Settling In

Sorry to anyone who's tried to contact us or has expected a blog entry over the last few days. We've been somewhat...disconnected from the outside world.

So...we got into Tsurusaki a few days ago and saw our apartment for the first time. We were pretty worried from the looks of the building. It's all shabby and pink, with loads of trash on all of the balconies...with us on the 5th floor (no elevator) But...when the door opened, everything turned out to be alright. It's a "small, but cozy" apartment (that's funny...trust me). We have two main rooms, a kitchen, a toilet room (almost big enough to sit in), and a shower room, complete with an enormously deep tub and a shower wand connected to the faucet. Yeah...you can guess how much water-pressure we get out of that thing. It's like washing yourself in a drinking fountain. But not one of those drinking fountains that almost squirts you in the face...one of those you-gotta-suck-on-the-nozzle-to-get-anything-out water fountains. But, alas...we perservere. Most of the floors in our apartment are hard-wood, with the obvious exceptions of the bathrooms...and the kitchen/main room are covered in some weird synthetic padded material with a wood grain on it. I've never seen it before, but it looks good...and it's a good rest for your feet, since shoes aren't really allowed. Oh yeah...and there's also a washer on the "veranda." It didn't work the first night, so Tori had to do the laundry by hand (thanks, Tori!), but the peeps from the water company came last night to fix it. It looks a little old, but it works just fine! Nobody in Japan has dryers, really...everybody just hangs their clothes out on the balcony to dry. it's actually kind of fun...

One drawback to living on the fifth floor...it's even hotter than the rest of the city! And that's saying something. It's only been about...um...85-90 degrees, but the air is thick enough to choke a horse (probably around 75% humidity). When we wake up we sweat...when we eat dinner we sweat...when we shower in cold water we sweat. But no worries. We made our first big purchase yesterday...Air Conditioning! The guy's coming to install it on Sunday (tomorrow!) and then we're never leaving our apartment. Right now we're holed up in Starbucks 'cause we don't want to go home to that sauna-of-an-apartment.

(look for pictures later...we're sans camera cables at the moment)

Work is good...I think. The first day, one of the English teachers, Kanao-sensei (or Nakao-sensei...I don't remember) picked me up from the Board of Education and took me to my school in Tsurusaki. During the car ride, I asked her some questions about the school and the town...and she didn't really have anything positive to say. I asked her what the town was like, to which she responded, "Actually...I don't like Tsurusaki." So, I asked her what the students were like, to which she responded, "Maybe they are naughty...and they don't like English." Great. When we got to the school, nobody had any idea what to do with me. Nobody knew where I lived...and nobody seemed to care that I was there. She gave me a brief introduction to the office staff, but I didn't get to hear anyone's names. Just a little wave and some awkward time standing around, looking goofy. Luckily, Tori's school knew where we were supposed to be living, so we made it there eventually.

Yesterday started off pretty well, though, with my supervisor, Shinkawa-sensei. He seems to be with it, more or less. There was an awkward few moments, though, when he introduced me to the principal of my school. Aparently he didn't really know what I was doing there...he hadn't been briefed. And just before I introduced myself, I guess Shinkawa-sensei asked the principal if I could have a few days off to get settled in. A less-than-friendly argument ensued. I wasn't quite ready for that. Two Japanese men arguing over the top of me...none of which I could understand. A few minutes into the argument, the principal asked me to leave the room...and they continued to argue for probably 30 minutes while I waited in the teachers' lounge. Hours later, we went back to his office, he apologized profusely, gave me a presentation about the school, and the two of them kissed and made up (not literally).

After we took care of a million little details around town yesterday, my supervisor at work, Shinkawa-sensei invited us over to his house for a little barbecue with his extended family. When we got there his kids were out playing in the rain and we got to meet his wife and her friend. There were a bunch of others there, too, who we didn't speak to much. A few minutes after we arrived, Shinkawa-sensei told his wife to go to the store to buy some beer for himself and me. In the mantime, we chatted with his wife's friend, who had spent some time in Wisconsin. While we were eating (delicious food, by the way), Shinkawa-sensei blurted out, "By the way...it's my wife's birthday today." Sooooo...it was a birthday party...and we were crashing it. Oops. Overall, it was the most relaxing night we've had here. They were all super nice, and the kids were cute as hell. Hopefully we'll get to do it again sometime soon.

Small Successes

Well...the last couple of days were more or less uneventful in Tokyo. We had a LOT of meetings and seminars, so we didn't do much fun stuff, but we did get the chance to explore Tokyo a few more times. It really is a beautiful place at night. During the day it's a bit dingy and impersonal, but at night the lights really make it come to life.

One of my roommates in Tokyo, Erik, and Tori's roommate, Lauren came together from the States. They'll be living in Miyazaki City in Miyazaki Prefecture just south of Oita...and it looks like we'll definitely be hanging out with them more in the future. Everyone we've met so far has been nice...and fairly interesting, but we've really felt like we connected with these two more than anyone else. They're just really down to earth...and funny to boot! Guess we lucked out on the roommate situation.


We also had a few exciting firsts over the last few days. We went out and (without any assistance from Japanese people) bought a few things from the convenience store. That was exciting. Then...this is the REALLY exciting bit...Tori actually asked a policeman for directions to the post office...and we understood him! I know it seems like nothing, but it was probably our first successful exchange in Japanese. We'd done the whole "konnichiwa" thing a few times, but nothing where we were actually trying to get information from someone. It really does make me want to study more. A few more firsts: we withdrew money from our US accounts from an ATM in Japan (they gave us a great exchange rate, by the way...we should have just done it all here), paid the phone bills for our hotel rooms, used a vending machine, ordered lunch on our own, and saw human poo smeared on a sidewalk! Don't worry, Mom, that last part really did happen, but we hear it's not common, even in Tokyo.

While in Tokyo, we also got to see a few things that I hadn't really heard much about in my studies. First, aparently there is a proper escalator code of conduct. Tori found out somewhere that you're supposed to stand on the left, walk on the right. In America, I instinctively go to the right of the escalator, friends fill in anywhere they like, and if someone wants through, they'll ask, right? Not in Japan...we got to test it out yesterday at the airport. I was standing on the left and Tori filled in the right side so that we could tak...but a Japanese man was standing behind us...didn't look like he was in a hurry or anything...wasn't even crowding us at all. But after about 30 seconds, Tori moved over to the left side and the guy just bolted by. So...we learned our lesson. Definitely standing on the left from now on...just in case. We also got to see some homeless folks while in Tokyo. It's something that we've talked to TIUA students about in the past, but they all have tried to tell us that homelessness really doesn't exist iin Japan. Aparently that's not true in the big cities. One night we decided to walk through the central park of Shinjuku (our section of Tokyo) and it was amazing how many homeless people had set up little make-shift homes on the periphery. There were a lot of blue tarps on cardboard boxes...umbrellas hanging from the sides, ready for the rainy season. One guy had what looked like an outhouse of a shelter...still made of cardboard, but with a working door and everything. Don't get me wrong...they're not living in deluxe suites or anything, but they definitely aren't clearing out spots in dumpsters either. The ones that look like they move around more have wheels on their belongings, but everything is stacked neatly. I even saw one guy with a towel rack hanging from the side of his 6-foot pile of belongings. Those without much at all at least have a cardboard perimeter to mark their sleeping area and hide them from the eyes of passers-by. Although they're homeless, they're not sprawled out and sloppy...they're packed into a neat, little spot all their own. But then I guess...how could you expect anything less in the land of sushi and origami?

Alright...enough ranting. Sorry...I woke up at 5:45 and decided to write this, so if it wanders or isn't so cohesive...you know why.

Yesterday afternoon, we all broke up into our prefectural groups and took off for our new homes. There was a group of 13 going to Oita and 7 of them were greeted at the airport by their direct supervisors and/or their coworkers. The other 6 of us (who got to dress casually for the flight...HA!) work for the Prefectural Board of Education, so we got put up in a hotel for the night. After we got settled into our hotel rooms, Tori and I took a little walk around Oita City. We went to a local um...for lack of a better word...mall (which is friggin HUGE!) and bought me a pair of sandals to wear around town. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but...it's hot here. And humid. I mean really hot. And really humid. And I neglected to bring flip-flops...or tennis shoes for fear of my luggage being overweight, so...I've been wearing pants and dress shoes for the last few days. But no fear! Now I can wear shorts again. So, with that straightened out, we were ready for a night out on the town with some current JETs and a few of the newbies that came last week. They all seem really cool...and they all love Oita, so I think we definitely lucked out with our placement. My buddy Phil from Willamette even showed up to welcome us, which was very cool. It was good to see him again...he's living a few hours west of us in Hita, Oita, but I'm definitely planning on making regular trips out to see him. One of my other favorite people of the night was a snappy brit named Tom...I can tell he's going to be a hoot. So...we ate, we drank, we karaoke-ed our asses off...and this morning, I find myself with a sore throat and a raspy voice. Hopefully that will fix itself over the next few hours, though, as I have to meet a ton of people today...including my supervisor and my English teachers. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.




Left: Phil, Tom, and Myself


Right: Oita Prefecture

We're Heeeeeeeeere

Alright, y'all...it was a long, long trip, with many pains in my ass, but we made it. All of the airport stuff was kind of a mess, but the plane ride was pretty pleasant. They fed us quite a few times (including-but not limited to-ice cream sandwiches and sausage) and I got to see some movies I'd been meaning to watch (Inside Man, Over the Hedge, Thank You For Smoking, and Mission: Impossible III).

Once we finally got to Narita, we taxied for what seemed like an excessive period of time, then spent over an hour getting through customs and everything. But...when that was over, we saw a familiar face waiting for us in the airport lobby...Naoko! (TIU student-turned TIUA student-turned Willamette student-turned Willamette grad-turned TIU student)
We'd just missed seeing our friend Jen, who left the JET Program an hour earlier to teach in Taiwan. Her plane had boarded while we were going through customs. Sad.

So, then...we made our way to Tokyo to stay at the Keio Plaza Hotel. It's a pretty nice place...probably overpriced, but I don't have to pay, so...GREAT!! I'm on the 21st floor, Tori's on the 31st, and this is the view from my window: Not too shabby, eh?

To celebrate our arrival, a couple of old friends Shimpei and Yohei from TIUA came and we all went out to dinner at a little place about 5 minutes (by foot) from our hotel. We had our first little bit of culture shock there when Naoko ordered raw pork. Yup...raw pork. I know...it goes against everything you've ever heard about the safe handling of pork. It was INCREDIBLY good, though. Kind of reminded me of the time I accidentally ate raw chicken at home...but more tasty...and probably safer. I'll be ordering that again. Tori was having a hell of a time with jet lag...can't blame her, we'd been up for 24 hours. And I think Naoko forgot how goofy Americans could be...but no worries...Dave reminded her. In other news...I also made my first phone call from a Japanese cell phone.



And that was the end of day 1.