called my house three times in one day to keep checking on me. Admittedly, I was almost kind of annoyed because I wanted to keep sleeping, but at the same time I thought it was really nice. She kept asking me if I needed to go to the hospital (I think she meant doctor’s office due to a translation issue) and if I need her to come over. I kept saying, “No thank you! No thank you! I’m just going to rest, and I’ll be fine.” The third time she called she told me that one of the teachers I’m close with (the one I ride the bus with everyday) wanted to come over and check on me after work. D: I hadn't showered, felt like crap, had been in bed all day in pajamas, no bra, and my hair in a pony. The last thing I wanted was for someone to see me! I insisted that I didn't need any help. Lastly, on the same day, my supervisor also called me to check up on me. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a foreigner, and they are worried I need help or if it’s just that Japanese people are really kind, but I was shocked at how concerned everyone was for me!

A New Friend: I've heard you are lucky if you can make a friend at work. Many times, teachers know that you are not a permanent employee so they don’t want to become close to you only to have to say goodbye after a short while. Also, in Japanese culture, it is said that you have friends and you have coworkers, and they don’t really mix. In any case, I am stoked because not only have my relations improved over time with all my coworkers, but I have actually made a friend! She started working at my school a few months ago so she is newer than me. She is 26 and really cool! We have similar personalities so we connected right away! We have hung out outside of work, we text each other, and now she gives me rides home all the time!! I’m happy!!!

Marking Papers: In Japan, there is a very specific way of marking papers. To me, it’s kind of annoying. Apparently, different countries have different ways of marking. I learned that Canada’s way is different than America’s. In America, we just put a check-mark next to it if it’s wrong. Very simple. No clutter of mess or red pen. In Japan, THEY MARK EVERYTHING! If it’s right, they put a circle around it, if it’s wrong, they use a check mark or slash, if it’s only partial credit, they use a triangle, and if it’s left blank, they use an “x.” So when a student is handed his or her paper back, the whole paper is filled with red marks, and to me it seems overwhelming. Why is it necessary to mark something if it’s correct?!

Lunch with Teachers: On a few occasions now, I have gone out to lunch with various teachers on test days when we have more time. These experiences have been very enjoyable for me for two reasons. One, I get to leisurely talk with my teachers about things other than school, and I get to know them better. Two, they always choose the places (places I can’t get to from my home because you must go by car), and they are places I wouldn't normally go. I get to try a lot of different Japanese food. Things that I wouldn't even know what they were if I went by myself. It isn't always delicious, but it’s definitely fun to try and experience new things and places. Also, each time we've gone, someone has always treated me!! So far the thing I've like the best is the “kama-meishi set.” Kama-meishi is where they cook rice and fish or meat together in a kama (iron bowl) over an open flame. Since we each got the set, they brought out like mini courses while you waited for you food to cook. I loved trying all the little things like soup, salad, vegetables, tofu, etc. Usually dessert is included in sets too which is always nice…and delicious!

Kama-meishi.

Another Food Adventure-Shabu-shabu: For Kris’ birthday, he had a gathering of people for dinner at a shabu-shabu place. I had always been interested in trying shabu-shabu because it’s a Japanese staple, but from what I knew, I thought it was mostly meat. In any case, I’m glad he had his birthday there because it turned out to be really delicious! Shabu-shabu is basically a big pot of broth boiling in the middle of the table in which you cook things. Yes, meat is the main thing you cook, but you could also cook tofu, vegetables, and my favorite, udon! After cooking the food, you dip it into various sauces and eat it. It was a very fun experience!

shabu-shabu.

Speaking Tests: One of my greatest fears in college was having to do speaking tests where you go into a room one on one with a teacher, and they grade you on your speaking/comprehension abilities. It was the most nerve wracking thing ever! Of course, in college it was more intense because you had to memorize things, have casual conversation with your teacher, and be asked questions and give answers. Well, I never thought I’d be on the other side of the speaking test! In my first grade class, the students have to come to me one by one and read a page or two out of the textbook. I must give them a grade according to their speed, pronunciation, and whether or not they make mistakes. It definitely is a lot easier and less nerve wracking on the other side! I can tell the students are nervous when they come up to me, and I feel bad because I’ve been in that same situation. Now I know what it’s like to be the teacher, though. You get really tired and bored of student after student coming up to you and saying the exact same things and making the exact same mistakes that after awhile, you aren’t as enthusiastic and could not really care less whether or not they do it perfectly. You still give them a grade accordingly, but if they mistakes, it’s not like you are judging them or think that they suck…which is what I thought when I was the student. So now it’s nice to know that my Japanese teachers in college probably didn’t hate me or think I was terrible when I made mistakes, and that it was probably no big deal to them! Yay!

Ok, So I Like Food…Sue Me!: When I first came to Japan, I was excited for McDonalds because they have a really good sandwich that isn't available in America. It’s called the chikin tatsuta. It’s basically a fried chicken sandwich but on really good bread with shredded cabbage, mayo (I scrap most of it off), and some sort of soy sauce flavoring in the breading of the chicken. It’s not all slimy and weird like the other chicken sandwiches at McDonalds in Japan where they leave the skin on the chicken breast. So anyway, I knew about this sandwich from when I had traveled in Japan before. However, when I came here to live, I was really sad because they didn't have the sandwich! D: I thought maybe it was a regional thing where it was only up north or something. It turns out that it’s seasonal and comes and goes kind of like the McRib in the U.S. When it came to McDonalds again, I was so excited! I got it, and it was so good haha! However, it came back out just a few days before I went home for Christmas in America so I only got to have it once because by the time I returned to Japan, it was gone. It’s probably for the better otherwise I would've eaten like five of them! I’ll be anxiously awaiting its return…

Chicken tatsuta.

Same Flight: So a weird coincidence happened. I had got my plane ticket to go home for Christmas way in advance. Later, I found out that one of my JTEs was going to Las Vegas for a few days during the break. I asked her what day she was leaving, and it happened to be the same day as me! I was surprised that we were both leaving Japan to go to America on the same day. So, I asked her where she was flying to. She said she was flying to San Francisco first…just like me! Then I asked her what time her flight was, wondering if we’d be at the airport at the same time. It was the same time as mine! Finally, I asked her what airline and flight, and it turned out that we were on the exact same flight! Wow! We sat only a couple rows away from each other too! It was so weird! When we both landed in San Francisco, we help each other get to our different gates. The funny thing was that when we found out we were taking the same flight, she got really freaked out at first because she realized I would see her “travel partner” aka her boyfriend. Haha! She was embarrassed and told me I had to keep it a secret. Like I could care less who she travels with :P It was all good!

My Birthday: I had my first birthday in Japan! Unfortunately, it was during the time I was feeling a bit sick so I couldn't “go all out.” I had a nice time nonetheless. I think there were about 8 or 10 of us and we got burritos at El Zocalo Burrito first. Then, we got frozen yogurt at Partyland. Lastly, we went to Club Joule and danced for a bit. We all caught our last train home though. It was really nice, and I was happy that so many of my friends came! Before that, my teachers surprised me with a cake at work! It was one of those really cute Japanese style cakes with fruit on top…in this case, strawberries! It had my name on it and everything :D It was my first time receiving a “Japanese” cake! I received gifts from home in the mail too which was nice! My boyfriend sent me like 10 DVDs which was awesome! Which reminds me, I broke down and bought a TV so now I can watch Japanese cable! Plus, I had my parents ship me my DVD player. I’m living a lot more comfortably.

Gifts from my boyfriend.

My cake from my coworkers!

Partyland.

Club Joule.

New Friends and Realizations: I've been making more and more friends lately. As I've mentioned before about moments of bliss, I’m have weekly realizations. A few times a week, I stop and think about my life here in Japan. How I’m living a dream and how much I’m enjoying it. Little everyday things like winter food in the supermarket to big things like my new friends in Japan, I’m beginning to realize how much I will miss it when I’m gone. In college, I didn't take that much time to appreciate how wonderful it was. I knew it was great and that I’d miss it, but I didn't take time to appreciate things as I was doing them in college and when I was at home with my family for that matter. Now, every week in Japan, I think about things and how much I’ll miss them when I’m not here. I appreciate the moment or the thing: when I’m hanging laundry on my balcony with the beautiful view of the mountains, when I am dancing downtown with my friends, when I’m drinking a matcha latte from the super market, when I’m standing in a classroom full of Japanese students who are listening to what I’m saying, when I look down at the tatami floor in my room, when I ride the train home after having fun in the city. Sometimes it makes me sad thinking about how much I’ll miss things, but at the same time, I am appreciating things much more and feeling joy about being here. I don’t want to look back and feel like I took this experience for granted.

Directness

It’s been said that Japanese people are indirect, passive aggressive, and will never say exactly what’s on their mind. I've found that that is often true, especially among coworkers and older people. However, I have experienced some surprising exceptions. First of all, with diarrhea. O.o I guess in Japan, having diarrhea is just a normal thing like having a headache. For example, when students are in class, they will sometimes raise their hand and say, “Excuse me, my stomach hurts. May I use the restroom?” That’s the nicer version. Another example of the nicer version was when I was teaching with another teacher, and he got really sweaty and looked sick. He said he had to go to the bathroom and that he’d be gone for 5 minutes. When he came back, he said, “Sorry, I have an upset stomach,” and then he went to the bathroom again. Some examples of not so polite times are as follows: Once when I was walking to class with one of my JTEs and we saw a student holding his stomach standing outside the bathroom. I asked my JTE what was wrong with him, and he said, “I think he probably has diarrhea.” ^^;; Another time was when my supervisor came to my school for an assembly. I said hi to him to which he replied, “Hi. My colleague was supposed to come to this, but he got diarrhea so I had to instead.” Hahaha! It’s just weird hearing these things from such reserved Japanese people.

The next thing I've found to be surprising is about drugs. We had an assembly (the one previously mentioned) about drugs. That same day, two of my JTEs came up to me, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a foreigner or not, but they came right out and asked, “Have you ever done drugs?” I was startled and said, “I thought Japanese people were supposed to be indirect?!” They laughed and said that they have never done drugs but were curious about how it feels to smoke marijuana! >_< These are the two particular situations that stood out to me…

Food in Japan

I just wanted to make a brief (ok, not so brief) post here about food in Japan since many people probably have stereotypes or are just simply curious. First, I will mention a few misconceptions and/or things you might not know about Japanese food. 

1) They eat super healthy: FALSE. Sure, many meals contain fish, rice, and veggies, but dear lord do they love to fry things as much as we do in America! Also, desserts, chips, and soda/pop are quite popular here. Lastly, they have a seriously sick obsession with mayonnaise here. They put it on everything including pizza, sushi rolls, every sandwich, and so on. Some may know the Japanese word bukakke (for a bad reason). You probably didn't know that the word literally means to squirt mayonnaise all over something, and it’s used commonly. >_< The reason everyone is so skinny is not because they eat healthy, it’s because they don’t eat as much and are quite active. 

2) As I mentioned, in Japan, they have sushi rolls, but you probably didn't know that they aren't nearly as common as their counterpart: a slice of fish over rice a.k.a. real Japanese sushi. The majority of the rolls I've come across contain at least one of 3 things: mayonnaise, tuna salad, or egg. Ew, no thanks! 

3) A traditional Japanese breakfast is basically the same as any other meal of the day: bowl of rice, bowl of soup, and piece of fish. It’s not to say that people don’t eat other things, but it’s still common to eat these things at breakfast. 

4) I swear that 90% of the school lunches I've eaten in Japan have contained something gooey/slimy in it. Hence, they love slimy gooey stuff in Japan. Many desserts in Japan are very jiggly. 

5) Putting extra wasabi on sushi is actually a bit rude. It’s a way of saying that you didn't make it in a way that’s satisfying to me so I need to add more. 

6) Lastly, many people think that all Asian countries have spicy food which is true of some places like India, Thailand, or Korea, for example. However, I can honestly say that finding something spicy in Japan is like winning the lottery unless you are going to a Korean, Thai, Indian place and so on. Japanese food is NOT spicy. One time I got salsa from the store, and I was so excited for finding it. I took it home, opened it, and was very disappointed. It was like eating plain tomatoes. I would describe Japanese food as quite bland. Salt is basically the only seasoning they use. For goodness sake, they eat a plain bowl of rice with basically every meal! It doesn't get much blander than that!

Indian food in Japan.

Next, I want to talk about some of the things it’s really hard to find or are crazy expensive in Japan that are common in America. 

1) REAL CHEESE!!!!!!!!! This for me is the number one most difficult thing because I LOVE CHEESE! I eat it every day in America. First of all, normal Japanese cuisine doesn't generally contain cheese. So in other words, it’s just not that poplar. Also, because there aren't many dairy farms in Japan, it’s kind of rare. However, people in Japan seem to like Italian food a lot such as pizza and pasta, so cheese is available. The only issue is the quality. The basically have one type of cheese here unless you want to spend a fortune for real cheese. It’s called processed cheese, and it tastes like nothing. It’s all white, too. Imagine white Kraft singles shredded and put in a small bag. That’s basically the norm here. You can buy some real cheese in Japan such as red cheddar, bleu, gorgonzola, brie, feta, and camembert, but it’s like $6-$10 for a brick the size of you cell phone! Sometimes I cave, but the price is so ridiculous that I rarely bring myself to buy it. Oh, also, they have cream cheese and sour cream too, but it’s also on the expensive side. I’d like to mention that one type of cheese they do sell that isn't common in America is “dessert cheese.” Basically it’s more of their processed cheese in a creamier form with flavors mixed in like earl grey or rum raisin. :S 

2) I already mentioned the lack of spicy food. They don’t sell any types of hot pepper in the grocery store that I’ve seen. I even asked once, and they said they didn’t have any spicy peppers. 

3) Cilantro/coriander. Something I used frequently in America when making Mexican food. I have finally come across some dried cilantro recently which was like finding a pot of gold, but forget finding it fresh. 

4) Flour tortilla shells. Let’s just say, if you want to eat a flour tortilla in Japan, you have three options. One: make it from scratch (I've done this several times in times of desperation). Two: have a family member send you them (I've done this too). Three: Go to a really big city like Osaka or Tokyo and find one of the like 3 Mexican restaurants in the city, and order a burrito. I’m lucky enough to have this option. I think I’d jump in front of a train if I didn't lol. Actually, there are some foreign food stores here and there that you can sometimes find tortillas in, but again, they cost a lot and are rare. I'm a Costco member. I haven't noticed tortillas there, but they probably have them in there somewhere. 

5) They have like every other mushroom under the sun except portabello.

6) Olives (purple/green), olive oil, basil paste, and all things Mediterranean and delicious are a fortune if they are even sold to begin with. 

7) Black beans and pinto beans: the base of most Mexican food, forget it. 

8) They have some American pops in Japan like Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and Fanta but don’t have my favorites like root beer, cream soda, cherry coke, or Dr. Pepper unless you can find them in a specialty shop. 

8) They have many fruits in Japan, but they are very expensive. Think like $5 for 10 strawberries or $15 for one melon. That’s all I can think of for now.

So, my grandpa sent me a ton of stuff to make Mexican food one day. It
was like heaven!

Lastly, now that I have bitched and moaned about Japan not having the stuff I like, I will talk about the good things. Overall, I like Japanese food. I just get sick of not having cheese, Mexican, or spicy things, but Japanese cuisine as a whole is very suitable for me. Besides meat (excluding fish and chicken), I will eat pretty much anything else. Japanese food is very heavy on rice, fish, vegetables, tofu, and noodles: all things that I like. I love going to kaiten sushi, eating fried veggies, and drinking a large amount of tea every day. Plus, there are many non-Japanese options still available. I still eat pizza and pasta on a regular basis. I do what I can in the way of Mexican food. I work with what I've got. 

Some things I really like: 

1) TOFU! They have so many varieties, and I like them all! 

2) Grocery stores have a large variety of pre-made food and meals out and ready to go made throughout the day. You can just take it home and eat it. So when you don’t feel like cooking, you just grab something and take it home. Some examples of things are sushi, deep-fried everything, potato salad (which by the way, I don’t like potato salad in America, but I like it in Japan), regular salads, rice dishes, bento, sandwiches, and more. 

3) Salads in Japan. This is kind of tricky…they don’t have a bunch of interesting salads in Japan like they do in America, but they have a typical garden salad which I enjoy more than an American garden salad. I wish they had a variety of salads like they do in the US, but as for their normal salad, it’s pretty good. It’s different in that it’s mostly shredded cabbage and not lettuce. Sometimes they’ll throw a few lettuce leaves in there. Also, corn is common along with some variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, daikon (Japanese raddish), or carrots. The selling point for me is that everything is super finely shredded. I really like that. Plus, the most common dressing is like a sesame soy dressing which I like a lot. 

5) There are many places in Japan where you can cook food in front of you which is always fun whether its, yakisoba (stir-fried noodles), yakiniku (grilled meat (or veggies)), or okonomiyaki (savory pancake). 

6) Nomihodai are fun. You pay a flat, cheap fee to drink as much alcohol as you want in a period of time like 2 hours. Also, they have tabehodai which is the same idea but with food. 

7) Meal sets. If you go to a traditional style Japanese restaurant, you can order set courses where you can get a lot of different small dishes. Most of it is vegetarian or only seafood which works out nice for me. You get hot tea, like 5 small appetizers (usually one is soup), a main course, and dessert (and sometimes a special drink after). I enjoy eating a lot of different small courses and a relatively small main dish than in America where you get like two or three big things. 

8) Onigiri. Rice balls filled with fish and wrapped in seaweed. I will miss them when I’m back in the U.S. They are the perfect traveling snack. 

9) The abundance of maccha desserts. Maccha is high quality powdered green tea, and they make desserts and lattes that are made with maccha. YUM!

Here is a sample of Japanese food: Eel over rice, miso and
salmon soup, and tsukemono (Japanese pickles).

Tamago-kaki-gohan: Raw egg over rice (you mix the egg and
rice together and add some soy sauce), more tsukemono, and
miso soup.

The infamous natto. Fermented beans. Not
very good.

One of my favorite store-bought meals. Sushi rice
with all sorts of goodies on top.