Tonight was Japanese class for me, and my tutor noticed for the first time that my book has been teaching me a few symbols in kanji. I think it's a good thing that the book has started. My katakana and hiragana are not perfect, but I think I'm pretty good at them. Now the problem is 1) I'm slow with them. It's like sounding out every word. 2) I don't really have the vocabulary to know what the word is even after I've produced it, and 3) most everything is written with some kanji thrown in, so it was time to move on.
I don't know how many of you may have had that teacher in elementary school who insisted there was one way to write each letter and would watch you over and over until you wrote it correctly, but apparently every Japanese student had that teacher, and every one of them stands by that concept. The character may look exactly the same as the one on the page when you're done, but unless you wrote the strokes in the right order, it's not right. I knew this from writing katakana, and I actually use the right order may be 80 percent of the time, so my tutor lets the mistakes slide... usually.
Up to this point with the kanji, though, she hadn't seen me writing. Instead, I'd made the flash cards I'm using (go ahead, light up the dork sign) and answered the questions at home. I'd been using the general rules I'd learned for katakana as a guide and figuring if it looked right I was happy. As it turns out, the general rules for stroke order in katakana are completely different from those for kanji (go figure). So tonight, I spent the last half hour of class writing and numbering the 40-some kanji I've learned so far. (Remember, there are 2000 of them total, so I might get to all of them before I leave... may be...) While this process can be frustrating, it was also a cultural experience.
Every kanji is a picture of something. Knowing what the picture is can help you remember them sometimes. Tree (ki) for example, looks like the trunk of a tree with the ground and some roots underneath. In other cases, though, it's just a matter of memorization. I will probably never see anything to connect the kanji for red (aka) with the idea of red, but we'll pretend. I wouldn't know how to make a symbol for it, either. On a side note, the Americans around here tend to use kanji like inkblot tests. One guy, for example, looks at the symbols for Fukuoka and sees "lady pushing boxes towards a swing." It helps him remember, so why not?
The thing is, since Japanese don't use all the kanji that originally existed in Chinese, some of these symbols serve for up to five different pronunciations depending on the situation. The kanji for foot and leg, for example, is also used in the word for field trip. Therefore, I if I know that the kanji for foot is in the word, I might be able to guess that the word relates to walking or something like that. I've learned three for the box with the line through it. It's main meaning is hi (hee), which is sun. It sort of looks like a sun without the rays, I suppose. It also stands for nichi (neechee) (one of the days of the week) and bi (bee) which is day. Knowing that the picture means sun helps me to remember that the symbol means day. One day is one sun, right? Wednesday is written with two symbols: water and sun. So it's water day in my head now. Thursday is tree day. It's something to keep them straight.
The symbol for "male" has the symbol for power in it. As my tutor said, "men have power." It's right there in the written word. I also learned that the two symbols for teacher (sensei) literally translated are "ahead birth." So, if you go way back to the roots, a teacher is someone who is born before you. It says something about the respect for age here. So it's been an interesting night. I'm looking forward to learning more.
Miscelaneous news of the day: I got to sub in the high school. The kids here are just like in the States. In a sick and twisted way, hearing them gripe about being punished for taking a "senior skip day" makes me homesick. Also, Zack is back in the middle of the ocean, away from any good way to contact anyone for awhile. But other than that, he seems to be doing well.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Driving to Fukuoka
Last Thursday, I rode with Mel to Fukuoka to pick up her husband's replacement from the airport. I went along 1) because it was a good excuse to leave the house for an evening and 2) because Mel was nervous about making the trip. She had good reason to be: apparently everyone gets lost on the way to or from the airport. In fact, the last time she made the trip (to pick up her mom), she not only got lost on the way home, she knew she was going the wrong way and couldn't seem to get herself going the right way. So I figured getting some experience with the trip would be a good move, too. And playing navigator would help.
There are about five ways to get to the airport from here. 1) take the Navy bus. It leaves exactly twice a day. The first one gets you to the airport too late to catch most of the morning flights out of here. The second time is mostly used for the return trip, which gets you back to Sasebo in the wee hours of the morning. Not convienent, but free, so worth using if you don't mind waiting. Any poor folks who have not-so-good sponsor end up taking this bus to Sasebo for the most part. Lucky for the new guy, Mel's nice. 2) Take the city bus. It leaves much more regularly and stops at the airport. Easy to do if you've been here awhile. MWR will set you up with reservations, then you just go to the station, present your ID, and pay. This is a good way to go for vacationing puproses, but it puts you on a schedule. 3) Take the train. This works essentially the same way as taking the bus. 4) Take the backroads. It's slow, and easy to get lost, but only costs you gas money and then you have a car. 5) Take the expressway. This means paying tolls. The tolls to Fukuoka and back, I'm told, cost about 80 bucks.
Mel's nice, but she's not spend-80-bucks-to-get-some-guy-from-the-airport nice. So we used a secret method. She rented a car. The car rental costs 45 bucks, but it comes with a nice stack of toll tickets. Instead of paying, you give the guy at the window a ticket (or drop it in a box for that purpose) and you get through. Therefore, when the Navy folks want to go to Fukuoka, they often just rent a car and go that way. It's cheaper. This method also has the advantage that if you get lost, you're not paying extra to turn around.
So Thursday afternoon, I came home from my last day (hopefully ever) as a 3rd/4th grade teacher, spent an hour on school work, then jumped in the car with Mel. We left early because we decided to go to Hard Rock while we were in Fukuoka. It would make the trip more fun. I had forgotten how loud Hard Rock was, and how much food is on the average plate there, but we enjoyed it. We arrived at the airport without incident, too, which is a minor success. The new guy's flight was delayed, so we then spent an hour walking off dinner because we had both eaten too much. We felt much better by the time he arrived.
With a new passenger and bags stowed safely away, we got back in the car to go to Sasebo... and got lost.
The problem here, for the record is not that the signs aren't in English. Most signs have some romanji on them, if only the city names. There are two things that make it easy to get lost around here:
1) Unless it is a major highway, none of the roads have names. This is not such a big deal if you're Japanese, because you can read everything which means that everything is a landmark. If you can't read it, though, your set of landmarks is reduced greatly. Therefore, for example, the directions to the airport tell you to follow the signs in (easy enough), and then just go straight down the road you came in on to get back to the highway. We did that, but we ended up on the highway in the wrong direction.
2) There is nothing on the highway signs to indicate north, south, east, or west. Instead, the roads are going "to Saga" or "to Imari" or to whatever city happens to be nearest in that direction. If you don't know which cities are in which directions (and you can't read the kanji on the map you bought to determine which are which way), you just have to remember which landmarks you saw on the way in, and if you don't see them, you need to turn around. Except turning around means getting off the highway and hoping there's an on ramp in the other direction. This is not always the case.
Thankfully, Mel and I knew immediately we were going the wrong way. The entrace we used didn't offer more than one option, so we went up an exit, and were able to successfully turn around on the first try. So that was a relief. After that first issue, we made it home with no further problems.
The new CHENG (cheif engineer), by the way, seems like a pretty nice guy. His wife will be following in a few weeks. It is his job to have a house for her and their cats by the time she arrives. They lived in Japan once before he joined up, but on a small island, and they weren't able to do much sight seeing, so he says she'll be up for wandering around with me, which makes me pretty happy. I'm going to miss having Mel around, though.
In other news, Zack's e-mails are pleasant again. He's making all kinds of connections at his current port call, apparently. Sounds like it will be good for his career, so that's always a plus. Also, when someone says, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity," it's true. I hadn't realized it until this week. It hasn't been crazy hot, but it's been humid, and let me tell you, it's not especially comfortable. I'm told the rainy season is right around the corner. Should be interesting...
There are about five ways to get to the airport from here. 1) take the Navy bus. It leaves exactly twice a day. The first one gets you to the airport too late to catch most of the morning flights out of here. The second time is mostly used for the return trip, which gets you back to Sasebo in the wee hours of the morning. Not convienent, but free, so worth using if you don't mind waiting. Any poor folks who have not-so-good sponsor end up taking this bus to Sasebo for the most part. Lucky for the new guy, Mel's nice. 2) Take the city bus. It leaves much more regularly and stops at the airport. Easy to do if you've been here awhile. MWR will set you up with reservations, then you just go to the station, present your ID, and pay. This is a good way to go for vacationing puproses, but it puts you on a schedule. 3) Take the train. This works essentially the same way as taking the bus. 4) Take the backroads. It's slow, and easy to get lost, but only costs you gas money and then you have a car. 5) Take the expressway. This means paying tolls. The tolls to Fukuoka and back, I'm told, cost about 80 bucks.
Mel's nice, but she's not spend-80-bucks-to-get-some-guy-from-the-airport nice. So we used a secret method. She rented a car. The car rental costs 45 bucks, but it comes with a nice stack of toll tickets. Instead of paying, you give the guy at the window a ticket (or drop it in a box for that purpose) and you get through. Therefore, when the Navy folks want to go to Fukuoka, they often just rent a car and go that way. It's cheaper. This method also has the advantage that if you get lost, you're not paying extra to turn around.
So Thursday afternoon, I came home from my last day (hopefully ever) as a 3rd/4th grade teacher, spent an hour on school work, then jumped in the car with Mel. We left early because we decided to go to Hard Rock while we were in Fukuoka. It would make the trip more fun. I had forgotten how loud Hard Rock was, and how much food is on the average plate there, but we enjoyed it. We arrived at the airport without incident, too, which is a minor success. The new guy's flight was delayed, so we then spent an hour walking off dinner because we had both eaten too much. We felt much better by the time he arrived.
With a new passenger and bags stowed safely away, we got back in the car to go to Sasebo... and got lost.
The problem here, for the record is not that the signs aren't in English. Most signs have some romanji on them, if only the city names. There are two things that make it easy to get lost around here:
1) Unless it is a major highway, none of the roads have names. This is not such a big deal if you're Japanese, because you can read everything which means that everything is a landmark. If you can't read it, though, your set of landmarks is reduced greatly. Therefore, for example, the directions to the airport tell you to follow the signs in (easy enough), and then just go straight down the road you came in on to get back to the highway. We did that, but we ended up on the highway in the wrong direction.
2) There is nothing on the highway signs to indicate north, south, east, or west. Instead, the roads are going "to Saga" or "to Imari" or to whatever city happens to be nearest in that direction. If you don't know which cities are in which directions (and you can't read the kanji on the map you bought to determine which are which way), you just have to remember which landmarks you saw on the way in, and if you don't see them, you need to turn around. Except turning around means getting off the highway and hoping there's an on ramp in the other direction. This is not always the case.
Thankfully, Mel and I knew immediately we were going the wrong way. The entrace we used didn't offer more than one option, so we went up an exit, and were able to successfully turn around on the first try. So that was a relief. After that first issue, we made it home with no further problems.
The new CHENG (cheif engineer), by the way, seems like a pretty nice guy. His wife will be following in a few weeks. It is his job to have a house for her and their cats by the time she arrives. They lived in Japan once before he joined up, but on a small island, and they weren't able to do much sight seeing, so he says she'll be up for wandering around with me, which makes me pretty happy. I'm going to miss having Mel around, though.
In other news, Zack's e-mails are pleasant again. He's making all kinds of connections at his current port call, apparently. Sounds like it will be good for his career, so that's always a plus. Also, when someone says, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity," it's true. I hadn't realized it until this week. It hasn't been crazy hot, but it's been humid, and let me tell you, it's not especially comfortable. I'm told the rainy season is right around the corner. Should be interesting...
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sunday's Adventures
Some of you may remember this picture:
From two summers ago when I went to China. For those of you who don't know the story, we crazy American English teachers decided to pay to dress up in Imperial clothing in a park in Beijing and take a few pictures. We had just gotten suited up when a tour group of retired Chinese people wandered by. They were so amused they all wanted in on the pictures. One minor stampede later, we had made their day.
After this experience, you would think I'd be a little wary of dressing up in the traditional clothing of another culture and wandering around, but I haven't quite learned my lesson yet. So when one of my friends, Debbie, told me she was getting a group together to go to a kimono festival with the intent of renting kimonos and walking around, I was totally in. As it turns out, so was everyone else.
Sunday morning, we had three rented vans full of no less than 9 crazy Navy wives, one crazy American-living-in-Japan couple who were just coming for the hiking in the area (and probably to laugh at us) 2 unhappy teenaged boys who were forced to come along because their mother didn't want them to be alone in the house all day and Dad was out to sea, 1 infant, and 1 poor husband who got roped into coming. Our three fearless leaders drove the two hours up to a little town beyond Fukuoka called Akiyuki (I think) where the festival was to take place.
Debbie warned us ahead of time that the festival would probably not be very big, and she was right. It turned out to be about ten stands selling obis and kimonos and a few miscelaneous trinkets. But we got a very pleasant surprise upon arrival. What Debbie had expected to be a kimono rental service (3000 yen to get the outfit for the day and someone to help you put it on), turned out to be a major kimono sale! For a little less than 30 bucks, you could get one kimono, one obi, one pair of shoes, and some Japanese women would help you put it all on.
For those of you who don't buy kimonos regularly, the whole outfit can cost upwards of thousands of dollars! So we all jumped at a ridiculously good deal. Within minutes, those of us with bodies likely to fit into a kimono were trying on the ones we liked from the available racks, getting an okay from a man who worked there who would check to make sure the thing would fit, then picking out an obi to match and a pair of shoes that might fit.
I'm really really glad I got pictures from this trip because I am confident that I will never be able to tie an obi, having seen it done up close and personal. I found a dark purple kimono with cranes all over it, and a lighter purple obi to match with mountains on it. My shoes didn't really fit, but they worked for the little bit of walking we did that day and I managed to come home without blisters.
The ladies who helped us dress were 80 and 76 years old according to themselves. Neither was much taller than my shoulder, and both were unbelievably strong. First, they'd wrap the kimono around and adjust the way it was arranged so it was the right length . Then they'd tie two ribbon-like strings around your waist as tight as they could without actually cutting off circulation. Of course, they didn't speak English, but they did try to communicate anyway, and "okay?" "Okay." is universal. Once the kimono was securely tied, ensuring perfect posture for the rest of the day, they'd go to work on the obi. I think every one of us had a different style of obi tying on us. Apparently, younger women get to wear more elaborate ties on the back. As you get older, you're supposed to wear a less complicated variety. So these poor Japanese women kind of guessed at our age and tied accordingly. All the results were gorgeous.
The hard part about my kimono was making the top stay together. It was a little long, and apparently fixing that made the top open up. I guess I'm too curvy to really fit into the style, but I had a shirt on underneath so it was okay. It just meant that, in addition to the funny looks we all got, occasionally a Japanese woman would approach me and start babbling in Japanese and pointing at my chest. Not exactly comfortable, but it was worth it for the experience.
Once we were all tied in, we went outside for a major photo shoot, and then explored the town. This place is called "little Kyoto" because it has a lane lined with cherry trees (and shops) like the Philosopher's Lane in Kyoto. It was too late for the blossoms to be out, but it was still pretty. We ate a lunch of udon and then spent about an hour wandering the shops and the stalls of the festival before piling back in the vans to return home... still wearing our kimonos of course.
Naturally, we had to stop at least once on the way home. Japanese highways have really great rest stops, by the way. In addition to restrooms that are usually pretty clean, they often have restaurants, outdoor food stalls, or may be a coffee shop. The rest stop we used on this trip was bustling with people, of course. The teenaged boys got out of the van, demanded money for snacks from their mother, then pretended not to know us as we wandered around getting our our snacks and using the restrooms.
We were quite a sight, I'm sure. Women wearing kimonos in Japan are not unusual, but usually they're doing so for a special occasion, so they have on the proper undergarments and socks and they're generally not American. So we got a few laughs and a lot of stares. Some of the women at the stop were brave enough to come up and tell us "kawaii" which means "cute" or "charming." But the best part happened just as we were all returning to the vans to go home.
Lana, one of the Navy wives, had been having trouble with her obi for awhile. Basically, it was coming loose and bits of the tying that weren't supposed to show were begining to sneak out. One of the Japanese women noticed this and ran up to us and began pointing frantically at the back of the obi. When it became clear that none of us 1) understood or 2) could do anything about it, she took it upon herself to make Lana presentable again. Right there in the middle of the parking lot. She put down her bag and began untying the knots until the obi was completely undone and poor Lana was just holding her kimono closed for dear life. Then, after a few failed attempts, she tied it all back together again in a more presentable manner. As she did this, she apparently tried to explain it to us in Japanese, but who knows what she said. We all commented that in the States it's rare to find a person who will tell you that your skirt is tucked into your pantyhose, much less someone who would take ten minutes to help you fix what to us seemed no more important than a tag sticking out. Therefore, aside from being amused, we were duly appreciative and thanked her profusely when she went on her merry way.
Back home, I had to take the kimono off right away to take care of Dory. I wasn't going anywhere near her dirty kennel with a kimono on. Taking it off made me realize again how tightly it had been tied. It really is a good corset. Anyway, the whole day was a lot of fun.
From two summers ago when I went to China. For those of you who don't know the story, we crazy American English teachers decided to pay to dress up in Imperial clothing in a park in Beijing and take a few pictures. We had just gotten suited up when a tour group of retired Chinese people wandered by. They were so amused they all wanted in on the pictures. One minor stampede later, we had made their day.
After this experience, you would think I'd be a little wary of dressing up in the traditional clothing of another culture and wandering around, but I haven't quite learned my lesson yet. So when one of my friends, Debbie, told me she was getting a group together to go to a kimono festival with the intent of renting kimonos and walking around, I was totally in. As it turns out, so was everyone else.
Sunday morning, we had three rented vans full of no less than 9 crazy Navy wives, one crazy American-living-in-Japan couple who were just coming for the hiking in the area (and probably to laugh at us) 2 unhappy teenaged boys who were forced to come along because their mother didn't want them to be alone in the house all day and Dad was out to sea, 1 infant, and 1 poor husband who got roped into coming. Our three fearless leaders drove the two hours up to a little town beyond Fukuoka called Akiyuki (I think) where the festival was to take place.
Debbie warned us ahead of time that the festival would probably not be very big, and she was right. It turned out to be about ten stands selling obis and kimonos and a few miscelaneous trinkets. But we got a very pleasant surprise upon arrival. What Debbie had expected to be a kimono rental service (3000 yen to get the outfit for the day and someone to help you put it on), turned out to be a major kimono sale! For a little less than 30 bucks, you could get one kimono, one obi, one pair of shoes, and some Japanese women would help you put it all on.
For those of you who don't buy kimonos regularly, the whole outfit can cost upwards of thousands of dollars! So we all jumped at a ridiculously good deal. Within minutes, those of us with bodies likely to fit into a kimono were trying on the ones we liked from the available racks, getting an okay from a man who worked there who would check to make sure the thing would fit, then picking out an obi to match and a pair of shoes that might fit.
I'm really really glad I got pictures from this trip because I am confident that I will never be able to tie an obi, having seen it done up close and personal. I found a dark purple kimono with cranes all over it, and a lighter purple obi to match with mountains on it. My shoes didn't really fit, but they worked for the little bit of walking we did that day and I managed to come home without blisters.
The ladies who helped us dress were 80 and 76 years old according to themselves. Neither was much taller than my shoulder, and both were unbelievably strong. First, they'd wrap the kimono around and adjust the way it was arranged so it was the right length . Then they'd tie two ribbon-like strings around your waist as tight as they could without actually cutting off circulation. Of course, they didn't speak English, but they did try to communicate anyway, and "okay?" "Okay." is universal. Once the kimono was securely tied, ensuring perfect posture for the rest of the day, they'd go to work on the obi. I think every one of us had a different style of obi tying on us. Apparently, younger women get to wear more elaborate ties on the back. As you get older, you're supposed to wear a less complicated variety. So these poor Japanese women kind of guessed at our age and tied accordingly. All the results were gorgeous.
The hard part about my kimono was making the top stay together. It was a little long, and apparently fixing that made the top open up. I guess I'm too curvy to really fit into the style, but I had a shirt on underneath so it was okay. It just meant that, in addition to the funny looks we all got, occasionally a Japanese woman would approach me and start babbling in Japanese and pointing at my chest. Not exactly comfortable, but it was worth it for the experience.
Once we were all tied in, we went outside for a major photo shoot, and then explored the town. This place is called "little Kyoto" because it has a lane lined with cherry trees (and shops) like the Philosopher's Lane in Kyoto. It was too late for the blossoms to be out, but it was still pretty. We ate a lunch of udon and then spent about an hour wandering the shops and the stalls of the festival before piling back in the vans to return home... still wearing our kimonos of course.
Naturally, we had to stop at least once on the way home. Japanese highways have really great rest stops, by the way. In addition to restrooms that are usually pretty clean, they often have restaurants, outdoor food stalls, or may be a coffee shop. The rest stop we used on this trip was bustling with people, of course. The teenaged boys got out of the van, demanded money for snacks from their mother, then pretended not to know us as we wandered around getting our our snacks and using the restrooms.
We were quite a sight, I'm sure. Women wearing kimonos in Japan are not unusual, but usually they're doing so for a special occasion, so they have on the proper undergarments and socks and they're generally not American. So we got a few laughs and a lot of stares. Some of the women at the stop were brave enough to come up and tell us "kawaii" which means "cute" or "charming." But the best part happened just as we were all returning to the vans to go home.
Lana, one of the Navy wives, had been having trouble with her obi for awhile. Basically, it was coming loose and bits of the tying that weren't supposed to show were begining to sneak out. One of the Japanese women noticed this and ran up to us and began pointing frantically at the back of the obi. When it became clear that none of us 1) understood or 2) could do anything about it, she took it upon herself to make Lana presentable again. Right there in the middle of the parking lot. She put down her bag and began untying the knots until the obi was completely undone and poor Lana was just holding her kimono closed for dear life. Then, after a few failed attempts, she tied it all back together again in a more presentable manner. As she did this, she apparently tried to explain it to us in Japanese, but who knows what she said. We all commented that in the States it's rare to find a person who will tell you that your skirt is tucked into your pantyhose, much less someone who would take ten minutes to help you fix what to us seemed no more important than a tag sticking out. Therefore, aside from being amused, we were duly appreciative and thanked her profusely when she went on her merry way.
Back home, I had to take the kimono off right away to take care of Dory. I wasn't going anywhere near her dirty kennel with a kimono on. Taking it off made me realize again how tightly it had been tied. It really is a good corset. Anyway, the whole day was a lot of fun.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Saturday's Adventure
At the beginning of May, Mel and I signed up for a whole slew of MWR trips that sounded vaguely exciting. We did this because we knew about half of them would be canceled for lack of people. Last Saturday, we went on one of those trips.
The trip was called "Kumagawa Boat Ride and Cave Trip" or something to that general effect. The night before the trip, I was looking over the itinerary for the first time in a serious sort of way to make sure I was bringing what was necessary and that I'd be to the bus on time. I noticed two things I hadn't caught before. The first was the advice "bring an extra change of clothes in case you get wet" the second was, next to the boat trip time "rapids cannot be guaranteed."
"Interesting," I thought, "I wonder what we got ourselves into here?"
So the day of the trip arrived and we made the four hour trip to Kumagawa. On the way up, we took a stretch of road that had tunnels after tunnels after tunnels, including one that was six km long. I don't know what Kuma means, but Gawa (or Kawa) is river. The river was lovely. The pictures of previous trips at the starting point for the trip were not-so-lovely. They showed a wooden boat full of people with one person on each end steering it through rapids on a river. The river looked like the kind you'd normally go down, after signing away your life, in a rubber raft with your own oar and wearing a swimsuit. Mel and I began to really wonder if we were up for this, but it was too late to turn back now.
The boats themselves were like enourmous canoes. They fit ten Americans and two Japanese folks into ours. Mel took pictures, so I'm hoping to be able to post some later. Before the ride started, we asked our MWR guide if there were rapids on this particular day. She said yes. We thought darn. Then she assured us that we were on the "Calm Course." That was actually reassuring.
In our boat, one guide stood at the front and basically did nothing for most of the trip. He had an oar, but I guess it was only for steering, and we didn't need it. The guy in the back, though, had a full body workout. He had one oar that was balanced on a peg in the back and he swayed it back and forth using his whole body to get it to go. A loudspeaker attached to the back of the boat spouted information in Japanese the whole way. There were a lot of numbers, but I have no idea what else. Occasionally, it would pump out an a capella song, and the two Japanese people in our boat sang along with many of these quietly to themselves, so I guess they must have been common songs, may be about the river?
The trip itself was not nearly as scary as the pictures. Most of the ride was calm and gentle, as promised. There were a few speedy, rapid-like places, but not many. So it was a lovely ride. At the end, there were more pictures, and some of them had the rubber rafts we're more used to, so may be some time if we're ambitious, Zack and I could go back and do some white water rafting there.
The cave part of the trip had it's own potential drama to offer, too. The outside of the entrance was painted with lots and lots of bats. Since bats aren't my favorite animals at the moment, I was not excited about that, either, but once inside, none were to be found. Our guide told me on the way out that normally there are lots, and she had no idea where they had gone. I guess they knew I was coming.
The cave itself was pretty big with a stream running through it. In places, it was actually raining inside. We took a path through it that had occasional signs, also all in Japanese, so it wasn't very educational, but pretty to look at. Again, hopefully Mel will send me her pictures.
Then it was back on the bus and home again and off to bed in preparation for Sunday...
It's been a busy week, so I'm trying to catch up as I have time. Sunday's adventures will be coming soon...
The trip was called "Kumagawa Boat Ride and Cave Trip" or something to that general effect. The night before the trip, I was looking over the itinerary for the first time in a serious sort of way to make sure I was bringing what was necessary and that I'd be to the bus on time. I noticed two things I hadn't caught before. The first was the advice "bring an extra change of clothes in case you get wet" the second was, next to the boat trip time "rapids cannot be guaranteed."
"Interesting," I thought, "I wonder what we got ourselves into here?"
So the day of the trip arrived and we made the four hour trip to Kumagawa. On the way up, we took a stretch of road that had tunnels after tunnels after tunnels, including one that was six km long. I don't know what Kuma means, but Gawa (or Kawa) is river. The river was lovely. The pictures of previous trips at the starting point for the trip were not-so-lovely. They showed a wooden boat full of people with one person on each end steering it through rapids on a river. The river looked like the kind you'd normally go down, after signing away your life, in a rubber raft with your own oar and wearing a swimsuit. Mel and I began to really wonder if we were up for this, but it was too late to turn back now.
The boats themselves were like enourmous canoes. They fit ten Americans and two Japanese folks into ours. Mel took pictures, so I'm hoping to be able to post some later. Before the ride started, we asked our MWR guide if there were rapids on this particular day. She said yes. We thought darn. Then she assured us that we were on the "Calm Course." That was actually reassuring.
In our boat, one guide stood at the front and basically did nothing for most of the trip. He had an oar, but I guess it was only for steering, and we didn't need it. The guy in the back, though, had a full body workout. He had one oar that was balanced on a peg in the back and he swayed it back and forth using his whole body to get it to go. A loudspeaker attached to the back of the boat spouted information in Japanese the whole way. There were a lot of numbers, but I have no idea what else. Occasionally, it would pump out an a capella song, and the two Japanese people in our boat sang along with many of these quietly to themselves, so I guess they must have been common songs, may be about the river?
The trip itself was not nearly as scary as the pictures. Most of the ride was calm and gentle, as promised. There were a few speedy, rapid-like places, but not many. So it was a lovely ride. At the end, there were more pictures, and some of them had the rubber rafts we're more used to, so may be some time if we're ambitious, Zack and I could go back and do some white water rafting there.
The cave part of the trip had it's own potential drama to offer, too. The outside of the entrance was painted with lots and lots of bats. Since bats aren't my favorite animals at the moment, I was not excited about that, either, but once inside, none were to be found. Our guide told me on the way out that normally there are lots, and she had no idea where they had gone. I guess they knew I was coming.
The cave itself was pretty big with a stream running through it. In places, it was actually raining inside. We took a path through it that had occasional signs, also all in Japanese, so it wasn't very educational, but pretty to look at. Again, hopefully Mel will send me her pictures.
Then it was back on the bus and home again and off to bed in preparation for Sunday...
It's been a busy week, so I'm trying to catch up as I have time. Sunday's adventures will be coming soon...
Friday, May 18, 2007
Normal Life
I saw my first Japanese speed trap today. It was on the road that I take to work, which is notorious for speeders. The speed limit is 50 kph, but I generally go 60 just to feel like I'm not being left in the dust. Even so, I rarely find anyone going nearly that slow. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see the cops there today.
The speed trap in question consisted of a single police man standing by the side of the road talking into his radio. May be fifty yards up the street was a pull off where two cop cars and a bunch more policemen waited attentively to pull out after any speeders the first guy reported... at least that's what I guess they were doing. Anyway, the cars in front of me had slowed down to the legal limit before I ever saw the cop, so we all passed safely through.
In other news, I got my first yen paycheck direct deposited to my Japanese account today. I feel so accomplished! To add to the sense of accomplishment, I went to the bank and withdrew some yen for my weekend activites. I had to actually go into the bank to do so, and a nice employee showed me how to fill out the form. May be next time I can do it myself... may be... I rewarded myself for this success by getting another matcha latte from the Starbucks. So it's been a good day...
Zack's little mini-vacation is over. They're leaving their current port and moving on. He's been playing soccer and golf with his shipmates and generally enjoying life, but now it's back to work. He's told me not to expect to hear from him for awhile. So that's the news.
The speed trap in question consisted of a single police man standing by the side of the road talking into his radio. May be fifty yards up the street was a pull off where two cop cars and a bunch more policemen waited attentively to pull out after any speeders the first guy reported... at least that's what I guess they were doing. Anyway, the cars in front of me had slowed down to the legal limit before I ever saw the cop, so we all passed safely through.
In other news, I got my first yen paycheck direct deposited to my Japanese account today. I feel so accomplished! To add to the sense of accomplishment, I went to the bank and withdrew some yen for my weekend activites. I had to actually go into the bank to do so, and a nice employee showed me how to fill out the form. May be next time I can do it myself... may be... I rewarded myself for this success by getting another matcha latte from the Starbucks. So it's been a good day...
Zack's little mini-vacation is over. They're leaving their current port and moving on. He's been playing soccer and golf with his shipmates and generally enjoying life, but now it's back to work. He's told me not to expect to hear from him for awhile. So that's the news.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Going Batty: Part II
Okay, so I posted that last thing about the bat, then I sat tight and did school work and played around on the computer for awhile. Around 9:30, the bat reappeared in the hallway. I grabbed my phone, my keys, and the number for animal control and bolted out the door.
Animal control, of course, was gone for the night. Their number forwarded me right back to security. I explained my situation. They took my information and said they'd call me back. If there's one thing I've learned here it's that security is not nearly as reliable as it sounds, so I called Mel, too.
Mel gamely welcomed me to her home if security failed to do anything. However, that would mean reentering the house to get at least something for my contacts. So I was hoping it wouldn't come to that.
I wandered back down to the store where I met my hero of earlier tonight. He wasn't there anymore, but I bought a bottle of tea and the Japanese version of a moon pie to settle my nerves, and because I figured the storekeeper deserved that much after my little scene earlier. Then I waited on my own front porch for about forty-five minutes. I could see the bat flying around through the glass doors on the patio everyone once in awhile. Finally, I lost patience and I called security again.
The person I spoke to this time had no idea who I was, so I gave her all my info again. She said she'd find out what was going on and call me back. :::sigh::: Okay, fine. So I stood and waited for another fifteen minutes. Then I decided to start being annoying.
I called security again. This time the person on the phone knew who I was, but told me she needed my number again and she'd call me back. I politely, but stubbornly, refused to get off the phone until she told me what the heck was going on there. She told me that they were trying to get ahold of my "housing director" in order to see what could be done. I said fine and hung up.
I had no idea who my housing director was, but I decided that if they needed clearance, I might be able to help. One advantage to not cleaning out my purse is that I still had the business card of my realitor/landlady in my purse. I called her. The lady who answered was not her, I don't think. At any rate, it took me a little while just to express who I was, and I don't think I ever quite got across what the problem was. She did get that there was somethign alive in my house that shouldn't be there, but she said they'd have to call a pest service tomorrow. Deflated, I hung up.
I had pretty much decided that I was on my own for the night. I also decided that meant I had to go back in the house. And If I was going back in the house, I was going to stay there, darn it. But I needed more nerve. So I called Mel and appraised her of the situation for a moral boost. Then Midori called.
Midori is my landlady. She's a sweet lady with a solid hold on a little English. She has just enough that between her English and my Japanese we can actually communicate. She had apparently gotten word from someone of my situation, and she told me she was on her way over. I almost cried I was so happy.
Midori arrived may be ten minutes later with plastic bags and gloves. I think she thought the animal in question was dead. I explained that that wasn't the case. She suggested opening doors and scaring it out. Of course, this meant finding it. So in we went. After hunting through the main rooms, I found the little bugger taking a nap on the A/C unit in the tatami room. We opened the sliding door in that room and were working on how to get the thing out when security FINALLY showed up, a solid two hours after I originally called them. I don't know who was happier: me or Midori.
There were three of them and I joyfully led them into the room where the bat was hiding. They closed themselves in with it and made sure the sliding door was open. One of them used one of my blankets (which I need to remember to wash) to actually pick up the little bat and basically toss him into the air outside. The rest of us were highly impressed. Security got some information from me and left.
Midori hung around to check up on me. She asked about the situation with the AC unit that had been fixed and about Dory. Midori likes Dory because their names are so similar. She was delighted to hear that it was Dory's birthday today, and she told me her birthday is coming up, also in May. I have half a mind to buy her a present. She sympathized with me being all alone here with a freaking bat, and now she has returned home. I'm impressed that she came out at 11:00 at night in the first place. She taught me a new Japanese word: koomori is bat. I'm going to remember that one.
I'm pretty sure I'm not going to sub tomorrow, even if they do call. I'm exhausted from all the evening's excitement. I'm going to bed.
Animal control, of course, was gone for the night. Their number forwarded me right back to security. I explained my situation. They took my information and said they'd call me back. If there's one thing I've learned here it's that security is not nearly as reliable as it sounds, so I called Mel, too.
Mel gamely welcomed me to her home if security failed to do anything. However, that would mean reentering the house to get at least something for my contacts. So I was hoping it wouldn't come to that.
I wandered back down to the store where I met my hero of earlier tonight. He wasn't there anymore, but I bought a bottle of tea and the Japanese version of a moon pie to settle my nerves, and because I figured the storekeeper deserved that much after my little scene earlier. Then I waited on my own front porch for about forty-five minutes. I could see the bat flying around through the glass doors on the patio everyone once in awhile. Finally, I lost patience and I called security again.
The person I spoke to this time had no idea who I was, so I gave her all my info again. She said she'd find out what was going on and call me back. :::sigh::: Okay, fine. So I stood and waited for another fifteen minutes. Then I decided to start being annoying.
I called security again. This time the person on the phone knew who I was, but told me she needed my number again and she'd call me back. I politely, but stubbornly, refused to get off the phone until she told me what the heck was going on there. She told me that they were trying to get ahold of my "housing director" in order to see what could be done. I said fine and hung up.
I had no idea who my housing director was, but I decided that if they needed clearance, I might be able to help. One advantage to not cleaning out my purse is that I still had the business card of my realitor/landlady in my purse. I called her. The lady who answered was not her, I don't think. At any rate, it took me a little while just to express who I was, and I don't think I ever quite got across what the problem was. She did get that there was somethign alive in my house that shouldn't be there, but she said they'd have to call a pest service tomorrow. Deflated, I hung up.
I had pretty much decided that I was on my own for the night. I also decided that meant I had to go back in the house. And If I was going back in the house, I was going to stay there, darn it. But I needed more nerve. So I called Mel and appraised her of the situation for a moral boost. Then Midori called.
Midori is my landlady. She's a sweet lady with a solid hold on a little English. She has just enough that between her English and my Japanese we can actually communicate. She had apparently gotten word from someone of my situation, and she told me she was on her way over. I almost cried I was so happy.
Midori arrived may be ten minutes later with plastic bags and gloves. I think she thought the animal in question was dead. I explained that that wasn't the case. She suggested opening doors and scaring it out. Of course, this meant finding it. So in we went. After hunting through the main rooms, I found the little bugger taking a nap on the A/C unit in the tatami room. We opened the sliding door in that room and were working on how to get the thing out when security FINALLY showed up, a solid two hours after I originally called them. I don't know who was happier: me or Midori.
There were three of them and I joyfully led them into the room where the bat was hiding. They closed themselves in with it and made sure the sliding door was open. One of them used one of my blankets (which I need to remember to wash) to actually pick up the little bat and basically toss him into the air outside. The rest of us were highly impressed. Security got some information from me and left.
Midori hung around to check up on me. She asked about the situation with the AC unit that had been fixed and about Dory. Midori likes Dory because their names are so similar. She was delighted to hear that it was Dory's birthday today, and she told me her birthday is coming up, also in May. I have half a mind to buy her a present. She sympathized with me being all alone here with a freaking bat, and now she has returned home. I'm impressed that she came out at 11:00 at night in the first place. She taught me a new Japanese word: koomori is bat. I'm going to remember that one.
I'm pretty sure I'm not going to sub tomorrow, even if they do call. I'm exhausted from all the evening's excitement. I'm going to bed.
My house is animal-friendly?
Okay, so I got home from my Japanese class tonight, plugged in my phone to charge in the kitchen, warmed up some dinner, and sat down to finish my grad school work for the day (three assignments due on the first day of class). I was mostly through eating when a bat (seriously, a little brown BAT) came racing into my kitching/living room from the shower area. Insert minor panic attack here. The bat was pretty freaked out, too.
My past experience with bats was just enough that I knew I didn't want to be in a room where one was flying frantically around at head level, so I ran into the hall (which makes little difference since it's wide open to the room) and finally retreated to the entry way. The problem was that now I had a bat in my house and no access to my phone, with which I might be able to call someone who 1) speaks English and 2) might be willing to come get the darn thing out. And of course, all I can think is "How did a BAT get into my house??? There's only one open window in the place, and it has a screen!!" This did not make the bat any less there. So I decided it was time to practice some Japanese. I grabbed my keys and my shoes and left.
I didn't think driving all the way to base was a good plan considering the state of things. I'd rather montior my situation and wait for help to arrive. So I was hoping the tako stand across the street from my place would be open and I could attempt to borrow a phone there and call security. (FYI: Tacos=yummy Mexcian food. Tako= octopus. Our stand is Tako, not Tacos.) They were closed, so I hurried up the street to the convenience store that was actually open. Inside were two men: the storekeeper and a customer.
Now, keep in mind that I'm a little freaked because I've just had a bat flying around my head. The rational part of my brain knows the words for phone, and even cell phone. It can also construct the sentence "Do you have a cell phone?" in Japanese on a good day. This was not a good day. So I began babbling at double speed in English. The poor storekeeper looked like I had lost my mind, which wasn't far from the truth. Finally, I managed to spit out phone, and the customer handed me his.
Success! A phone. I thanked the man profusely. Now I just needed to call security and I'd have someone who spoke the same language as me to come and help me with my bat situation. Of course, numbers are not my strong suit. Never have been, never will be. Under more normal circumstances, I could have remembered the number for security (it's 911 with a bunch of extra numbers on the front), but at this moment, I couldn't remember it. So I thanked the guy profusely and gave the phone back. The guy was no dummy, and noticed I hadn't made a call, so he stared at me like I was insane, too.
So I decided to go for pity. I managed to find the words for my house and bird in Japanese, and then I kind of babbled again, only with those mixed in. "Watashi no Uchi... um... there's a, well sort of a Tori um... in my house." And I pointed and flapped my arms. Heck, they already were certain I was nuts, why not go for broke? The two consulted and pointed in the same direction. I'm about the only white girl in a three block radius, so I'm sure they knew where I lived. Finally, the customer said, "Bird? In house?" And I nodded but said, "not bird, but bat." He had no idea what a bat was. So I tried to explain. I don't think I had any luck. But I did get some pity. The poor guy offered to come look for me. Turns out, he lives by the tako stand. He got a broom and a dust pan and followed me to my house.
The bat was gone. I proceeded to panic a little more. Where did it go? Was it going to jump out at me later tonight? Was it (insert psycho music here) in my bedroom??? My new hero (sorry Rob) handled it very calmly. He wandered around my whole house whistling for the "not a bird" and looking in every nook and cranny. When we couldn't find it, I shrugged and thanked him another hundred times. I also grabbed my phone and moved it into arms reach, along with the number for security. My hero told me he lived across the way and indicated that I could come by if it came back, prompting more thanking.
When he was gone, I called security. They were mildly annoyed, but helpful. They gave me the number to call if the bat comes back and assured me that Japanese bats only eat fruit and bugs, not people. I was more worried about getting rabies from one, but I suppose it was a nice thought. So now I'm sitting here with the phone and my new number within arms reach ready to bolt at the slightest movement. Geckos, I can handle. Roaches, I'll kill on my own, fine. But bats? This is ridiculous.
And I still don't know how it got in...
My past experience with bats was just enough that I knew I didn't want to be in a room where one was flying frantically around at head level, so I ran into the hall (which makes little difference since it's wide open to the room) and finally retreated to the entry way. The problem was that now I had a bat in my house and no access to my phone, with which I might be able to call someone who 1) speaks English and 2) might be willing to come get the darn thing out. And of course, all I can think is "How did a BAT get into my house??? There's only one open window in the place, and it has a screen!!" This did not make the bat any less there. So I decided it was time to practice some Japanese. I grabbed my keys and my shoes and left.
I didn't think driving all the way to base was a good plan considering the state of things. I'd rather montior my situation and wait for help to arrive. So I was hoping the tako stand across the street from my place would be open and I could attempt to borrow a phone there and call security. (FYI: Tacos=yummy Mexcian food. Tako= octopus. Our stand is Tako, not Tacos.) They were closed, so I hurried up the street to the convenience store that was actually open. Inside were two men: the storekeeper and a customer.
Now, keep in mind that I'm a little freaked because I've just had a bat flying around my head. The rational part of my brain knows the words for phone, and even cell phone. It can also construct the sentence "Do you have a cell phone?" in Japanese on a good day. This was not a good day. So I began babbling at double speed in English. The poor storekeeper looked like I had lost my mind, which wasn't far from the truth. Finally, I managed to spit out phone, and the customer handed me his.
Success! A phone. I thanked the man profusely. Now I just needed to call security and I'd have someone who spoke the same language as me to come and help me with my bat situation. Of course, numbers are not my strong suit. Never have been, never will be. Under more normal circumstances, I could have remembered the number for security (it's 911 with a bunch of extra numbers on the front), but at this moment, I couldn't remember it. So I thanked the guy profusely and gave the phone back. The guy was no dummy, and noticed I hadn't made a call, so he stared at me like I was insane, too.
So I decided to go for pity. I managed to find the words for my house and bird in Japanese, and then I kind of babbled again, only with those mixed in. "Watashi no Uchi... um... there's a, well sort of a Tori um... in my house." And I pointed and flapped my arms. Heck, they already were certain I was nuts, why not go for broke? The two consulted and pointed in the same direction. I'm about the only white girl in a three block radius, so I'm sure they knew where I lived. Finally, the customer said, "Bird? In house?" And I nodded but said, "not bird, but bat." He had no idea what a bat was. So I tried to explain. I don't think I had any luck. But I did get some pity. The poor guy offered to come look for me. Turns out, he lives by the tako stand. He got a broom and a dust pan and followed me to my house.
The bat was gone. I proceeded to panic a little more. Where did it go? Was it going to jump out at me later tonight? Was it (insert psycho music here) in my bedroom??? My new hero (sorry Rob) handled it very calmly. He wandered around my whole house whistling for the "not a bird" and looking in every nook and cranny. When we couldn't find it, I shrugged and thanked him another hundred times. I also grabbed my phone and moved it into arms reach, along with the number for security. My hero told me he lived across the way and indicated that I could come by if it came back, prompting more thanking.
When he was gone, I called security. They were mildly annoyed, but helpful. They gave me the number to call if the bat comes back and assured me that Japanese bats only eat fruit and bugs, not people. I was more worried about getting rabies from one, but I suppose it was a nice thought. So now I'm sitting here with the phone and my new number within arms reach ready to bolt at the slightest movement. Geckos, I can handle. Roaches, I'll kill on my own, fine. But bats? This is ridiculous.
And I still don't know how it got in...
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Venice of Japan
Things have not slowed down here over the weekend. Saturday, the junior college where I work hosted an American Style barbecue in Nimitz park for the English students and any English-speaking friends we teachers wanted to invite. The kids got to try hamburgers, hotdogs, a wide variety of chips, and Dr Pepper and practice their English. I got free food and a chance to meet some more English speaking potential friends. It was good fun for everyone.
Sunday, Mel and I took another MWR tour, this time to Yanagawa, the Venice of Japan. This town used to be home to a castle. Like most old castles around here, it burned down a long time ago. (I guess that's the disadvantage of building primarily out of wood.) The moat, however, still remains, and it attaches out to a river and a few other canals. In the last century or so, someone got the idea of taking tourists punting on the moats. The idea took off, and now it's the primary reason people come to the town. This experience was similar to punting on the Cam in England, but with an Asian flare, of course. We were offered the conical Asian straw hats to rent out for the trip, so most of us were wearing those. We were required to take our shoes off before entering the boat since the floor of the boat was covered in tatami mats (minus the under padding) and was where we all sat. Instead of a regular wooden pole, our driver used a bamboo pole. He was an older man, and I don't know how he managed to push all of us Americans for the next hour without falling over from exhaustion. He did it though, and he sang and told us about the canals, some of which are over 400 years old, while he did it. Quite impressive.
After the boat ride, our tour guide took us to a traditional Japanese garden, which was lovely, but crowded. Then we went to a "Western Style house" from the early 1900's that's been made into a museum. The interesting part about that was that it was also made from wood, where as most museum houses I've been to in the States are brick. Also, it was attached to a more Japanese style house, which is apparently the trend around here. If you want a western house, you attach it to your Japanese one. Also, we were required to take off our shoes before we went in there, too. They provided plastic bags for us to carry our shoes around in, and that way we had them when we left. There was also a museum which displayed dolls from hundreds of years ago that were used in the Girl's Day celebrations back then.
When we had finished looking around in these places, the bus took us to a shrine dedicated to "love affairs," meaning all things related to romance. I got a refresher course in Shrine ettiquette, and we got to laugh while some of the single people on the trip checked on their fortunes. Good times.
We got home after 8:00 (we think we got lost on the way home), and I've spent all day today working on my research proposal. It's finally in and submitted so that's a big weight off my shoulders, and tomorrow I start a class that is completely unrelated, so I get a break from worrying about it.
I also recently discovered the hole in my wall through which Mushu the gecko and a bunch of nasty bugs since then have been entering my house to torment me. There was a screw loose in the pipe that connects one of my AC units to its thingy outside (I'm so technical). The screw was stripped, so I couldn't just fix it myself. So today I managed to pass this information on to my landlord, who sent someone out to fix it. Now there's no way anything's getting in there. I just hope I didn't trap too many bugs in the unit. If so, I guess I'm in for an interesting evening when they come out. All the same, I'm proud that I managed it despite the language barrier, and impressed with the quick response.
Zack is still doing well based on his e-mails, though the stress level is rising again.
And tomorrow is Dory's birthday!
Sunday, Mel and I took another MWR tour, this time to Yanagawa, the Venice of Japan. This town used to be home to a castle. Like most old castles around here, it burned down a long time ago. (I guess that's the disadvantage of building primarily out of wood.) The moat, however, still remains, and it attaches out to a river and a few other canals. In the last century or so, someone got the idea of taking tourists punting on the moats. The idea took off, and now it's the primary reason people come to the town. This experience was similar to punting on the Cam in England, but with an Asian flare, of course. We were offered the conical Asian straw hats to rent out for the trip, so most of us were wearing those. We were required to take our shoes off before entering the boat since the floor of the boat was covered in tatami mats (minus the under padding) and was where we all sat. Instead of a regular wooden pole, our driver used a bamboo pole. He was an older man, and I don't know how he managed to push all of us Americans for the next hour without falling over from exhaustion. He did it though, and he sang and told us about the canals, some of which are over 400 years old, while he did it. Quite impressive.
After the boat ride, our tour guide took us to a traditional Japanese garden, which was lovely, but crowded. Then we went to a "Western Style house" from the early 1900's that's been made into a museum. The interesting part about that was that it was also made from wood, where as most museum houses I've been to in the States are brick. Also, it was attached to a more Japanese style house, which is apparently the trend around here. If you want a western house, you attach it to your Japanese one. Also, we were required to take off our shoes before we went in there, too. They provided plastic bags for us to carry our shoes around in, and that way we had them when we left. There was also a museum which displayed dolls from hundreds of years ago that were used in the Girl's Day celebrations back then.
When we had finished looking around in these places, the bus took us to a shrine dedicated to "love affairs," meaning all things related to romance. I got a refresher course in Shrine ettiquette, and we got to laugh while some of the single people on the trip checked on their fortunes. Good times.
We got home after 8:00 (we think we got lost on the way home), and I've spent all day today working on my research proposal. It's finally in and submitted so that's a big weight off my shoulders, and tomorrow I start a class that is completely unrelated, so I get a break from worrying about it.
I also recently discovered the hole in my wall through which Mushu the gecko and a bunch of nasty bugs since then have been entering my house to torment me. There was a screw loose in the pipe that connects one of my AC units to its thingy outside (I'm so technical). The screw was stripped, so I couldn't just fix it myself. So today I managed to pass this information on to my landlord, who sent someone out to fix it. Now there's no way anything's getting in there. I just hope I didn't trap too many bugs in the unit. If so, I guess I'm in for an interesting evening when they come out. All the same, I'm proud that I managed it despite the language barrier, and impressed with the quick response.
Zack is still doing well based on his e-mails, though the stress level is rising again.
And tomorrow is Dory's birthday!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
International Lady's Club
It's been a busy week. Monday and Tuesday, I was subbing in the kindergarten class. I now have a new, six-year-old, boyfriend who thinks it's important to hug me every thirty seconds and won't leave the classroom without holding my hand. How sweet? Anyway, two days in a row with thirty-five small children left me happy to sleep in on Wednesday. Then today I had and ILC luncheon.
ILC stands for International Lady's Club. The last luncheon was on base with an American Easter theme. This time, the Japanese hosted, and we met in a conference room on the top floor of a department store. (Department stores here often have resteraunts and nicer rooms on the top floors.) The entertainment for the day was traditional Japanese dancing and obi tying. I so so so neeeeeed a camera. There were two middle-school aged girls from base who had learned the traditional dancing with the fans and everything, and then a group of women who devote some of their time to encouraging "wearing kimonos in casual settings." Part of doing this is apparently performing dances in traditional style that show women how to tie their obi's. They performed three today. The music for the first two was traditional sounding Japanese stuff. One showed the basic way to tie the kimono that I've seen around here before. The next was a slightly more elaborate version. The third, though, was the really cool one. They performed to the song "Pretty Woman" (no, really, they did) and the result was a flower shaped knot in the back of their kimonos. Super cool, and highly entertaining. It was hysterical to see these very traditional Japanese women swaying in a very traditional way to such a non-traditional song. The good news is, when they were done I realized I'd seen these women before. They were at the Girl's Day celebration on base. So I DO have a picture of them, though not during performance, unfortuantely. Here they are with their flower knots back in March:
ILC stands for International Lady's Club. The last luncheon was on base with an American Easter theme. This time, the Japanese hosted, and we met in a conference room on the top floor of a department store. (Department stores here often have resteraunts and nicer rooms on the top floors.) The entertainment for the day was traditional Japanese dancing and obi tying. I so so so neeeeeed a camera. There were two middle-school aged girls from base who had learned the traditional dancing with the fans and everything, and then a group of women who devote some of their time to encouraging "wearing kimonos in casual settings." Part of doing this is apparently performing dances in traditional style that show women how to tie their obi's. They performed three today. The music for the first two was traditional sounding Japanese stuff. One showed the basic way to tie the kimono that I've seen around here before. The next was a slightly more elaborate version. The third, though, was the really cool one. They performed to the song "Pretty Woman" (no, really, they did) and the result was a flower shaped knot in the back of their kimonos. Super cool, and highly entertaining. It was hysterical to see these very traditional Japanese women swaying in a very traditional way to such a non-traditional song. The good news is, when they were done I realized I'd seen these women before. They were at the Girl's Day celebration on base. So I DO have a picture of them, though not during performance, unfortuantely. Here they are with their flower knots back in March:
Pretty cool, huh? And they can make it look like that while dancing. We all agreed that we'd have fallen over about twenty times and ended up with a knotted mess. It turns out that if you're dressing yourself, you do all the elaborate stuff up front then turn it around and tighten it when you're done. That makes it slightly more understandable, but it's still pretty amazing. Also, I won a door prize! I am now the proud owner of some Japanese refrigerator magnets. They're really quite cute.
The word from Zack is very possitive lately. He's done some really amazing things for his ship, apparently, but he won't tell me about them because he wants to tell me the whole story in person. So I have to wait for a looooong time to hear what on Earth he's so excited about. He also has had time to go out for beer at their current location with some friends, so I'm feeling much less sorry for him working so hard and much more jealous that he gets to see such cool places now. May be it's time for me to venture beyond this island... We'll see...
Sunday, May 6, 2007
China/Pottery in Arita
This week has been fairly slow due to everything being canceled for Golden Week. I subbed on Wednesday for the kindergarten class on base. It has thirty-four students! Thankfully, it also has two TA's, so my job was again to be an extra pair of eyes, and in that class, they were really needed. Whew! The best part of that day was that on Wednesdays, the class has yoga because one of the instructors on base also happens to be the mother of a student in that class. It was absolutely adorable to watch a group of six year olds pull off their shoes and socks and sit down on the gym floor criss-cross-applesauce and close their eyes to get ready to start. Good stuff.
To complete our Golden Week Celebration, Mel and I went with the MWR tour to Arita for the china sale there. Arita is easy driving distance, but we thought taking the bus would be easier. I think we were right based one what I saw of parking when we arrived. The hard part was getting up at 5:45 to be on base by 7:00 to catch the bus. I don't think Mom would ever have imagined that I'd get up at 5:45 to go shopping, but this was actually worth it.
I thought the sale at Hasami was big until I saw the one at Arita. Theirs covers both sides of a street. It took us 2 hours to walk from one end to the other just looking in the stalls in one side! And that's not looking at every little thing (that would have taken all week), that's just stopping when something caught our eyes. It was enormous!
Despite the sheer volume of stuff, we managed to come home with money still in our pockets. I bought my tea pot for my set, though! Also I got a sake jar, so now that set has begun. We also learned that at this sale, we could bargain. Usually, this meant asking the price, then asking for a discount. From there it was usually just rattling numbers back and forth until you reached an agreement, but one guy spoke enough English to tell us a lovely story about the bowl Mel wanted to buy. It was a shade of blue that no one else had, and he told us that it was his only color of glaze and he had invented it himself. It was made from copper apparently, and very hard to make, so he couldn't give her the discount... at least until she raised her offer a little. Great story, though, especially because it was clearly true.
Walking through the crowds, Mel and I noticed a few things that were interesting other than the pottery. First of all, the majority of the Japanese shoppers were families. In the States, we realized, a place like that would be filled with women who had conviently left their hubbies home with the kids. Here, it was a family event. The dads didn't even spend the whole time rolling their eyes and checking their watches. And the kids were very well behaved. I can't imagine bringing a four year old to a street full of breakables, but these families had everyone in tow, and the kids were not screaming or running away or touching everything. I was impressed.
I was also impressed by the fact that everyone arrived back at the bus on time. Most tours, there's someone who is perpetually fifteen minutes late and we all wait. The bus actually pulled out of the lot at Arita a few minutes ahead of schedule with everyone on board. Odd...
Anyway, from Arita, our driver took us to China on the Park, which was another sale. After Arita, it was downright disappointing as far as shopping goes, especially since people on base had been talking about it and sounded enthusiastic. There just wasn't much there. But there was a stall that was called "Dog Land" where you could get your dog's paw prints on a plate. I'm totally taking Dory next year when she's out of the clink. Cracked me up. There was also a traditional drum group who performed while we were there. They were probably middle schoolers, but very good, and we were amazed that they could memorize their long routines. They played about three pieces, then we headed home. We got back to base around 3:00. It was quite a day.
In other news, other than a jelly fish sting, Zack's doing well. The sting must not have been too serious because he only mentioned it in passing. Beyond that, he had little to say that wasn't the same as before: he's working working working. The e-mails are short, but it's good to know he's still functioning.
So life goes on, and next week the pace should pick back up again.
To complete our Golden Week Celebration, Mel and I went with the MWR tour to Arita for the china sale there. Arita is easy driving distance, but we thought taking the bus would be easier. I think we were right based one what I saw of parking when we arrived. The hard part was getting up at 5:45 to be on base by 7:00 to catch the bus. I don't think Mom would ever have imagined that I'd get up at 5:45 to go shopping, but this was actually worth it.
I thought the sale at Hasami was big until I saw the one at Arita. Theirs covers both sides of a street. It took us 2 hours to walk from one end to the other just looking in the stalls in one side! And that's not looking at every little thing (that would have taken all week), that's just stopping when something caught our eyes. It was enormous!
Despite the sheer volume of stuff, we managed to come home with money still in our pockets. I bought my tea pot for my set, though! Also I got a sake jar, so now that set has begun. We also learned that at this sale, we could bargain. Usually, this meant asking the price, then asking for a discount. From there it was usually just rattling numbers back and forth until you reached an agreement, but one guy spoke enough English to tell us a lovely story about the bowl Mel wanted to buy. It was a shade of blue that no one else had, and he told us that it was his only color of glaze and he had invented it himself. It was made from copper apparently, and very hard to make, so he couldn't give her the discount... at least until she raised her offer a little. Great story, though, especially because it was clearly true.
Walking through the crowds, Mel and I noticed a few things that were interesting other than the pottery. First of all, the majority of the Japanese shoppers were families. In the States, we realized, a place like that would be filled with women who had conviently left their hubbies home with the kids. Here, it was a family event. The dads didn't even spend the whole time rolling their eyes and checking their watches. And the kids were very well behaved. I can't imagine bringing a four year old to a street full of breakables, but these families had everyone in tow, and the kids were not screaming or running away or touching everything. I was impressed.
I was also impressed by the fact that everyone arrived back at the bus on time. Most tours, there's someone who is perpetually fifteen minutes late and we all wait. The bus actually pulled out of the lot at Arita a few minutes ahead of schedule with everyone on board. Odd...
Anyway, from Arita, our driver took us to China on the Park, which was another sale. After Arita, it was downright disappointing as far as shopping goes, especially since people on base had been talking about it and sounded enthusiastic. There just wasn't much there. But there was a stall that was called "Dog Land" where you could get your dog's paw prints on a plate. I'm totally taking Dory next year when she's out of the clink. Cracked me up. There was also a traditional drum group who performed while we were there. They were probably middle schoolers, but very good, and we were amazed that they could memorize their long routines. They played about three pieces, then we headed home. We got back to base around 3:00. It was quite a day.
In other news, other than a jelly fish sting, Zack's doing well. The sting must not have been too serious because he only mentioned it in passing. Beyond that, he had little to say that wasn't the same as before: he's working working working. The e-mails are short, but it's good to know he's still functioning.
So life goes on, and next week the pace should pick back up again.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Golden Week
This week is what the Japanese call Golden Week. It's called this because it contains a series of holidays one right after the other. My handy list of Japanese Holidays tells me that April 30th is "Green Day," May 3rd is Constitution Day, May 4th is "National Holiday," and May 5th is Children's Day. I have no idea what Green Day is (other than a good band), I guess Constitution Day is something like July 4th for us, I'm thinking May 4th is just off because it falls so neatly between two other holidays. That, or it's another Independence Day type holiday? Children's Day is also called Boy's Day, and all I know about it so far is that people hang up wind socks in the shape of koi, which are supposed to represent strength in their children. They're all over, in parks, on houses, and so on, and they're pretty.
Anyway, because of all the holidays in Golden Week, most people take the whole week off. The Junior College where I work, for example, has no classes all week. My Japanese class and one of my yoga classes are also canceled. The Americans don't celebrate by taking time off, but the Navy wives do enjoy the incredible sales that go on while all the Japanese are off work. And it was in that spirit that Mel and I took a trip today to Hasami for the pottery sale there.
Because Mel is leaving soon, and because I need to not be such a baby about the roads here, I volunteered to drive this time, and Mel played navigator. She left her car on base in hopes that someone might buy it. The drive was really not bad at all, and it helped me to be reminded that driving distances here is really no different from the states other than the side of the road you're on. We didn't even have trouble finding parking upon arrival: everyone with a lot was willing to let you park as long as you paid.
The pottery sale itself was pretty amazing. They had filled a whole park with tents and filled the tents with stalls selling any type of china or pottery you could possibly desire. The prices ranged from the 50 yen baskets at the front of stalls to tens of thousands of yen for some of the more expensive pieces (in dollars that's 50 cents to 100's of dollars, give or take). And it was all beautiful. The first round of exploring was sensory overload there was so much. If you wanted pottery, you could find exactly what you wanted here.
I came to the sale mostly to look, but I did have a few purchases in mind for my stay here in Japan. First, I knew that I wanted to buy a tea set at some point. Second, I have interest in a sake set. I could easily have gotten fifty of each at this place, so I found myself agonizing. How on Earth could I pick one set when they do this once a year and there are sales all over the island. If I wasn't careful, I was going to end up bringing home a million tea sets before my trip was over!
So I came up with a new plan: instead of buying a set, I'd buy one piece everytime I went someplace cool. If I stick with a basic color theme and cup shape and size, the result will be a set that doesn't all have the same pattern, but is much more fun. That way I'd enjoy the buying more and I'd have more memories from the result. So today, I bought a tea cup to start my set. It's blue mostly, with a flowery pattern on it. I figure it's a good start. The hard part will be buying the tea pot, but I've got time... I also got a pretty serving bowl, since I actually kind of need one and it was a good price.
We ate lunch at the sale from the booths that were set up. One booth was selling what looked to be whole squid on a stick, but I stuck to pork and beef on a stick. Mel was more adventurous and went with tako balls (octopus in breading with vegetables or something mixed in). For dessert, we got crepes with whipped creme, chocolate and fruit inside. Quite yummy. Beyond that, there was ice cream, candy apples, corn on the cob, and snow cones, so some things are the same everywhere.
We came home around mid-afternoon, loaded down with our purchases. It had been cloudy all day, and the sky burst open conviently about the time I finished walking Dory. So I came home to do school work and got a note from Zack. He's busy, and tired, but life is good. He doesn't tell me much, but I suppose there's little to tell when you're on a ship in the middle of an ocean somewhere. So that suits me just fine.
Dinner time...
Anyway, because of all the holidays in Golden Week, most people take the whole week off. The Junior College where I work, for example, has no classes all week. My Japanese class and one of my yoga classes are also canceled. The Americans don't celebrate by taking time off, but the Navy wives do enjoy the incredible sales that go on while all the Japanese are off work. And it was in that spirit that Mel and I took a trip today to Hasami for the pottery sale there.
Because Mel is leaving soon, and because I need to not be such a baby about the roads here, I volunteered to drive this time, and Mel played navigator. She left her car on base in hopes that someone might buy it. The drive was really not bad at all, and it helped me to be reminded that driving distances here is really no different from the states other than the side of the road you're on. We didn't even have trouble finding parking upon arrival: everyone with a lot was willing to let you park as long as you paid.
The pottery sale itself was pretty amazing. They had filled a whole park with tents and filled the tents with stalls selling any type of china or pottery you could possibly desire. The prices ranged from the 50 yen baskets at the front of stalls to tens of thousands of yen for some of the more expensive pieces (in dollars that's 50 cents to 100's of dollars, give or take). And it was all beautiful. The first round of exploring was sensory overload there was so much. If you wanted pottery, you could find exactly what you wanted here.
I came to the sale mostly to look, but I did have a few purchases in mind for my stay here in Japan. First, I knew that I wanted to buy a tea set at some point. Second, I have interest in a sake set. I could easily have gotten fifty of each at this place, so I found myself agonizing. How on Earth could I pick one set when they do this once a year and there are sales all over the island. If I wasn't careful, I was going to end up bringing home a million tea sets before my trip was over!
So I came up with a new plan: instead of buying a set, I'd buy one piece everytime I went someplace cool. If I stick with a basic color theme and cup shape and size, the result will be a set that doesn't all have the same pattern, but is much more fun. That way I'd enjoy the buying more and I'd have more memories from the result. So today, I bought a tea cup to start my set. It's blue mostly, with a flowery pattern on it. I figure it's a good start. The hard part will be buying the tea pot, but I've got time... I also got a pretty serving bowl, since I actually kind of need one and it was a good price.
We ate lunch at the sale from the booths that were set up. One booth was selling what looked to be whole squid on a stick, but I stuck to pork and beef on a stick. Mel was more adventurous and went with tako balls (octopus in breading with vegetables or something mixed in). For dessert, we got crepes with whipped creme, chocolate and fruit inside. Quite yummy. Beyond that, there was ice cream, candy apples, corn on the cob, and snow cones, so some things are the same everywhere.
We came home around mid-afternoon, loaded down with our purchases. It had been cloudy all day, and the sky burst open conviently about the time I finished walking Dory. So I came home to do school work and got a note from Zack. He's busy, and tired, but life is good. He doesn't tell me much, but I suppose there's little to tell when you're on a ship in the middle of an ocean somewhere. So that suits me just fine.
Dinner time...
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