Hello,
This week has been really busy -- I've pretty much finished my self-introduction lessons and planning new lessons has taken a lot of time and energy. Now that I'm in the swing of things, I teach more frequently. Monday, Wednesdays and Friday's I teach 4-5 classes at Nanbu (my base school). Tuesday mornings I teach two classes at Oizumi and then two more at elementary school (Shimizumachi or Nishidenjigata). And Thursdays I have 4 classes at Oizumi. Teaching is fun. The planning is interesting and it's nice to sit and work with a cup of coffee, but being in the classroom is the best part of this job. The students behavior in the classroom is similar to in an American JH, I think... a few sleep, a few will never pay attention, a few have all the answers, etc. Some classes are better behaved, more shy, more obnoxious, etc., than other. The students are much less show-off-y, though. It can be hard to get them to participate, and they are very shy in the classroom. The students are amazingly disciplined in school functions, though. At assemblies, students sit silently on the gym floor in perfect rows. I couldn't imagine a few hundred American JH students listening to the principle talk for 15 minutes... Same thing today -- it's the Toyama city-wide sports day, where 6th and 7th graders have club sports tournaments at various schools and 8th graders take exams. The city-wide Batminton tournament is at Nanbu, and there are several hundred JH boys behaving perfectly in the gymnasium. When they're not playing, they're watching other teams. It's very strange that they can have this huge event and it's no big deal to pull off -- no extra supervision, etc.
I'm not sure if I already mentioned this, but the students here have one homeroom class and never leave that room (except for gym, etc.). There are 10 minutes in between classes so the teachers have enough time to go back to the teachers' room and have a cup of coffee. Then, when the bell rings, the teachers get up from their desks and make their way to the classrooms. Very strange.
I had a pretty crazy day yesterday -- Wednesday I was really busy planning lessons, teaching 5 classes, eating lunch with students, studying Japanese, and having a private Japanese lesson, and then more lesson planning. When I finally got to bed, I was so stressed that I couldn't sleep most of the night. Thursday morning I showed up at school, fully planning to utilize my 1st and second free periods to finish preparing for 3rd/4th period classes -- actually type the handouts, make photocopies, etc. I was exhausted, but thought that 2 planning periods and plenty of coffee would help me. The bell for first period rang, and the 1st year teacher came to me and reminded me we were teaching together today. "5th and 6th period, right?" Was my reply. "Yes, 5th and 6th period. Let's go now." "Uh... after lunch, right?" "No, today it is 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, lunch, 2nd, 1st" "What!!!!" So I stumbled to class, without my stickers or stamps or photocopies, and the teacher went back to the teachers room for a few things while I was left unprepared with a room full of 1st years who spoke absolutely no English. It turned out fine. Then, in the 10 minutes between 1st and 2nd periods, I frantically came up with a new lesson plan for 2nd years, since the one I had planned needed at least 30 minutes to gather the materials... it was a little crazy, and I was especially cranky after not having slept the night before.
I talked with one of the teachers and she agreed to tell me next time they decide to change the schedule (before the class begins!)
Well, that's all for now. I'm going back to Toga this weekend for a JET welcome party. It should be fun. I'm working on a video right now to send home, my apartment, Toyama, etc. So, if you're lucky enough to see my parents, you might be able to see it. I've also bought a plane ticket home for x-mas. Travelling crossed my mind, but I probably would have gone alone rather than my other options, and there's no place like home for the holidays...
Sarah
Thursday, September 26, 2002
Monday, September 23
I’m currently driving back from Taki-cho (village) in Shimane-ken (prefecture). We left Friday around 6:30 in the evening. Friday was a long day—home from work around 5, then had to get the rental car, pack, etc. We thought it would be around a 6-hour drive to Shimane, but actually arrived after 3am, quite delirious. There were no problems or hold-ups, just a long drive and a tiny engine. We got the cheapest rental car, a Toyota Platz, which has 4 doors and plenty of headroom, a small trunk and a tiny bit of leg room for back seat passengers.
Now in the car we’re having a discussion about defining ‘classic rock’, and how we define it. Victoria is constantly surprised/annoyed/amused at how Brian and I seem to rank, classify, and categorize everything… It must be an American trait, or possibly because Brian and I are particularly anal.
So, our drive Friday was fun, I drove the first and third shifts, which was the majority of the driving, and Brian drove the middle shift. By the time we were in Shimane, we were all incredibly delirious, but it was a fun caffeinated, loud music sort of delirious. Night driving in Japan is very exciting – there was a lot of road construction on the small highways in Shimane, and road construction involves hundreds of flashing colored lights, cones, trucks, signs, mechanical men waving their arms (the first one we saw had Victoria and I screaming hysterically – we didn’t realize it was a dummy from a distance), and also a ton of construction workers in full suits waving light sabers. Very entertaining.
Saturday we spent the afternoon at the beach. Paul (Brian’s younger brother – my age—also a first year JET) lives in a gigantic house overlooking his tiny town and the ocean. It was gorgeous, and the beach was wonderful. Perfect sized waves, the water was warm, but not too warm, the sand was pretty, the air was nice. We spent a lot of time in the water. That evening we went to a JET dinner in a nearby city. The JET situation in Shimane is a lot different than the situation in Toyama… There weren’t as many JETs, and there were more families and married couples (although there are quite a few couples in Toyama). We were sitting with a Japanese family at dinner, and the 9year old daughter and I got along quite well. The girls taught Victoria and I Japanese hand-clap games, and we drew pictures, etc. It was really fun. Yesterday was low-key—we visited the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, which was neat, but I don’t know too much about Shinto-ism yet, so I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I could have…
Anyways, it’s a beautiful day, it’s fun to be typing on my computer in the car, but I’m getting a little car sick.
----------------------------------------------------
Here's a compilation of my past group e-mails. I've edited out the personal information (but not the typos!). Please contact me through e-mail or telepathy if you want to get in touch.
--------------------------------------------------
Sat, 3 Aug 2002 00:40:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Hello, I’m going to Japan…
Body:
... in less than 12 hours!
As some (hopefully most) of you know, I'm going to Japan for at least a year to assistant teach
English at two public junior high schools in Toyama City, Toyama, Japan. Toyama is 3 hours west
of Tokyo (by train) on the coast of the sea of Japan, and is a nice-sized city of about 330,000
people. I will be able to bike to the beach for an afternoon, or take a train 1/2 hour to the
surrounding mountains for hiking or skiing.
Tomorrow I'm flying to Tokyo for several days of orientation, then I'm flying to Toyama. I have
an appartment all set up for me in Toyama (on the 6th floor!) and I hear it's across the street
from a health club with a pool, so I'm very excited.
My contact info:
Sarah Broshar
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Toyama-shi, Toyama 930-0010
JAPAN
I'll be e-mailing the developments of my journey, so please stay tuned and keep in touch!
Sarah
Tue, 6 Aug 2002 03:42:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Japan
Body:
things i love;
the sky pool at the hotel
kareoke bars
bowing
japanese kids
things that confuse me;
toilets
bowing
shoes
japanese keyboards
things i don`t like;
jet lag
so many elevator rides
the humidity
staying in the hotel for 2 days straight.
i`m going to toyama tomorrow.
more news later,
sarah
Thu, 8 Aug 2002 19:49:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: News from Toyama
Body:
hello all,
so this will be a real letter because i`m effectively over my jet lag and relatively settled.
Japan is crazy! Everyone here speaks a different lauguage! And I can more or less get by, which
is really fun.
My apartment is great, the biggest and nicest of my apartment building. It is really small at
first, but I`ll get used to living in a compact space. Basic layout: walk in, there`s a little
stoop where you take off your shoes, a washing machine, and a toilet room, all about 6 foot square
maybe. Then you cross in through a door and into the kitchen, which is much better than what I
was expecting: I have two burners, a really nice large sink and counter thing that`s all metal,
nice just because it`s so big. There`s a tiny fridge which is fine, because the APA giant
shopping center, with both a grocery store and a natural foods store is right across the street.
Also a rice cooker, squre fairly large toaster oven. Across is the bathtub/sink, and the shower
is the entire room. Then the main room has my bed, built in cabinets, two bookshelves and a stero
cabinet w/tv--that`s about 12` long and 10` wide maybe. Actually more long than it is wide. Then
a cool Japanese sliding screen door, wood with translucent squares, into a 6 tatami room, with a
low table and a japanese style couch on the floor. Then out two sliding glass doors to a small
porch with a table, a plant, and a wonderful view of the city and the mountains, which look very
close (I`m on the 6th floor so I have a great view).
The first night I went to a festival in a nearby town on the ocean - the tatemon festival. It was
so cool! There were about 8 sailboat-floats... This will be kind of hard to explain... The
floats are made of wood and are shaped like sailboats with sails made of lanterns - 60 meters
high, and then long swaying things haning from the top, with lights. They weigh over 100 tons,
and require 100 strong young people dressed in traditional happi to pull them through the streets
-- no wheels, just a wooden type sled. I got to pull one a little bit! Then the men hold on the
ropes from the top of the sails and everyone pushes it around in a circle, and the guys swing out
and int he air ont he ropes. Lots of people were there, and it was fun. And I got a free
t-shirt!
Yesterday I went to school for a couple hours. No one who was there spoke English, so I got to
speak a lot of broken Japanese, but it was fun and I think they appreciated the effort (most of
the teachers are on vacation - the english teacher won:t be back till the 20th!)
Last night we went to a yakitori place with a bunch of area ALTs. there must be around 30 of us
in toyama city, and there are over 10 in my aparmtent building.
this morning was a brief contract-signing ceremony with the superintendant of schools, then me and
this other girl didn:t have to go back to work so we:re exploring toyama a bit.
anyways, it:s really fun, really beautiful and interesting, and i think will be a little
challenging...
for a short list*
things i:ve liked the past few days;
- in order to get an automatic car wash the car is parked and the building moves!
- japanese communication
- how everything here is clean and bright
things that confuse me+
- riding a bike
- getting around toyama (it:s been difficult to get hands on a map)
things i don:t like+
i thought i had mice in my apartment -- the bottom of one of my cubbards had wires and plastic
chewed through, and fuzzy nests, then i learned my predecessor had had a gerbil but it got lost
and escaped.
next week i have a three day conference, and the last day am climbing mount tateyama, the 2nd
highest mountain in japan and only an hour or so away (in our prefecture!) two days later i:m
climbing mount fuji! i:m also driving to mount fuji, which is going to be a scary experience
itself.
i promise to try to improve my japanese keyboard skills soon, but until then thank:s for bearing
with me.
Sarah
Wed, 14 Aug 2002 17:37:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: New contact info
Body:
Hello everyone,
I got a new fancy Japanese cell phone with e-mail and everything...
Here`s the number:
From the US - 011 81 xxxxxxxxxx
From Japan - xxxxxxxxxxx
And if you want me to read an urgent brief e-mail or feel like I need to see a low-rez JPEG
picture asap, you can e-mail my phone at xxxxxxxx
I might go to Kanazawa today, a nearby city, for exploring. Also, am still planning to do Mount
Fuji this weekend, and I`m officially driving. I`m joining the health club accross the street,
which has really nice facilities, including saunas, massage, baths, nice pool, etc. I think it
will come in very handy after climbing Mount Fuji.
One of the teachers took me to a flower design class the other day -- really georgeous exotic
flowers in a really cool design -- there might be pictures to come. Otherwise, things have been
nice but low key... It`s been really hot and sunny but then will rain for an hour or so each day
-- the rain makes the humidity worse.
I`m over my jet lag and waking up at 6am has once again become extremely difficult, but it`s nice
going to school and talking with the teachers.
Take care,
Sarah
Sun, 18 Aug 2002 19:35:05 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: mount fuji h.e.l.l. ...........
Body:
Hello all,
My Mt. Fuji trip was a little bit of a nightmare, but at times was pretty cool...
I won`t go into details of the drive over, but just say that the 6-hour trip took 12 hours... My
legs of the driving went smoothly -- driving in Japan on the wrong side of the road is fun!
So we got a late start climbing the mountain-- we started at 10pm, only 2 hours behind schedule.
The mountain was really neat -- actually it`s a volcano... we could see the city lights way below
and pretty mist and a few trees. The climbing was definetly tough -- it varied between steep
dirt/rock slope at a zig zag and large rocks you had to use hands and knees and feet to get up. I
thought the slope parts were harder because it was tough to keep up the energy for every step --
plus it was easy to trip or twist in the uneven surface. The large rocks were more fun and
climbing them was more like a monkey game than work. At various points there were stations where
we could use a toilet (a hole in the ground) or buy a drink or food. We started climbing in a big
group, and Victoria (England) and Brian (North Carolina) and I had plans to stick together the
whole time. After a while, though, Brian and I were climbing at a pretty fast pace so we got
ahead of everyone else.
What I wore: it was dark, obviously, so I had bought a headlamp the day before which came in very
very handy. Sometimes it was better to climb in the dark, though, because the beam of light
became mezmorizing. At the same hiking store the day before Victoria and I bought matching pants
that were also very nice -- we zipped off the legs and wore shorts in the car when it was hot, and
also they were waterproof and lightweight. I switched between a tank top, t-shirt, windsurfing
long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, cotton long sleeved shirt, and a raincoat, all in various
combinations. I carried my backpack with snacks and water and money and bandaids and talc powder
and other toilettries. I also wore 2 layers of sock and talced my feet because I had some pretty
serious blisters from a few days before. Luckily blisters were no problem! I also wore my
glasses, and then took them off and wore nothing when it started raining.
Anyways, to get to the only really interesting part of the story:
After a few hours it started raining, misting, which was expected. But the rain got really really
bad, and it got really really cold and windy. The higher we got, the worse it got. Which to
Brian made sense, but I for some reason thought it would clear up at the top. Plus, you had to
pay for shelter at the various stations up the mountain, so I kept pushing us to keep climbing.
We were wet to the bone, our bags and everything soaked through, and freezing... At the last
station before the top we met 2 other Americans - non jets - and joined forces since we`d seemed
to lost all traces of the other 28 members of our group. We thought the top was only 30 min.
away, but the last leg was the worst part of the climb... There was a really slow-moving line,
and the wind was really strong and dangerous, the rain was torrential, and feet hand and legs were
completely numb. For a while we sang songs to take our mind off, but it didn`t last long. We
couldn`t see the top of the mountain, just that the line kept zigging and never seemed to end.
The fact that it was moving slowly was fine, taking one step and then waiting was all we could
physically manage. We didn`t know what to expect at the top -- only a weather tower was maked on
the map, but we thought that even the shelter of the other climbers hudled together would be
better than being on the side of the mountain. At this point I was shocked that so many people
climbed mt. fuji and lived to tell...
We were at the point of collapsing when we made it to the top at 3:15 -- luckily there was a hut
and we waited with a crowd until it opened at 3:30. We found another jet friend who`d gotten lost
from her other friends, and we were all in pretty rough shape. When the hut opened, we quickly
got a seat near a little coal thing, and took off our shoes and tried to get warm. Ate ramen and
hot tea, and tried to get strenght to eventually go down. We were worried that we were going to
get kicked out to make room for the next group of freezing climbers, but that never happened...
shortly after we left the last station they closed the trail to the top of the mountain because it
was too dangerous -- we had been climbing through a typhoon.
Eventually, the sun rose, but I only ran out of the hut for a second to glance at the red sliver
in the sky (you couldn`t actually see the sun because of the storm). Quickly ran back in...
Brian was having stomach problems and eventually threw up, so we had the excuse to wait for a few
hours for him to recover and the weather to die down before we climbed down. We also found one
other JET girl who had made it to the top and was in the other room from us. The climb down was
really difficult but because at this point it wasn`t raining, we were very happy and loopy. I
even had enough fake energy at the bottom 1.8 km to race on of the other americans we were with --
we both actually ran about half of it and I won because his flashlight dropped and broke near the
end... Got to the bottom at 9am.
The drive home was okay... I got 20 min. of rest in the car before my shift to drive... Got home
at 8pm and immedietly went to bed.
Will have pictures eventually -- I`ve finished 2 rolls now!
Take care,
Sarah
Wed, 21 Aug 2002 01:51:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: food, daily life, etc.
Body:
Hello,
Amy asked me about food, so I thought I would be intrusive and e-mail everyone about it...
First of all, I eat far more donoughts than ever before... Mr. Donuts is the cool hang-out place
in downtown Toyama, free coffee refills, hang out there for hours, and the donoughts are pretty
good. All of the breads here are really sweet and sugary or buttery, but I did find one loaf of
whole wheat bread at the `supa` (grocery). ((it`s time for me to start injecting nihongo words
into these e-mails, sorry!))
For breakfast-
I didn`t eat as much breakfast in the US, but it`s essential here because I get up at 6:30 every
morning... I`m always starving by noon, so i have to have something pretty substantial. So
usually cereal or toast and nashi, or apple pear if i have one. maybe a banana. sometime pb\j.
Lunch -- usually eaten out, usually cheap japanese food. yesterday i had a bento at the city hall
cafeteria during a conference-- it had a lot of assorted foods, rice, fishes, beens, vegetables,
miso soup, etc. I`ve liked almost everything I`ve tried so far. Sometimes I`ll have a sandwich
from a conbini - convenience store - or sushi or whatever. i`ll eat school lunches when that
comes around.
Dinner -- I`ve been a lot more inspired to cook. Last week I cooked for about 12 people, which is
quite a feat in my tiny apartment... I made a vinegared rice thing with shrimp and shitake
mushrooms and lotus root and a ton of tempura. very dangerous! the other night i experimented
with grated daikon (like a 3-foot carrot-shaped raddish) and tomatoes and vinegar/oil for a really
good salad. So I`ve liked cooking japanese foods and might take a cooking class to get me
familiar with more ingredients/techniques, etc. Eating out is either cheap japanese noodles,
bentos, sometimes italian food, once we tried a restaurant which seemed french themed, but the
food was definetly strange japanese. There`s a pizza delivery place in the first floor of my
apartment building which I`ve tried once and loved -- totally unexpected. there are only 2
safe/normal pizzas on the menu -- pepperoni/mushroom/onion or chicken/bacon/mushroom/onion/herb
stuff. i had the second. the rest have mayonaise on them, and fishes, corn, tuna, etc.
The coffee here is at times surprisingly good. A little more expensive for cappucinos, lattes,
and the cafes aren`t for take-out.
I`ve had fast food once or twice -- today we were in a rush and mcdonald`s was the only option.
the mcdonald`s here is much better than the us -- really really hot and more fresh. but i`ve only
tried a hamburger, not chicken salad or anything. and mos burger has a wierd taco thing on indian
bread which was edible and kind of good.
The only food I miss from home is wine. It`s really expensive to buy wine here, except for the
really sweet plum wine. So I mostly drink beer, which is very unvarried and unoriginal. But the
cans are bigger...
Good cheese is also harder to come by -- I had a creamy camabert (sp?) that was okay, but most
everything here is processed.
There are 3 foreign foods stores in Toyama that stock things like chocolate, pasta products, wine,
teddy grahams, etc., but these are pretty expensive.
So, I think I`ve been keeping pretty healthy -- when I first got here I lost a bit of weight
because of culture shock/not eating enough, etc., but then had another wave where I ate tons of
oreos/chips/soda/junk food. now am back to normal eating, i think all this mountain climbing and
biking inspires me to keep a fairly healthy diet.
I have no handle on how much things cost here. the fruit tends to be more expensive... eating
out is between 4 and 9 dollars for lunch or dinner -- pretty cheap! groceries are a bit
expensive, though... maybe close to 50 dollars for the big dinner i prepared.
i think all the vending machines suck up my money the most -- 100-150 yen for soda, coffee, tea
(hot or cold!). the soda`s are usually limited to coke and grape fanta, and the machines are
mostly coffee/tea.
alright, i think that covers it.
Sarah
Wed, 21 Aug 2002 01:56:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: quick shot of my apartment
Body:
(taken with my cell phone so it`s bad)
Wed, 28 Aug 2002 01:06:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: finally some pictures
Body:
I'll try not to flood your inboxes, but I've composited a few pics together courtesy of Brian's
digital camera...
Last Thursday I climbed Mt. Tateyama, which was a lot of fun. A tough climb -- lots of loose
rocks, large rocks, and really steep, but it was brief (only 2 hours) and we had perfect weather.
I went to a shinto shrine at the top of the mountain, but I don't think those pic's are in this
collection.
This weekend, had a great weekend, and saw a lot of Toyama prefecture... Went to Tonami Friday
night, but missed a connecting train so had dinner in Takaoka on the way. Tonami was really
fun--about 40 jets got together and drank a lot and did kareoke--which is soooo fun over here.
Then Saturday we went to Toga, a tiny village in the mountains, at least an hour away from any
substantial civilazation, to go to a theater festival (that we got free tickets to!) The next
morning we did the fish festival described in the photo and visited a meditation center (no pics,
sorry). It was wonderful and gorgeous, and I can't wait for snow so I can go snowboarding in
these beautiful mountains!
Sorry my English is so poor--I'm brain-dead from being at the office all day (it's 5pm, what am I
still doing here? I could have left hours ago!) Plus whatever brain I have left is in Japanese
mode...
Now how about you send me pictures of you???
Sarah
Wed, 11 Sep 2002 22:19:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: School and social
Body:
((!!Warning, the contents of this e-mail are extremely long!! May need to be read in several
sittings!!)
Hello! How are you? (I am fine, thank you, and you?) I am very good! My name is Sarah! What
is your name?! (takemmmmm summmmmm.) Nice to meet you! (shake hands) (...nice to meet you, too)
The job is monotonous in the sense that I'm doing the same self-introduction lessons for 18
different junior high classes, but it's fun because of their different personalities and ability
levels. And it's neat to single people out. I make everyone ask me a simple question i've
printed out and illustrated, such as "Do you like Japanese food?" or "Who do you like better, Brad
Pitt or Tom Cruise?" (definetly not Tom Cruise). So far it's going pretty well. There was an
awkward moment in a class today when I was encouraging a girl to tell me her name... "What is your
name? My name is Sarah, what is your name...?..." until the teacher finally told me this student
can't speak... ah, okay. The students are most interested in my dog, Chelsea (kawaii! or cute!),
my age (now 22!), and whether or not I have a boyfriend.
So backtracking, since it's been a while since I've written...
School started! 2 weeks ago, I gave several speeches in Japanese then English to my two junior
high schools. Last Monday morning I cycled to school in my suit, in spite of the 99 degree
weather, and spoke in front of the entire school. When I got to school, I was walking around,
talking with teachers and students, and sat down to feel an unusual amount of legs touching the
chair. I felt, and had ripped my suit skirt all the way up the seam in the back while riding my
bike. Ahh! I told the vice principle, and one of the english teachers gave me a pair of pants to
wear while the Office Lady (that's both her title and job description...) mended the skirt before
the ceremony.
Speaking in front of several hundred kids in Japanese really wasn't as scarry as it sounds... I
can't explain why it's easy, it just is. They're interested in who you are, what you look like,
what you have to say, so you give them your best Japanese and have fun with the fact that they
can't understand you're English.
After a similar ceremony (wearing pants) at my second school on Tuesday, I had to visit an
elementary school for my first day of teaching, plus a 15 minute speech about myself and interests
in Japanese, to the entire school... It was pretty fun. No one at this particular school speaks
any English, so most of my lessons that day involved a bit of Japanese...
Last weekend was sports day -- a really difficult concept to explain. Let's see. The entire
school is organized into 3 or 4 teams, depending on the size of the schools. I was on the byakko
team, or white tigers, at both schools. These teams make up traditional cheers (cheerleading) and
spend hours every day at school during summer vacation perfecting their routines. On sports day,
the teams compete in running, relays, and other silly events. My favorite is kibasen, where a boy
is hoisted on the shoulders of 3 others, and a bunch of these groups run around in a circle and
the boys on top have to take each others headbands. Very violent and exciting.
My elementary school visit this past Tuesday was really fun -- the elementary kids are really
energetic and they have an amazing ability for vocab. I pulled out a flashcard and they all yell
"Giraffe!" ... What? I wish my junior high kids would do that, let alone be able to pronounce
the word 'giraffe'.
So, typical school day: Wake up between 6 and 6:30. shower, watch news or listen to music, bike
to school (20-30 minutes, depending on school). Arrive at school between 8 and 8:30. Then
there's 4 periods, lunch, and 2 periods. My schedule changes daily. Yesterday I was scheduled to
teach periods 1-5, but I luckily got #4 off -- it was exhausting! Today I only taught 3rd and
4th. So now, after lunch, I'm sitting and writing you this e-mail! I probably should be planning
a lesson or something, but it's okay.
I get along with everyone at the offices. There are three english teachers at my base school, and
my supervisor speaks very very good english, so that is nice. the english teacher at the smaller
school is very odd. she doesn't get along with anyone in the office, and she's very blunt,
abrupt, and rude. but i get along with her fine. i don't team teach with her since she's the
only english teacher and has 6 different classes... she's very busy, even too busy to tell me
when and what i'm teaching. the other teachers at this school are very nice and welcoming,
although they don't speak english. it is a little difficult team teaching with a non-english
speaker since i don't want to use any japanese in the classroom, and often she can't translate
what i'm saying, so the students miss out on somethings...
after both sports days, there were office parties, or enkai. (my writing is getting worse and
worse!) these were at banquet rooms at nice hotels, and there was a lot of really really good
japanese food and alcohol. I love Japanese dining--it is perfectly suited to my eating habits.
They serve you a ton of different little tiny things so I can try everything! For instance, at
one enkai there was a seafood pasta, beef/vegetable type stew thing, smoked salmon, cheese, fish,
egg, japanese pickles for the first course. other courses included meet, sushi, sashimi, soups,
noodle dishes, just pieces of fish, chicken, or meet, salads, random little cups filled with sea
urchin, crab, whatever, fruit seed type things for desert, etc. plus beer, wine, whiskey, tea,
orange juice, etc. kind of ridiculous, but really fun!
Part 2 to come in a minute, i need to stretch.
sarah
I’m currently driving back from Taki-cho (village) in Shimane-ken (prefecture). We left Friday around 6:30 in the evening. Friday was a long day—home from work around 5, then had to get the rental car, pack, etc. We thought it would be around a 6-hour drive to Shimane, but actually arrived after 3am, quite delirious. There were no problems or hold-ups, just a long drive and a tiny engine. We got the cheapest rental car, a Toyota Platz, which has 4 doors and plenty of headroom, a small trunk and a tiny bit of leg room for back seat passengers.
Now in the car we’re having a discussion about defining ‘classic rock’, and how we define it. Victoria is constantly surprised/annoyed/amused at how Brian and I seem to rank, classify, and categorize everything… It must be an American trait, or possibly because Brian and I are particularly anal.
So, our drive Friday was fun, I drove the first and third shifts, which was the majority of the driving, and Brian drove the middle shift. By the time we were in Shimane, we were all incredibly delirious, but it was a fun caffeinated, loud music sort of delirious. Night driving in Japan is very exciting – there was a lot of road construction on the small highways in Shimane, and road construction involves hundreds of flashing colored lights, cones, trucks, signs, mechanical men waving their arms (the first one we saw had Victoria and I screaming hysterically – we didn’t realize it was a dummy from a distance), and also a ton of construction workers in full suits waving light sabers. Very entertaining.
Saturday we spent the afternoon at the beach. Paul (Brian’s younger brother – my age—also a first year JET) lives in a gigantic house overlooking his tiny town and the ocean. It was gorgeous, and the beach was wonderful. Perfect sized waves, the water was warm, but not too warm, the sand was pretty, the air was nice. We spent a lot of time in the water. That evening we went to a JET dinner in a nearby city. The JET situation in Shimane is a lot different than the situation in Toyama… There weren’t as many JETs, and there were more families and married couples (although there are quite a few couples in Toyama). We were sitting with a Japanese family at dinner, and the 9year old daughter and I got along quite well. The girls taught Victoria and I Japanese hand-clap games, and we drew pictures, etc. It was really fun. Yesterday was low-key—we visited the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, which was neat, but I don’t know too much about Shinto-ism yet, so I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I could have…
Anyways, it’s a beautiful day, it’s fun to be typing on my computer in the car, but I’m getting a little car sick.
----------------------------------------------------
Here's a compilation of my past group e-mails. I've edited out the personal information (but not the typos!). Please contact me through e-mail or telepathy if you want to get in touch.
--------------------------------------------------
Sat, 3 Aug 2002 00:40:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Hello, I’m going to Japan…
Body:
... in less than 12 hours!
As some (hopefully most) of you know, I'm going to Japan for at least a year to assistant teach
English at two public junior high schools in Toyama City, Toyama, Japan. Toyama is 3 hours west
of Tokyo (by train) on the coast of the sea of Japan, and is a nice-sized city of about 330,000
people. I will be able to bike to the beach for an afternoon, or take a train 1/2 hour to the
surrounding mountains for hiking or skiing.
Tomorrow I'm flying to Tokyo for several days of orientation, then I'm flying to Toyama. I have
an appartment all set up for me in Toyama (on the 6th floor!) and I hear it's across the street
from a health club with a pool, so I'm very excited.
My contact info:
Sarah Broshar
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Toyama-shi, Toyama 930-0010
JAPAN
I'll be e-mailing the developments of my journey, so please stay tuned and keep in touch!
Sarah
Tue, 6 Aug 2002 03:42:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Japan
Body:
things i love;
the sky pool at the hotel
kareoke bars
bowing
japanese kids
things that confuse me;
toilets
bowing
shoes
japanese keyboards
things i don`t like;
jet lag
so many elevator rides
the humidity
staying in the hotel for 2 days straight.
i`m going to toyama tomorrow.
more news later,
sarah
Thu, 8 Aug 2002 19:49:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: News from Toyama
Body:
hello all,
so this will be a real letter because i`m effectively over my jet lag and relatively settled.
Japan is crazy! Everyone here speaks a different lauguage! And I can more or less get by, which
is really fun.
My apartment is great, the biggest and nicest of my apartment building. It is really small at
first, but I`ll get used to living in a compact space. Basic layout: walk in, there`s a little
stoop where you take off your shoes, a washing machine, and a toilet room, all about 6 foot square
maybe. Then you cross in through a door and into the kitchen, which is much better than what I
was expecting: I have two burners, a really nice large sink and counter thing that`s all metal,
nice just because it`s so big. There`s a tiny fridge which is fine, because the APA giant
shopping center, with both a grocery store and a natural foods store is right across the street.
Also a rice cooker, squre fairly large toaster oven. Across is the bathtub/sink, and the shower
is the entire room. Then the main room has my bed, built in cabinets, two bookshelves and a stero
cabinet w/tv--that`s about 12` long and 10` wide maybe. Actually more long than it is wide. Then
a cool Japanese sliding screen door, wood with translucent squares, into a 6 tatami room, with a
low table and a japanese style couch on the floor. Then out two sliding glass doors to a small
porch with a table, a plant, and a wonderful view of the city and the mountains, which look very
close (I`m on the 6th floor so I have a great view).
The first night I went to a festival in a nearby town on the ocean - the tatemon festival. It was
so cool! There were about 8 sailboat-floats... This will be kind of hard to explain... The
floats are made of wood and are shaped like sailboats with sails made of lanterns - 60 meters
high, and then long swaying things haning from the top, with lights. They weigh over 100 tons,
and require 100 strong young people dressed in traditional happi to pull them through the streets
-- no wheels, just a wooden type sled. I got to pull one a little bit! Then the men hold on the
ropes from the top of the sails and everyone pushes it around in a circle, and the guys swing out
and int he air ont he ropes. Lots of people were there, and it was fun. And I got a free
t-shirt!
Yesterday I went to school for a couple hours. No one who was there spoke English, so I got to
speak a lot of broken Japanese, but it was fun and I think they appreciated the effort (most of
the teachers are on vacation - the english teacher won:t be back till the 20th!)
Last night we went to a yakitori place with a bunch of area ALTs. there must be around 30 of us
in toyama city, and there are over 10 in my aparmtent building.
this morning was a brief contract-signing ceremony with the superintendant of schools, then me and
this other girl didn:t have to go back to work so we:re exploring toyama a bit.
anyways, it:s really fun, really beautiful and interesting, and i think will be a little
challenging...
for a short list*
things i:ve liked the past few days;
- in order to get an automatic car wash the car is parked and the building moves!
- japanese communication
- how everything here is clean and bright
things that confuse me+
- riding a bike
- getting around toyama (it:s been difficult to get hands on a map)
things i don:t like+
i thought i had mice in my apartment -- the bottom of one of my cubbards had wires and plastic
chewed through, and fuzzy nests, then i learned my predecessor had had a gerbil but it got lost
and escaped.
next week i have a three day conference, and the last day am climbing mount tateyama, the 2nd
highest mountain in japan and only an hour or so away (in our prefecture!) two days later i:m
climbing mount fuji! i:m also driving to mount fuji, which is going to be a scary experience
itself.
i promise to try to improve my japanese keyboard skills soon, but until then thank:s for bearing
with me.
Sarah
Wed, 14 Aug 2002 17:37:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: New contact info
Body:
Hello everyone,
I got a new fancy Japanese cell phone with e-mail and everything...
Here`s the number:
From the US - 011 81 xxxxxxxxxx
From Japan - xxxxxxxxxxx
And if you want me to read an urgent brief e-mail or feel like I need to see a low-rez JPEG
picture asap, you can e-mail my phone at xxxxxxxx
I might go to Kanazawa today, a nearby city, for exploring. Also, am still planning to do Mount
Fuji this weekend, and I`m officially driving. I`m joining the health club accross the street,
which has really nice facilities, including saunas, massage, baths, nice pool, etc. I think it
will come in very handy after climbing Mount Fuji.
One of the teachers took me to a flower design class the other day -- really georgeous exotic
flowers in a really cool design -- there might be pictures to come. Otherwise, things have been
nice but low key... It`s been really hot and sunny but then will rain for an hour or so each day
-- the rain makes the humidity worse.
I`m over my jet lag and waking up at 6am has once again become extremely difficult, but it`s nice
going to school and talking with the teachers.
Take care,
Sarah
Sun, 18 Aug 2002 19:35:05 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: mount fuji h.e.l.l. ...........
Body:
Hello all,
My Mt. Fuji trip was a little bit of a nightmare, but at times was pretty cool...
I won`t go into details of the drive over, but just say that the 6-hour trip took 12 hours... My
legs of the driving went smoothly -- driving in Japan on the wrong side of the road is fun!
So we got a late start climbing the mountain-- we started at 10pm, only 2 hours behind schedule.
The mountain was really neat -- actually it`s a volcano... we could see the city lights way below
and pretty mist and a few trees. The climbing was definetly tough -- it varied between steep
dirt/rock slope at a zig zag and large rocks you had to use hands and knees and feet to get up. I
thought the slope parts were harder because it was tough to keep up the energy for every step --
plus it was easy to trip or twist in the uneven surface. The large rocks were more fun and
climbing them was more like a monkey game than work. At various points there were stations where
we could use a toilet (a hole in the ground) or buy a drink or food. We started climbing in a big
group, and Victoria (England) and Brian (North Carolina) and I had plans to stick together the
whole time. After a while, though, Brian and I were climbing at a pretty fast pace so we got
ahead of everyone else.
What I wore: it was dark, obviously, so I had bought a headlamp the day before which came in very
very handy. Sometimes it was better to climb in the dark, though, because the beam of light
became mezmorizing. At the same hiking store the day before Victoria and I bought matching pants
that were also very nice -- we zipped off the legs and wore shorts in the car when it was hot, and
also they were waterproof and lightweight. I switched between a tank top, t-shirt, windsurfing
long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, cotton long sleeved shirt, and a raincoat, all in various
combinations. I carried my backpack with snacks and water and money and bandaids and talc powder
and other toilettries. I also wore 2 layers of sock and talced my feet because I had some pretty
serious blisters from a few days before. Luckily blisters were no problem! I also wore my
glasses, and then took them off and wore nothing when it started raining.
Anyways, to get to the only really interesting part of the story:
After a few hours it started raining, misting, which was expected. But the rain got really really
bad, and it got really really cold and windy. The higher we got, the worse it got. Which to
Brian made sense, but I for some reason thought it would clear up at the top. Plus, you had to
pay for shelter at the various stations up the mountain, so I kept pushing us to keep climbing.
We were wet to the bone, our bags and everything soaked through, and freezing... At the last
station before the top we met 2 other Americans - non jets - and joined forces since we`d seemed
to lost all traces of the other 28 members of our group. We thought the top was only 30 min.
away, but the last leg was the worst part of the climb... There was a really slow-moving line,
and the wind was really strong and dangerous, the rain was torrential, and feet hand and legs were
completely numb. For a while we sang songs to take our mind off, but it didn`t last long. We
couldn`t see the top of the mountain, just that the line kept zigging and never seemed to end.
The fact that it was moving slowly was fine, taking one step and then waiting was all we could
physically manage. We didn`t know what to expect at the top -- only a weather tower was maked on
the map, but we thought that even the shelter of the other climbers hudled together would be
better than being on the side of the mountain. At this point I was shocked that so many people
climbed mt. fuji and lived to tell...
We were at the point of collapsing when we made it to the top at 3:15 -- luckily there was a hut
and we waited with a crowd until it opened at 3:30. We found another jet friend who`d gotten lost
from her other friends, and we were all in pretty rough shape. When the hut opened, we quickly
got a seat near a little coal thing, and took off our shoes and tried to get warm. Ate ramen and
hot tea, and tried to get strenght to eventually go down. We were worried that we were going to
get kicked out to make room for the next group of freezing climbers, but that never happened...
shortly after we left the last station they closed the trail to the top of the mountain because it
was too dangerous -- we had been climbing through a typhoon.
Eventually, the sun rose, but I only ran out of the hut for a second to glance at the red sliver
in the sky (you couldn`t actually see the sun because of the storm). Quickly ran back in...
Brian was having stomach problems and eventually threw up, so we had the excuse to wait for a few
hours for him to recover and the weather to die down before we climbed down. We also found one
other JET girl who had made it to the top and was in the other room from us. The climb down was
really difficult but because at this point it wasn`t raining, we were very happy and loopy. I
even had enough fake energy at the bottom 1.8 km to race on of the other americans we were with --
we both actually ran about half of it and I won because his flashlight dropped and broke near the
end... Got to the bottom at 9am.
The drive home was okay... I got 20 min. of rest in the car before my shift to drive... Got home
at 8pm and immedietly went to bed.
Will have pictures eventually -- I`ve finished 2 rolls now!
Take care,
Sarah
Wed, 21 Aug 2002 01:51:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: food, daily life, etc.
Body:
Hello,
Amy asked me about food, so I thought I would be intrusive and e-mail everyone about it...
First of all, I eat far more donoughts than ever before... Mr. Donuts is the cool hang-out place
in downtown Toyama, free coffee refills, hang out there for hours, and the donoughts are pretty
good. All of the breads here are really sweet and sugary or buttery, but I did find one loaf of
whole wheat bread at the `supa` (grocery). ((it`s time for me to start injecting nihongo words
into these e-mails, sorry!))
For breakfast-
I didn`t eat as much breakfast in the US, but it`s essential here because I get up at 6:30 every
morning... I`m always starving by noon, so i have to have something pretty substantial. So
usually cereal or toast and nashi, or apple pear if i have one. maybe a banana. sometime pb\j.
Lunch -- usually eaten out, usually cheap japanese food. yesterday i had a bento at the city hall
cafeteria during a conference-- it had a lot of assorted foods, rice, fishes, beens, vegetables,
miso soup, etc. I`ve liked almost everything I`ve tried so far. Sometimes I`ll have a sandwich
from a conbini - convenience store - or sushi or whatever. i`ll eat school lunches when that
comes around.
Dinner -- I`ve been a lot more inspired to cook. Last week I cooked for about 12 people, which is
quite a feat in my tiny apartment... I made a vinegared rice thing with shrimp and shitake
mushrooms and lotus root and a ton of tempura. very dangerous! the other night i experimented
with grated daikon (like a 3-foot carrot-shaped raddish) and tomatoes and vinegar/oil for a really
good salad. So I`ve liked cooking japanese foods and might take a cooking class to get me
familiar with more ingredients/techniques, etc. Eating out is either cheap japanese noodles,
bentos, sometimes italian food, once we tried a restaurant which seemed french themed, but the
food was definetly strange japanese. There`s a pizza delivery place in the first floor of my
apartment building which I`ve tried once and loved -- totally unexpected. there are only 2
safe/normal pizzas on the menu -- pepperoni/mushroom/onion or chicken/bacon/mushroom/onion/herb
stuff. i had the second. the rest have mayonaise on them, and fishes, corn, tuna, etc.
The coffee here is at times surprisingly good. A little more expensive for cappucinos, lattes,
and the cafes aren`t for take-out.
I`ve had fast food once or twice -- today we were in a rush and mcdonald`s was the only option.
the mcdonald`s here is much better than the us -- really really hot and more fresh. but i`ve only
tried a hamburger, not chicken salad or anything. and mos burger has a wierd taco thing on indian
bread which was edible and kind of good.
The only food I miss from home is wine. It`s really expensive to buy wine here, except for the
really sweet plum wine. So I mostly drink beer, which is very unvarried and unoriginal. But the
cans are bigger...
Good cheese is also harder to come by -- I had a creamy camabert (sp?) that was okay, but most
everything here is processed.
There are 3 foreign foods stores in Toyama that stock things like chocolate, pasta products, wine,
teddy grahams, etc., but these are pretty expensive.
So, I think I`ve been keeping pretty healthy -- when I first got here I lost a bit of weight
because of culture shock/not eating enough, etc., but then had another wave where I ate tons of
oreos/chips/soda/junk food. now am back to normal eating, i think all this mountain climbing and
biking inspires me to keep a fairly healthy diet.
I have no handle on how much things cost here. the fruit tends to be more expensive... eating
out is between 4 and 9 dollars for lunch or dinner -- pretty cheap! groceries are a bit
expensive, though... maybe close to 50 dollars for the big dinner i prepared.
i think all the vending machines suck up my money the most -- 100-150 yen for soda, coffee, tea
(hot or cold!). the soda`s are usually limited to coke and grape fanta, and the machines are
mostly coffee/tea.
alright, i think that covers it.
Sarah
Wed, 21 Aug 2002 01:56:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: quick shot of my apartment
Body:
(taken with my cell phone so it`s bad)
Wed, 28 Aug 2002 01:06:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: finally some pictures
Body:
I'll try not to flood your inboxes, but I've composited a few pics together courtesy of Brian's
digital camera...
Last Thursday I climbed Mt. Tateyama, which was a lot of fun. A tough climb -- lots of loose
rocks, large rocks, and really steep, but it was brief (only 2 hours) and we had perfect weather.
I went to a shinto shrine at the top of the mountain, but I don't think those pic's are in this
collection.
This weekend, had a great weekend, and saw a lot of Toyama prefecture... Went to Tonami Friday
night, but missed a connecting train so had dinner in Takaoka on the way. Tonami was really
fun--about 40 jets got together and drank a lot and did kareoke--which is soooo fun over here.
Then Saturday we went to Toga, a tiny village in the mountains, at least an hour away from any
substantial civilazation, to go to a theater festival (that we got free tickets to!) The next
morning we did the fish festival described in the photo and visited a meditation center (no pics,
sorry). It was wonderful and gorgeous, and I can't wait for snow so I can go snowboarding in
these beautiful mountains!
Sorry my English is so poor--I'm brain-dead from being at the office all day (it's 5pm, what am I
still doing here? I could have left hours ago!) Plus whatever brain I have left is in Japanese
mode...
Now how about you send me pictures of you???
Sarah
Wed, 11 Sep 2002 22:19:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: School and social
Body:
((!!Warning, the contents of this e-mail are extremely long!! May need to be read in several
sittings!!)
Hello! How are you? (I am fine, thank you, and you?) I am very good! My name is Sarah! What
is your name?! (takemmmmm summmmmm.) Nice to meet you! (shake hands) (...nice to meet you, too)
The job is monotonous in the sense that I'm doing the same self-introduction lessons for 18
different junior high classes, but it's fun because of their different personalities and ability
levels. And it's neat to single people out. I make everyone ask me a simple question i've
printed out and illustrated, such as "Do you like Japanese food?" or "Who do you like better, Brad
Pitt or Tom Cruise?" (definetly not Tom Cruise). So far it's going pretty well. There was an
awkward moment in a class today when I was encouraging a girl to tell me her name... "What is your
name? My name is Sarah, what is your name...?..." until the teacher finally told me this student
can't speak... ah, okay. The students are most interested in my dog, Chelsea (kawaii! or cute!),
my age (now 22!), and whether or not I have a boyfriend.
So backtracking, since it's been a while since I've written...
School started! 2 weeks ago, I gave several speeches in Japanese then English to my two junior
high schools. Last Monday morning I cycled to school in my suit, in spite of the 99 degree
weather, and spoke in front of the entire school. When I got to school, I was walking around,
talking with teachers and students, and sat down to feel an unusual amount of legs touching the
chair. I felt, and had ripped my suit skirt all the way up the seam in the back while riding my
bike. Ahh! I told the vice principle, and one of the english teachers gave me a pair of pants to
wear while the Office Lady (that's both her title and job description...) mended the skirt before
the ceremony.
Speaking in front of several hundred kids in Japanese really wasn't as scarry as it sounds... I
can't explain why it's easy, it just is. They're interested in who you are, what you look like,
what you have to say, so you give them your best Japanese and have fun with the fact that they
can't understand you're English.
After a similar ceremony (wearing pants) at my second school on Tuesday, I had to visit an
elementary school for my first day of teaching, plus a 15 minute speech about myself and interests
in Japanese, to the entire school... It was pretty fun. No one at this particular school speaks
any English, so most of my lessons that day involved a bit of Japanese...
Last weekend was sports day -- a really difficult concept to explain. Let's see. The entire
school is organized into 3 or 4 teams, depending on the size of the schools. I was on the byakko
team, or white tigers, at both schools. These teams make up traditional cheers (cheerleading) and
spend hours every day at school during summer vacation perfecting their routines. On sports day,
the teams compete in running, relays, and other silly events. My favorite is kibasen, where a boy
is hoisted on the shoulders of 3 others, and a bunch of these groups run around in a circle and
the boys on top have to take each others headbands. Very violent and exciting.
My elementary school visit this past Tuesday was really fun -- the elementary kids are really
energetic and they have an amazing ability for vocab. I pulled out a flashcard and they all yell
"Giraffe!" ... What? I wish my junior high kids would do that, let alone be able to pronounce
the word 'giraffe'.
So, typical school day: Wake up between 6 and 6:30. shower, watch news or listen to music, bike
to school (20-30 minutes, depending on school). Arrive at school between 8 and 8:30. Then
there's 4 periods, lunch, and 2 periods. My schedule changes daily. Yesterday I was scheduled to
teach periods 1-5, but I luckily got #4 off -- it was exhausting! Today I only taught 3rd and
4th. So now, after lunch, I'm sitting and writing you this e-mail! I probably should be planning
a lesson or something, but it's okay.
I get along with everyone at the offices. There are three english teachers at my base school, and
my supervisor speaks very very good english, so that is nice. the english teacher at the smaller
school is very odd. she doesn't get along with anyone in the office, and she's very blunt,
abrupt, and rude. but i get along with her fine. i don't team teach with her since she's the
only english teacher and has 6 different classes... she's very busy, even too busy to tell me
when and what i'm teaching. the other teachers at this school are very nice and welcoming,
although they don't speak english. it is a little difficult team teaching with a non-english
speaker since i don't want to use any japanese in the classroom, and often she can't translate
what i'm saying, so the students miss out on somethings...
after both sports days, there were office parties, or enkai. (my writing is getting worse and
worse!) these were at banquet rooms at nice hotels, and there was a lot of really really good
japanese food and alcohol. I love Japanese dining--it is perfectly suited to my eating habits.
They serve you a ton of different little tiny things so I can try everything! For instance, at
one enkai there was a seafood pasta, beef/vegetable type stew thing, smoked salmon, cheese, fish,
egg, japanese pickles for the first course. other courses included meet, sushi, sashimi, soups,
noodle dishes, just pieces of fish, chicken, or meet, salads, random little cups filled with sea
urchin, crab, whatever, fruit seed type things for desert, etc. plus beer, wine, whiskey, tea,
orange juice, etc. kind of ridiculous, but really fun!
Part 2 to come in a minute, i need to stretch.
sarah
I’m currently driving back from Taki-cho (village) in Shimane-ken (prefecture). We left Friday around 6:30 in the evening. Friday was a long day—home from work around 5, then had to get the rental car, pack, etc. We thought it would be around a 6-hour drive to Shimane, but actually arrived after 3am, quite delirious. There were no problems or hold-ups, just a long drive and a tiny engine. We got the cheapest rental car, a Toyota Platz, which has 4 doors and plenty of headroom, a small trunk and a tiny bit of leg room for back seat passengers.
Now in the car we’re having a discussion about defining ‘classic rock�E and how we define it. Victoria is constantly surprised/annoyed/amused at how Brian and I seem to rank, classify, and categorize everything�E It must be an American trait, or possibly because Brian and I are particularly anal.
So, our drive Friday was fun, I drove the first and third shifts, which was the majority of the driving, and Brian drove the middle shift. By the time we were in Shimane, we were all incredibly delirious, but it was a fun caffeinated, loud music sort of delirious. Night driving in Japan is very exciting �Ethere was a lot of road construction on the small highways in Shimane, and road construction involves hundreds of flashing colored lights, cones, trucks, signs, mechanical men waving their arms (the first one we saw had Victoria and I screaming hysterically �Ewe didn’t realize it was a dummy from a distance), and also a ton of construction workers in full suits waving light sabers. Very entertaining.
Saturday we spent the afternoon at the beach. Paul (Brian’s younger brother �Emy age—also a first year JET) lives in a gigantic house overlooking his tiny town and the ocean. It was gorgeous, and the beach was wonderful. Perfect sized waves, the water was warm, but not too warm, the sand was pretty, the air was nice. We spent a lot of time in the water. That evening we went to a JET dinner in a nearby city. The JET situation in Shimane is a lot different than the situation in Toyama�E There weren’t as many JETs, and there were more families and married couples (although there are quite a few couples in Toyama). We were sitting with a Japanese family at dinner, and the 9year old daughter and I got along quite well. The girls taught Victoria and I Japanese hand-clap games, and we drew pictures, etc. It was really fun. Yesterday was low-key—we visited the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, which was neat, but I don’t know too much about Shinto-ism yet, so I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I could have�E
Anyways, it’s a beautiful day, it’s fun to be typing on my computer in the car, but I’m getting a little car sick.
Now in the car we’re having a discussion about defining ‘classic rock�E and how we define it. Victoria is constantly surprised/annoyed/amused at how Brian and I seem to rank, classify, and categorize everything�E It must be an American trait, or possibly because Brian and I are particularly anal.
So, our drive Friday was fun, I drove the first and third shifts, which was the majority of the driving, and Brian drove the middle shift. By the time we were in Shimane, we were all incredibly delirious, but it was a fun caffeinated, loud music sort of delirious. Night driving in Japan is very exciting �Ethere was a lot of road construction on the small highways in Shimane, and road construction involves hundreds of flashing colored lights, cones, trucks, signs, mechanical men waving their arms (the first one we saw had Victoria and I screaming hysterically �Ewe didn’t realize it was a dummy from a distance), and also a ton of construction workers in full suits waving light sabers. Very entertaining.
Saturday we spent the afternoon at the beach. Paul (Brian’s younger brother �Emy age—also a first year JET) lives in a gigantic house overlooking his tiny town and the ocean. It was gorgeous, and the beach was wonderful. Perfect sized waves, the water was warm, but not too warm, the sand was pretty, the air was nice. We spent a lot of time in the water. That evening we went to a JET dinner in a nearby city. The JET situation in Shimane is a lot different than the situation in Toyama�E There weren’t as many JETs, and there were more families and married couples (although there are quite a few couples in Toyama). We were sitting with a Japanese family at dinner, and the 9year old daughter and I got along quite well. The girls taught Victoria and I Japanese hand-clap games, and we drew pictures, etc. It was really fun. Yesterday was low-key—we visited the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, which was neat, but I don’t know too much about Shinto-ism yet, so I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I could have�E
Anyways, it’s a beautiful day, it’s fun to be typing on my computer in the car, but I’m getting a little car sick.
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