Let's Play Catch Up

Since so much has happened between my last post and now, I am going to highlight some random things that have stood out in lieu of describing everything that has happened in detail…and to be honest, I can’t remember everything anyway.

1.       Noon (and possibly 6pm) Song: One thing that I didn’t understand when I first came here was the loud music playing every day throughout the town from an unknown source. I noticed that every day around noon (and supposedly at 6pm…but I haven’t noticed yet), there was some weird orchestra music playing on loudspeakers wherever I went in my town. I asked Kris about it and apparently every town has its own song that they blast through speakers that are strategically placed throughout the town. I haven’t really noticed the speakers yet. It makes me laugh because when I hear it at home, there is this dog that starts barking like crazy at the music every day. The song is about one or two minutes long. This first impression I had was that I was in North Korea or some socialist country where they force feed you nationalistic songs that you are meant to enjoy. So now I think about that every time I hear it :/

2.       Rinku Town-Japanese Language Seminar: All the new JETs in Osaka had to go to a three day Japanese language seminar in Rinku Town (about an hour and a half away from where I live). It’s on the ocean and actually right next to Kansai International Airport. Although you go there to study Japanese, I think the main benefit from this experience is to meet and mingle with other JETs in your area. I really enjoyed the Japanese classes and Osaka orientation part, but I loved hanging out with everyone…and having a nice, spacious hotel room to myself with an ocean view. While I was there, I got to do many fun things with my new friends like going out to eat, walking to the beach, lighting fireworks, karaoke, bike riding, shopping, riding a Ferris wheel etc. There was an outlet mall that felt just like I was in America! Overall, a fantastic time! I wish I could have stayed longer!

View from my window in Rinku Town!

Singing the YMCA with my fellow Osaka JETs.

3.       Balabushka: I met a couple friends at a bar in America Town in downtown Osaka called Balabushka. Since it is in America Town, there were many foreigners there. It’s nice to know I’m not the only circus attraction in the area haha! We drank and played darts (the girls lost and had to buy drinks for the boys). It was a lot of fun!

4.       Shinobugaoka Matsuri: There was a two day festival in my town before school started. I stumbled upon it on my way to the grocery store. I had never been to a matsuri (festival) in Japan before! They are somewhat of a big thing here. I was very excited because I finally got to try “festival food.” Comparable to carnival food except Japanese. It was awesome! I tried candied fruit, yakisoba (stir fried noodles), and kara-age (fried chicken). There were tons of carnival-type games and live music. The live music was fun because I got to see a taiko (drum) performance in Japan for the first time, and there was a band that played music that you hear when you are in the local grocery store haha! Eventually, Mary and her friend came too. Together we played a game where you try to scoop as many goldfish as you can into a bucket using a thin, papery net. Also, while I was there, I ran into this very energetic woman in a yukata (traditional Japanese summer clothing). She told me she ran a Japanese conversation club for foreigners in the area, and she wanted me to come! It’s every Friday. I plan on going. She was very nice but overly affectionate. She kept holding my hand and dragging me around everywhere to meet a bunch of people in the club! It was fine, just weird.

The fish game.

Taiko.

5.       Starting Work!: There is just so much to say about work so I will abbreviate. First, I teach at Tawara Junior High School (and Elementary School sometimes) in Shijonawate. It is far away, but supposedly has the highest level students out of the 4 different junior high schools in my town. There are 4 English teachers that I work with. They are all very nice and very different from each other. As of now, I've only taught in a few classes, but I like it. I got to do an introduction lesson where I give a speech about myself using pictures and then quiz them after. The kids are really excited by me and always say I’m cute haha! It makes me feel happy. In my intro lesson, I tell them I have a boyfriend, and they all freak out! Some of them asked me to see pictures of him after school. I asked a group of girl students if they had boyfriends and they all pointed at one girl in the group who proceeded to become really shy and get mad at all her friends for betraying her lol! She ran away and then came back swinging lol! It was so funny! There are many differences between schools in the U.S. and Japan. For example, the teachers’ office, the classrooms, the lunches, the club activities, and the students. One thing I’d like to point out is how crazy hyper the students are! They get a 10 minute break between each class where they proceed to bounce off the walls screaming at the top of their lungs while tackling each other and injuring themselves! I couldn't believe it when I saw it! I thought Japanese students were supposed to be studious, calm, and mature. At least they still wear their cute little uniforms haha! During the swimming competition in the first week, a kid wrestled with a teacher and threw the teacher into the pool and it was perfectly funny and acceptable! I was like wtf?! Although, I thought it was funny too. One thing that is particularly hard about school though is not being on top of it. I’m the kind of person who is super organized and always has to know what’s going on. Since I can barely understand anything or read the kanji (Chinese characters) on the board, I never know what’s going on. Also, I might have mentioned that people seem to have this false impression that I am better at Japanese than I actually am, so everyone neglects to tell me anything. I will find myself sitting in an empty office only to have the vice-principle come in and tell me that there is a meeting in the auditorium that I should be at now…it sucks. I’m just always confused. I want to get better at Japanese sooo bad so I can at least do my job better. The JET before me was fluent in Japanese so they aren't used to having to explain things. I somehow need to make it clear that they should be telling me everything I need to know until I get better. On the other hand, while some people aren't that patient with me, many are…especially one teacher that I work with and ride the bus with every day. She doesn't speak English, only a few words, but she always tries to have conversations with me in Japanese. She knows I’m not that great, but I think she really wants to help, and I really appreciate it. When I don’t understand what she is saying, she is very patient and always tries to rephrase things. If I really don’t understand, I apologize, and she assures me that it is ok. She can tell I’m trying. She lives near me, and wants me to come visit her sometime.

My bus stop.

My elementary school.

My juniour high school.

6.       Chanting Guy: This isn’t that important or anything, but I’d like to mention that every morning on my way to work, I ride my bike to a close by elementary school where I park it. Then from there, I ride a bus to work. There is a house by the elementary school, and every time I get off my bike to park it, I am close to the windows of this house. At the same time every morning, there an old man inside with the window open who is chanting these weird noises. I assume he’s is praying. It’s just interesting to me because I have never heard anything like it. It intrigues me.

7.       My New Friend: Now I can’t say for sure that we will be close friends or anything, but I hung out with a new Japanese friend, Ken. The weird part is that I met him when I was in downtown Osaka with Mary. Ken and his friend came up to us and started questioning us like how it usually goes when foreign men come up to you. “Where are you from? Do you speak Japanese? What are you doing now? Do you want to go…?” Naturally I was weirded out because in America, when guys come up to you like that, it only means one thing. I am beginning to give Japanese men the benefit of the doubt however because the two times I have given in to spending time with “some guy I’ve met on the streets” in Japan, it has turned out to be fun and not creepy. I still will not be completely naïve though! Anyway, after meeting Ken, he gave me his contact info, and told me to tell him when I got a phone. Once I got a phone, I friended him on facebook, and from there, we started talking. I found out that he is a college student, the same age as me, and wanted to hang out with me some time. We decided to meet on a Saturday and go to a bar. He told me that we were going to a British pub called the HUB, and he thought I would like it because there are many foreigners there. I was so nervous when I met him because I didn’t think he spoke much English (we had been texting in Japanese). It turns out he is fantastic at English which is good and bad (because I want to practice Japanese)! He turned out to be very funny, and he taught me a lot about Japanese arranged marriages and whatnot…it was so strange and interesting! I also made him teach me a lot of Japanese bad words ;) The bar was very crowded, but it was fun! He was right, there were many foreigners there. I had a great time! I caught the last train home which was exciting because now I can say I caught the last train lol! Now I just need to be able to say I missed the last train and pulled an all nighter :P

The last thing I want to say is that on my way home from the bar, I had an anticipated Japanese experience. In Japan, it is common for people to fall asleep on the trains. Also, it is common for people to fall asleep with their head resting on their unknown neighbor's shoulder. I’ve always wanted to be the person who has someone fall asleep on their shoulder, and that night, it happened!! I felt like I was part of Japanese society lol…I always thought that people would be too afraid or repulsed to fall asleep on a foreigners shoulder! :D