Umbrellas and Courtesy

March 30, 2004 10:30pm (Shimodate)
March 30, 2004 8:30 am (Ottawa)

Umbrellas.

What is it with me and umbrellas? My training apartment came with one, but the only day it rained in Nagoya was the day I didn't bring it with me when I left in the morning.

I had to buy one at a convenience store. It was a really nice one, though the price made it somewhat less enjoyable.

When I packed for the move to Shimodate I left that umbrella in Nagoya. So of course it rained repeatedly my first week here.

My boss gave me a new umbrella, a cheap on from the 100 yen store. It was a lousy umbrella but I didn"t pay for it, and it kept me dry.

When I left for work today it was sunny, not a cloud in the sky. So I left my umbrella in the hotel room. Naturally it began to rain 15 mins after I left.

The rain got worse and worse as my classes progressed today, it was absolutely pouring when I finished. The regular Japanese teacher was there this time for parental observations, and she tried to give me her umbrella. She was walking home in the rain though, so I refused. She wouldn't take no for an answer though, she left it behind when she left.

She'll be back there teaching tomorrow though, and she'll find her umbrella there waiting for her. What kind of guy would be able to enjoy a dry walk when he knew a nice lady like that was getting soaked for his sake? Besides, I don't know when I'll see her again. This way I don"t have to worry about how to return her umbrella.

On the wet walk home I stopped off at Yoshinoya for a bowl of curry rice (an addiction of mine). A nice middle aged man complimented me on my use of chopsticks (hashi in Japanese). When I left he tried to give me his umbrella. Naturally I refused again.

I walked for 4 blocks and somebody tapped me on the shoulder from behind. Guess who I found when I turned around... The guy from Yoshinoya. His car was pulled over on the side of the road block or so behind me. He again gave me his umbrella, but this time I accepted. When a man chases you with a car to give you an umbrella, take it.

Sometimes being police and courteous can be taken too far. Walking in the rain without that Japanese teacher's umbrella was vaguely chivalrous...but more specifically stupid. Chasing me down with a car to give me an umbrella is very generous, but equally ludicrous.
Oh well, makes for an interesting story I guess.

Plus it's the best umbrella yet.

Daichi

March 29, 2004 11:57am (Shimodate)
March 28, 2004 9:57 (Ottawa)

While wandering the mall in Shimodate I met someone pretty interesting. Don't get too excited, it wasn't a girl.

A guy at the book store looked at me like he'd seen a ghost. After I left the bookstore I was playing a game at the arcade and he came up behind me and started talking to me. In near fluent English no less!

It turns out his name is Daichi, and he's very friendly. He hangs out with a group of English teachers here in Shimodate....imagine that, there are others in this tiny town. He says they don't really teach him English, but he's been friends with them for a year, so he's learning just from being around them.

One year...and his English level is quite impressive. He invited me t hang out with him and his friends, I don't know if I actually will, but I still think it was a valuable encounter. If Daichi can learn English that well in 1 year, maybe I can learn Japanese that well in the time I have here.

Obaachan

Once again I must say I love old people in Japan. They are so amazing!

Today at the train station an old man and woman started talking to me. Neither spoke a word of English, but I guess they were just extremely friendly individuals.

The lady wore a very fancy kimono, and she said she was 72 years old. She didn't give me her name, but kept referring to herself as "Obaachan" which means "Grandma". I haven't figured out yet why young people tend to call old people Grandmother or Grandfather when they are not related. It seems like a nice custom though. It's like we7re all one big happy family over here.

After talking with her for 5 mins another gaijin arrived. A 23 year old Russian girl that spoke better Japanese than me, but very little English.

This made for a very interesting train ride. Especially with the little old man trying to act as an interpreter for all of us even though he didn't speak English or Russian. He's great at charades though.

The old lady gave me a bzasket of strawberries for some reason. I wish I'd had a gift for her. All I could do was talk with her, and show her the pictures my students drew today. Maybe I should have given her one, she said they were cute.

What I learned:
1) The old lady once visited Ottawa, she loves Canada. She says we're very gentle people. She's afraid to go to Russia for some reason.

2) The Russian girl was in Japan to study Japanese, and apparently she's not doing very well.

3) The old man likes sports and kareoke.

The old lady said soemthing about the war, and how she was happy that everyone was coming together now. She used Russia, Canada, and Japan as her example because we were all together on the train talking like friends.

I can understand why she was so happy about this...at 72 now she would have been 11 when Hiroshima was bombed. So she can probably recall quite clearly when people like myself would not have been welcome here in Japan.

I wish I had some Canadian flag pins aside from the one I always wear. I'd like to have a gift of some kind to offer the next friendly old person I talk to.

Pictures from kids.

Picture from child.

A Mind in Ottawa

March 22, 2004 2:16am (Shimodate)
March 21, 2004 12:16pm (Ottawa)

Where to start...

Sunday was my first day off since arriving in Shimodate, and I took it as an opportunity to explore my new "home".

I spent about 5 hours walking all over the city, seeing new places, meeting new people, and visiting some amazing shrines.

I had revelations galore regarding myself, my life, spirituality, and existence. It was almost a great day. I have about 40 pictures that say it was.

When I got back to the hotel all I could think about was what I would write about it all in this journal. Unfortunately revelations can be tiring, so I decided to take a nap first.

I woke 2 hours later feeling uneasy for no reason I could pinpoint, perhaps a disturbing dream that I can't remember.

I sat down to write about my day, and found the pen would not move for me.

I don't know what changed, but I had no desire to write whatsoever. I wanted to talk about it all instead. To sit at the computer I left in Canada and type out the events of the day to Renuka or Lisa. To tell them all I learned and thought. To call Bryan and discuss the temples. TO discuss the anime hobby store I found with him and Chris. They had Love Hina figurines Bryan!

Compared to that this process of solitary expression seems dead.

Now I should have gone to bed hours ago. I did actually, but could not sleep as my imagination kept having those conversations with my distant friends.

Japan is proving to be a great adventure, just as I'd hoped. However, some things I didn't expect are becoming obvious as well.

This will be a very lonely adventure. My friends have their other friends to think about and talk to. I have only myself and this diary in a country where almost nobody can understand my words. Much less my thoughts and feelings.

It's Monday here now, but Sunday in Ottawa. In my mind I picture myself asleep in my apartment in Downtown Ottawa after a long night at work. CFL lost bloc sync and Tory couldn't get NOC to accept the ticket. We had calls in queue all night. I sleep knowing that I'll wake up at 8:00pm, and head to Barrymores for 9:00. Hopefully Lisa, Tanya, and Sam will be there this week.

After a night of laughter and dancing I'll return home, and Renuka will be online. We'll talk for hours about anything, and I'll call her a wus when she gets too tired and has to go to bed. Then I'll watch some anime, and dream of going to Japan.

I'm living that dream now, but I can't help dreaming of those Sundays in Ottawa. Always my favorite day of the week.

Japan is great, I'm glad I took the leap and decided to come here. I just wish some of you had come with me.

There, maybe now I can sleep.

Trees

Small shrine

Small shrine2

No idea

My First Sakura

Tree shrine

Tree shrine2

Odd van

Pretty

Big shrine

Big shrine2

Big shrine3

Big shrine4

Big shrine5

Big shrine6

Big shrine7

Big shrine8

Big shrine9

Streetside shrine

Streetside shrine2

Streetside shrine3

Streetside shrine4

Streetside shrine5

Shrine in construction site

Shrine in construction site2

Teaching

March 19, 2004 10:32pm (Shimodate)
March 19, 2004 8:47am (Ottawa)

I have just returned to my hotel after my second day as a teacher here in Japan.

I taught 4 classes, the students ranged from 4 to 8. 4 classes in one day is a little above average for us here, but it wasn't nearly as tiring as I expected.

The youngest class was incredibly hyper, getting them to follow all my directions was impossible. We played some games though, and we sang songs. They left even more hyper than they arrived, and hopefully more knowledgeable as well.

The second class was 4 boys. They loved playing the bowling game, and they were excited about running over to the wall to slap a picture if I said "red" or "monkey".

The third class was just two little girls, very cute. They both say pink is their favorite colour. One can only hope they outgrow that ;) They were the same age as the boys, and they liked bowling just as much. They were better at it than the boys were too.

Quizzing them on colours and shapes was fun, because they loved to laugh if they got something wrong, and they were very proud of anything they got right.

The fourth class was the oldest, and the biggest. 9 little energy balls. I didn't sing and dance with them, but we played a lot of games. Basketball, ABC Race, Face drawing, etc. They are very competitive, and love sports.

I started the day a little tired, and ended it with so much energy that my face still feels flushed 3 hours after my last class. How great is that?

I spent 4 hours today playing with children, teaching them, and learning from them. They were simply amazing.

The whole experience was intense, and intensely gratifying. I think I was right about teaching, it really may be what I am meant to do. Now I just hope I'm also right about my writing.

Shimodate

March 17, 2004 10:47pm (Shimodate)
March 17, 2004 8:47am (Ottawa)

Kombanwa from Shimodate, the tiny city in Ibaraki.

Shimodate is my final stop here in Japan, this is the city I will be calling home.

If you'd ever seen Shimodate you would understand what a frightening concept that is.

The population is about 64,000, and to my knowledge I represent half the Gaijin population. The other half is the guy I'm replacing, he moves away in 2 weeks. Then it's just me an 64,000 men, women, and children who can't understand me. Scary!

I'm told I live in "downtown Shimodate", but I question the right of this city to call anything "downtown". It can't be downtown if I'm a 5 minute walk away from a rice farm.

Shimodate has no Internet cafes, I think some of the residents are still working together to invent fire.

The nearest real city is Mito, it's about 40 mins away by train. Tokyo is only about 1.5 hours away on that same train. So I can go to one of those places on weekends for my i-net fix.

Since arriving in Japan I've made multiple attempts to find a Go parlor. No luck so far, though those nice Mormons taught me the Kanji for it while they were trying to convert me.

I tried another of the "must do's" on my list today. I had Taiyaki.

This is basically a fish-shaped bread around a filling fo one type or another. Mine was pizza flavoured. It's supposed to be pretty sweet, but it didn't seem so to me. It was very good in any case, and it looks like a fish...you can't beat that.

Sign for Shimodate

Taiyaki

Club J-Max

I spent last night at a night club, and to be honest I'm still not certain what my overall impression was.

It was the goodbye party for the members of my training group. 6 of us went together to a club called J-Max, it was very interesting. On the stages around the dance floor there were pairs of women in matching outfits dancing together, and leading everyone else. One set had bunny ears and frilly little skirts, one set hat skin-tight Budweiser beer mini-skirts, and one set was dressed up in pretty traditional Chinese clothes.

They waved their arms in unison and clapped to the music, and all the dancers mimicked them at key points during the songs. That aspect was a lot of fun.

Our group:
Sean - Nice guy, non-drinker, very funny.
Leisha - Quirky and cute, Michelle's roommate.
Michelle - My travel partner from Ottawa. Michelle is very outgoing and fun.
Cheryl - Cute 18 year old blonde. Her best friend is Ashley.
Ashley - Stunningly beautiful 18 year old brunette. Cheryl's best friend. I'm not certain what her heritage is, but her skin colour reminds me of Shandra, so maybe she's half black as well.

Now they say that white guys in Japan get a lot of attention from Asian women. This may be true elsewhere, but certainly not at J-Max. I doubt Sean or I spoke to anyone except each other and the girls we came with.

The girls with us were another matter. Every one of them got hit on constantly by the other white guys at the club. It was frightening how much the other foreigners were hunting. I spent most of my time in watching over the girls. I won't get too detailed about the evening, but one of the girls ended up bringing home some strange American guy from the club. I ended up having to hang around at her apartment until almost 5am because her friend/roommate was upset that a strange guy was apparently going to be spending the night one room away....in an apartment where a paper thin sliding door is all that separates the rooms.

So yeah, I loved the club. I intend to go clubbing again sometime, but I'll make a point of not bringing any female friends with me. At least none that can't handle their drink more responsibly than she did.

Little Old Men Rock.

March 5, 2004 2:40pm (Nagoya)
March 5, 2004 12:41am (Ottawa)

Three cheers for elderly Japanese men and women!
I'm at another Japanese school today. A different one than last time, and I almost didn't find it. The map provided for me was worse than useless for getting me from the bus stop to the actual building. It used wonderful landmarks that don't exist, and told me to take streets that were 90 degrees off what they drew on the map.
I got horribly lost, and wandered into a neat little area between apartment buildings. There I discovered a bunch of little old women and men gardening and watching the silly foreigner.
After I stood there staring at my cryptic map for maybe 5 minutes looking clearly confused one of them approached me.
I wish I got his name, it seems horribly rude after everything to leave him unacknowledged.
He got all the neighbourhood women involved in my plight, though none of them spoke a word of English.
They could understand even less of the map (it was their neighbourhood, but so badly drawn they had no idea).
After my 7 elderly Japanese saviours spent half an hour debating the map they finally figured out where I was. About 15-20 minutes from the school.
With a great deal of work they managed to explain where I needed to go, and I told them I understood.
The man spearheading this little rescue mission was not satisfied though, he walked with me the whole way. Smiling and talking to me because I could at least understand a little.
He showed me things along the way too. A beautiful Shinto Shrine, and the way back to my bus stop for later.
I thanked him frofusely in both Japanese and English, but it still feels inadequate.
I need to nominate him for Sainthood.

From the Classroom

March 3, 2004 2:45pm (Nagoya)
March 3, 2004 12:45am (Ottawa)

I'm laying on the floor in a classroom right now, smiling to myself over my surroundings as I write in the journal that Renuka gave me as my going-away gift.
Today I will be sitting in on an English class to see how they work. My assignment is to participate as a energetic student. I wonder if that will even be possible with the kids staring at me.
There isn't as much staring so far as I'd been warned of. Possibly because I'm still in Nagoya. This is a fairly big city, and "Gaijin"" are not so unusual.
I'm glad this isn't my final destination, it's a little too western for my taste. Though they do manage to make even American things seem like their own.
I visited an Internet Cafe a couple of days ago, and it abslutely revolutionized that tired western institution.
Manboo (pronounced Manbow) had little cubicles with leather couches, TV sets, computers, Playstation 2, and free drinks. The place was decadent in the extreme with 2 floors where every wall was covered with thousands of Manga you could borrow to read in your little booth. The connection speed was amazing, the computers almost brand new, meals served upon request, and all for only 380 Yen/hour (about $4 US). Actually it was 280 yen/hour for women, though I'm not sure why.
Unfortunately I was in a hurry so I didn't get a chance to send much e-mail or update more than a couple diary enteries. I'll go when I have more spare time later this week.
My Japanese is improving at a steady rate. I learned katakana in 3 days, and I'm getting more confident in using the vocabulary I do know. I haven't gained much in vocabulary so far, but I'm better at using what I already know.
Well, I better get ready for class. I hope everyone is doing fine. Come visit.

Classroom pics:
Picture 1

Picture 2

Pachinko? What's the Point?

March 1, 2004 2:10pm (Nagoya)
Feb 29, 2004 12:10am (Ottawa)

My trip to both the Nagoya Castle and an Internet cafe were cancelled on account of rain yesterday.
However, after the rain let up I decided to explore a bit. I ended up at a pachino parlor.
Pachinko is a kid of gambling game in a sort of arcade. Basically if you've seen "Plinko" on The Price is Right, then you've seen Pachinko. Except Pachinko uses little metal balls instead of plastic disks.
Anyway, Pachinko is a very popular game in Japan. It's almost in every anime, and most of my friends told me to try it while I was here. So it was on my list of things to try.
VERDICT: Pachinko Sucks!!!
The gaming place itself is packed tight with machines making a horrendous amount of noise, and glassy-eyed Japanese men and women staring blankly at the game as little metal balls bounce down the screen in front of them.
The smotke is so think you can feel it seeking through your skin, and the entire place reeks of desperation and obsession.
Few things I've ever experienced have been as disappointing as that particular place. I can't help but wonder why so many of my anime favorites waste their time, energy, and money on that nonsense.
Ladies and gentleman, if you really don't want your money, just send it to me. The act of licking the stamp for your envelope will provide more entertainment to Pachinko.
I went to a photo shop with Leisha to get some pictures she took copied to CD. They gave her several cans of some drink we could not identify.
The stuff was called Chun-Hi, and it had a picture of an orange on it. One sip and I tasted something odd in it. Leisha and Michelle assured me it was not alchohol, so I drank the entire thing in about 10 seconds (340 ml).
Later my room-mate saw me about to drink a second one and commented "Starting early are you?" Apparently the girls were wrong. Chun-Hi is very alchoholic, "Jet fuel" as my room-mate called it. So now that we know that Michelle is impressed with my alcohol tolerance, and I'm horrified that I drank it so fast.
So there you have it. In Japan just a few days and already gambling and drinking.
What am I coming to?