懐かしいなぁ、佐野市 My Nostalgic Return to Sano

最近栃木県の佐野市にいる親友達に会いに行きました。大阪に引っ越してから８ヶ月が経ち、その間栃木の友達とは会えずにいました。ちょっと久しぶりの再会になってしました。栃木の友達の中の一人のアメリカ人がアメリカから佐野を訪ねまして、僕も同時に佐野を訪ねたらいいタイミングだと思いましたいくら大阪を好きに なっても、佐野の友達と会えないのは寂しいです。ちょっと面白いと思わない？大都会に住んでる人が休暇を取ると、たいてい田舎に行くでしょう、で田舎に住 んでる人は逆に大都会に行くと思います。逆の現象が起こるんですよね。

Recently I took a trip to Tochigi Prefecture to see my friends living in Sano (a city I lived in for 1 year). It had been 8 months since I moved to Osaka and I hadn't been back to Sano once. One of my friends from Sano had gone back to America when I moved to Osaka, but she was coming back to visit. I figured it'd be a good idea if I visited Sano at the same time as her. It'd feel like a reunion! Even though I've come to like Osaka, I feel like Sano is my hometown in Japan. It's kind of funny, if you live in a big city you go to the country to relax and have a good time, but if you live in the country you wanna go to the city. So basically what you don't have you want.

大阪から東京まで夜行バスで行きました新宿から佐野のプレミアム・アウトレットまでまた別のバスに乗りました。佐野に着くと、友達が迎えてくれま した。栃木の友達として言っているけど、実際に彼女が住んでいるところは群馬です。栃木の友達と遊ぶときによくいるこなので、栃木の友達と呼んでいます。 会った時凄く嬉しかった。僕が佐野を去った時この友達が泣いてしまいました。運転するながら佐野の友達の輪についてなにがあったのかを話してくれました。今の 佐野の状況を理解しました。

I took an overnight bus from Osaka to a place called Shinjuku in Tokyo, then I took another bus from there to Sano. My friend Satomi (who techically lives in another prefecture but I still consider her part of my Tochigi friends) picked me up. When I saw her again I felt pretty happy. She actually cried when I moved from Sano. While we were driving she was telling me what had changed in Sano since I'd left. I told her a bit about my life in Osaka too. The picture is from Shoya a place we all went every Wednesday when I lived there.  

土曜日には宇都宮大学のチームとフリスビーをすることが出来ました。めっちゃ楽しかったですが、大阪のフリスビーチームとは全然違います。大学の チームは大体ペースも速いし、もっと真面目だから楽のチームとは違います。

On Saturday I went and played frisbee with Utsunomiya University. It was super fun, but super exausting. The team I play with in Osaka isn't very serious so we don't run really hard. The feeling of the two teams is completely different. University teams tend to be more serious so it was a real work out for me. I've gotten slow and I feel like an old guy even though I've only been out of University for 2 years!

その夜友達のお母さんの居酒屋に行きました。２０人位の友達が集まった。また話せたり会えたことのはよかったです。朝までカラオケを歌ったり話し たりしました。翌朝、早く起きて神奈川県の川崎市に「祭り」を見に行きました。

That night I went to my friend's (the one who picked me up at the station) mom's Izakaya *(bar). About 20 of my friends were there. I was glad to be able to talk to everyone again, and see them in a group together. We sang karaoke, drank, and talked all night. The next morning we woke up early to go to "festival" in a town inbetween Tokyo and Yokohama called Kawasaki.  

その祭りは実際に「金まら祭り」というんです。この祭り知っていますか？この祭りについて何と言えばいいですか？ふらふらいい異文化体験でした、笑。とても独特で、面白くて、多分そんな祭りを経験するこ とができるのは日本だけです。異様な祭りなので外人が多かったです。

That festival is called the Kanamara Matsuri. Ever heard of this "festival"? What can I say about it? It was an interesting experience haha. Probably something one can only experience in Japan. Because is so bizarre a large foreign population attends.   The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus, かなまら祭り?) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan in spring. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The penis forms the central theme of the event that is reflected everywhere—in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan's prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vagina of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights (vagina dentata). As a result, the young girl sought help with a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.

Today, the festival has become somewhat of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.

Here's a pic of the "big float" haha

僕の友達はみな相変わらず元気でした。帰国する前にもう一度みんなと会えてよかったです。

Important Happenings!

Important news!

My company emailed me and said that the Board of Education here is thinking about extending our contracts. Originally we had signed our contracts, which finished in March (when the school year ends here). However the BOE likes us, so they are talking about extending our contracts until July (Summer break starts here and only lasts for the month of August). I think if the BOE follows through and offers me employment through July I'll accept it. I feel like if I went home at the end of March I wouldn't have been here long enough. At the same time I don't think I would want to recontract for another year from March 2009 to March 2010. So by extending my contract to July I think its the perfect scenario for me.

Now to the Other stuff:
(especially weekends) I have this overwhelming urge to go outside and do something. Even if its going somewhere in Tokyo, or Oyama, or Utsunomiya, where ever really. I hate sitting at my computer when I'm in Japan. I feel like I need someone (friend) in my life that is super ambitious and is always doing something... that would be awesome. Maybe that or I just need to be that person myself and do everything and invite people. I feel like I waste my time doing nothing. I'm ok doing things by myself and I don't need someone to do stuff with, but it makes things more fun when I have a friend to do adventerous stuff with. Alot of people here that I'm friends with are either poor, boring, or isolate themselves.

I feel like I've had this urge since I've got here. And it hasn't been satisfied yet. I don't think it will go away even if I start being more adverturous.

I NEED ADVENTURES! (I'm on one, yet I don't feel fulfilled yet!)

ADVENTURE FACE! (Old pic but its adventurous) Things that happened over the week:

On Tuesday I went with Noshiro Sensei and Carrie to an Eye doctors here. I gave them my prescription and managed to register to get some new contacts, so this week I'm trying this trial pair. I'll start wearing them more if they are comfy. The eye doctors gave me three boxes of solution with cases and everything for free. I don't think I'll need to buy new solution for a while lol. They are Acuvue Oasis or something, they aren't bad but they do get dry after about 8 hours or so I think. I'll buy two boxes next Tuesday when they're ready for pick up.

Taught at Tenmyo from Wed-Fri. I got out early on Wednesday and got my first hair cut since I've been here! Here's a pic of it: I took with my new WEBCAM!!! (More about that later)

Giving directions in Japanese was interesting but I didn't really have that much trouble. The barber (was a woman) and I talked a bit about stuff. She said she'd try to learn more English and I said I'm learning new Japanese everyday lol. I told her about myself and she thought it was cool, because I guess being a foreigner (at least in Sano) automatically makes you interesting.

On Thursday I had to stay at school late because I got out early on Wednesday which I was ok with because I just talked to Teroka Sensei for like 2 hrs. I talked about drama in the school between the teachers and the Principal. Kinda crazy how much goes on behind the scenes at some of my schools, I guess living in ignorance is good and bad? We also talked about what is common in the US vs what's common in Japan, like with people my age. How in America its common to move out of your parents house after high school or college. But in Japan its common that females live with their parents until they get married. I told her about the emphasis on individuality and America and how everyone wants to be independent. Pretty interesting talk. I didn't get home until like 6 something but it was ok because I had a good conversation with her.

Here's a dinner I had this week:
Delicious, easy to make, and nutricious! Triple play! haha. Chicken salad thingy.

(Fri) Last night I went to Becky's because she was having a "house warming party" but not really she just bought a couch and needed help getting it in the house lol. Even tho the delivery guys brought it in just fine... Anyways the party was alright, we played some circle of death (drinking games) and hung out. I think Rob had the most fun, because he doesn't get to go house party's often haha. After that we went to Shidax for some Karaoke, but in all truth I should of just went home before that. Karaoke was fun but not that great because I was just exhausted. It was just a bit annoying because we couldnt decide what to do and no one was happy with the results and everyone was tired. I think Kristine got some good photos of the night, I'll ask for em later.

Today has been a little bit of a waste. I did some laundry, and did some stuff around the house. I also went out and bought a web cam, so now I talk with people from back home and they can see me! I also bought a bike pump which is great because now my bike feels like new after pumping the tires, they must of been really low.

I talked with Chris (who is in Kyoto) and Halston (MD) for a couple hours today. Here's the thing we used.

We caught up with each other and talked for a bit. After Halston and I played an online game, fun times.

Tomorrow I'm going to Adrian's house in Oyama for a big Thanksgiving event! It should be fun, but I feel like they is going to be to many people there and not enough room. There should be plenty of food because we all are bringing something, but ... just so many people and doing anything in big groups is difficult in Japan.

In other news, this picture of Luke makes me smile lol. It also makes me miss my family.

I was thinking about going to Chiba to visit a friend but she way busy this weekend. Maybe next time.

Now I'm bored and finishing the last of my laundry, I don't think anyone is doing anything tonight, I think I'm in for a boring Saturday night. In the mean time I'll be crawling out of my skin to do something.

First Month A Success!

September is over and so is my first month of teaching English here in Japan. I must say the wait was much worse than the actual job. The job is actually really fun and easy. I experienced a lot of stress before getting here, having to get all my documents in order, rushing here and there, getting my visa the day before my flight, thinking about how much I'd miss my family and friends, and hoping I could afford it all. Luckily my family supported me throughout the whole ordeal and without them I wouldn’t be here today. I’m very grateful for all of their support. I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive family. Then, once I got here there was even more stress because of how my body was reacting, and how I had such a hard time adapting to the food here, but now all of that is alleviated. I’ve adapted to the food and now and I have no problems.

I really enjoy teaching, I’d say probably more than I expected. Being around kids all day is a lot of fun, but definitely tiring. I think I’m much more tired when I’m not teaching than when I’m in the classroom. I only ever feel tired right after lunch and recess when I’m in the staff room sitting there being bored. I thought that this job would be a lot more fun than any office job I’d land in the states (at least right after college) and my experience so far confirms it. On a side note the 1^st and 2^nd graders here are overwhelmingly cute.

It can sometimes be difficult to talk or work with some of the teachers here because they don’t know any English and my Japanese isn’t strong enough to bridge that gap just yet. Somehow through body language and other various ways I’m almost always able to communicate what needs to be done. Thankfully I haven’t had any serious problems at all with the teachers. I think pretty much everyone at my schools likes me. There hasn’t really been any one time where there has been a total failure to communicate. I was expecting to hang out more with the teachers but because they are so busy and with the whole language gap it is a bit difficult.

I feel healthy and I am getting a lot of exercise. I bike to school everyday and am very energetic in the classroom. I think the kids love the energy. I'm still working on making a catch phrase that I want all the kids saying by the end of the year haha. I also take every chance I can to go play games at recess. The kids always fight over me because some want me to jump rope, want me to play soccer, and some want me to play dodge ball. I try to do a little of each everyday. On the weekends I’ve been trying to stay active as well. I bought a tennis racket and plan on playing this weekend. Last weekend I went to my prefectures capital (like a state capital) about an hour train ride away and played Ultimate Frisbee. I made a bunch of new of new friends there. Last weekend after practice they invited me to come out drinking with them but I already had plans, maybe this weekend I’ll go with them haha.

I think that my life here can only get better as time goes on. So far that’s been the trend and I think its going to continue. I believe this because I’m going to get to know Sano better (find all the awesome little niche places), I’m going to keep making new friends (in addition to the ALTs make Japanese friends), and I’m going to continue to improve my Japanese (so I know what the hell I’m buying/eating/using ect.).

Soon I think there are free Japanese language classes in Ashikaga, a close by city. I want to go when they start so I can continue to learn. Self study is good, and I’m learning but not at a fast enough pace. I think being in a class of some kind might facilitate faster learning because there is someone pushing you to learn.

My ALT friends and I have decided to make Wednesday nights “closet movie night”. Where we watch a movie that is supposed to be bad but we all secretly like. Last Wednesday we watched Mean Girls, which I thought was well written hah. Next Wednesday I think it’s Snakes on a Plane, which I still haven’t seen but want to.

Life is good.

This week I taught at Tenmyo and Ueno, all easy and fun. I'm starting to teach about Halloween the kids seem pretty interested, but the teachers almost seem more interested than the kids haha. I want to dress up and go to class, if they let me I totally will.

The Weekend /Day off/ Tenmyo Wednesday

So my weekend was pretty fun. Alot of funny stories/good times. Today I have a complimentary day off due to me participating at the Undokai (Sports Day). I'm going to use the day by biking around town, I might even try to bike up into the mountains or west to Ashikaga. I'm going to buy map before I start my adventure. I'll take videos and maybe put something together when I get home tonight.
*Edit*
Here's Pictures of my bike ride to Ashikaga. I think I biked over 30km yesterday. My butt is sore from the seat haha.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065792&l=ccb11&id=38001190

Here's a video I complied of my day.




Here's some of my fav pics of the day.






*Edit*
Today I taught at Tenmyo and I got my first gift! Check it out. It's a drawing of DragonballZ guys. It's pretty amazing to have been done by a 5th grader. I gave him a picture of Sasuke in return!



YOU ROCK! I LOVE IT!

Also I haven't taught in Azuma Elementary school yet but some of the students from there saw me today at the grocery store. They actually recognized me from Sports Day and came up to me and said hello. Then their Mom was like That's the Hayai sensei (Fast teacher)! I just thought it was funny that I'm now known as the hayai sensei there.

Azuma Junior High School 吾妻中学校

Today I taught my first day at a Junior High School. It was alot of fun, a bit different from teaching at Elementary School, but fun none the less. So since Azuma is the smallest Junior High in Sano I taught the entire school (grades 7,8,9) (or they call it years 1 2 3). I believe the whole school only has something like 60-70 students.

First I had the welcome ceremony speech. It went really well. I'm actually on the schools website now http://www.sctv.jp/~stude-sanojazuma/news/200809011.html check it out.

The thing below my pictures (in the link) is my introduction. I ended it by saying LET'S STUDY ENGLISH in Japanese! I typed it in English and Japanese and for some reason everyone was shocked that I knew how to type in Japanese. Everyone complimented me on my Japanese but in reality I'm no good! After my intro I taught 1st year students (7th grade). Each year had one thing the majority of them liked, it was kind of interesting.

I also made it onto the principals daily newspaper.


I made sure to be extra goofy. (That's my specialty) It helps the kids want to participate and when you make them laugh they have more fun learning than just being dry and boring.

So first year students are all really into tennis and net sports. I taught them how to do self introductions. Basically: "Hello. My name is ___. Please call me ____. I like ___." and a free sentence to say whatever they want. It was great one kid, his name is Heihachi Mishima (which is a character from tekken) and he said but please call me Jack Bauer (from 24). I just started cracking up. Then for his free sentence he said I am not good at English. That was the highlight of that class haha. I also taught them some grammar, something like "How many ____ do you see?"

Second year students are really into Tekken. I challenged them to a game and said let's play sometime. We all talked about what characters we liked. I wonder if I can beat them, or maybe they'll just straight up destroy me. I need to go to my local arcade and practice haha! Either way I HOPE THEY BRING IT!
I also had lunch with this class. The girls that sat near me kept asking me tons of questions. Eventually they kept giggling and I was like nani? (what)? Then I overheard them asking - Do you have a girlfriend? I just told them it was a secret haha. So everytime they asked (which was alot) I would just say it's a secret then they would giggle. Kind of entertaining.

Third year students are really into anime and specifically Naruto, and Prince of Tennis, as well as another one I forgot the name of. I told them I'd make copies of my drawings and give them out sometime. For their self introducions alot of them said "I was very happy to hear you like Naruto too!"

On Saturday I have to go to Azuma's Sports Day. I don't really know what I'm supposed to do but I guess I'll find out. I volunteered to participate in the 4x100M relay race. I told them I was on track in high school and they think I'm super fast. I told them I'm probably slow now. It should be alot of fun, I wonder what other events they'll let me participate in. FUN STUFF!

I almost forgot today was 9/11 until I saw the news here. They showed ground zero where they are constructing the freedom tower (basically where my aunt works). I hope that anyone who lost someone on that day has found peace.

Tenmyo Elementary School 天明小学校

Today I taught at Tenmyo Elementary School. I had 4 classes, two first grade classes and two sixth grade classes. The two first grade classes were both really cute. Again the same reactions to all my self introduction props. AWESOME! SUGOI! KAWAII! JYOZU! Hah introductions are fun.

Todays topics were greetings and "What are you doing". I taught the first graders all about greetings. Hello, good morning, good afternoon ect. They enjoyed when I exaggerated things again. For "See you" I put a peace sign up, so they all copied me and did it too it was cute. For goodnight I pretended to sleep and then when they said goodnight I pretended that it woke me up.

After class there was two little girls (1st graders) that kept following me around hahah, in the small break between 2nd and 3rd period I went outside with them and played jump rope with them hahah. Then we played a game of tag - always fun.

After that I taught another first grade class (same stuff). Then I had lunch with some 4th graders. They asked me all about NY and what kind of olympics events I liked. There was a couple questions I couldn't answer because they asked things in Japanese I haven't learned yet. They asked if I was skilled in Dodgeball, I told them I played alot as a kid. So when recess came I went outside and dominated, of course I didn't throw at full speed but the kids were doing their best and aiming for my head ahhaha. I was pulled early from dodgeball because I had a meeting for classes next week. It went quicky but by then recess was over, damn!

After that I taught 6th graders. After doing my introduction to them they wanted my pictures I drew of Naruto characters. All the kids were saying SASUKE PUREASE! (sasuke please) Haha, after the class they all wanted to see the pictures again.

The lesson plan for the 6th graders was "What are you doing?" and then "I am ___" so I had a bunch of flash cards like "Playing the piano" "walking" "swimming" ect. After they understood what everything was we played "Karuta" which is a popular game they play in Japanese schools. Groups of about 4-5 students push their desks together and the teacher puts little pictures cards their desks in the middle. So the teacher asks me "What are you doing?" I respond "I am swimming." then the students try to grab the card with the picture of a guy swimming on it. The object of the game is to get as many cards as you can correctly.

I would trick the kids, when there was just 1 card left and it was "I am playing baseball." I would say playing the piano, or basketball and they would grab the card ... WRONG! hahah. Karuta is fun, and fun to watch.

After that I got to go home early because they said that there are times where they will require me to stay past my designated 4:15 time so when I finish early they want me to go home early. I was happy to oblige, but before I left I talked alot with the English Cooridator at the school. She was interested in knowing a bit about me and it was nice to talk to her.

I'm not sure whats going on tonight, but tomorrow everyone here has a doctors appointment because the company wants us to get all checked out. Luckily it's paid for so thats good although I bet it will take all day... so its kind of a waste of a Saturday and I have to get up early and all but whateva.

じゃあ、またね。

Teaching: DAY THREE

Today I taught my third and final day this week at Ueno. I taught all of the 1st grade classes and the average class size was about 35 students. The first graders enjoyed my self introduction and some reoccuring responses are developing from every class I have introduced myself to I've noticed. After the class the kids came up to me and asked a couple questions and a few of them wanted to touch my beard hahaha.

The first graders were SO FREEKIN CUTE! I taught them about the weather. How's the weather? It's sunny, windy, cloudy, rainy, ect. The kids all had a blast learning because I was being really funny. For wind I would pretend to get blown away they were all cracking up. And during some of the other ones I would do a little dumb dance or mess around and a few kids would catch it and mimic me it was funny.

The teachers had to encourage them to speak louder so when they started yelling I pretended to be shocked and covered my ears. This made them yell even louder hahah then the teachers had to tell them to quiet down. I ate lunch with the kids too, we had some good food today, we had 2 meatballs (ahahha) some asian version of vegetable soup, a small sub sized piece of bread (covered in sugar like a doughnut) and some apple jello. After that I went out to play recess, alot of the kids from my previous classes recognized me and wanted to play frisbee again WOOP!

Shortly after getting outside one of the teachers (Ms. Matsumoto who's 22 like me yay!) told me I had a meeting so I had to skip recess. I was bummed out but its ok because the meeting went well and the teacher Mr. Ayuse kept saying that I was skilled in Japanese. I was like hells no I'm not!

Whenever I'm bored in the teachers room I learn from my Genki textbook and use my dictionary to learn some new words. Even if I don't learn much new grammar its always good to know more vocab. Everyday I've been taking notes of stuff I want to say in Japanese and then adding it to my Digital Flash Card deck, so even though I'm not getting any official schooling on Japanese I'll learn new stuff. I almost fell asleep in the teachers room the past two days, so I should start getting more sleep. It's rough because I eat, then go to recess, then come back and sit for two hours in the hot teachers room and try to study but always come inches from dozing off.

I also am a bit bored at home so I've been drawing more pictures haha, tonight I drew Sasuke from Naruto. Its cool because they will make great prizes for kids in some of my classes. Check em out.

Tomorrow I go teach at Funatsugawa Elementary School, which is about a 30 minute bike ride out in the country side. I'm actually teaching the entire school in one day. It's funny because an average class size I've taught so far has be around 35. Funatsugawa Elementary has a total of 21 students (including 1st - 6th grade). It's crazy, but its great because then I can actually get to know the kids names! Unfortunately I only get to teach there twice a month but by the end of the time I'll def. know the kids names there.


Tomorrow should be fun.
EXCITEMENT!

2nd Day of Classes

So today, I taught at the same school as yesterday Ueno Elementary School (this is my primary school in that I teach here the most). Today was much more fun that yesterday since I taught 3rd graders, which I've heard are supposed to be the most fun to teach. All the kids loved my introduction and wanted to see the stuff after it was over. They think Luke is really cute, that my Mom is beautiful, and are all amazed at the age difference between me and my brothers. They think I'm good at drawing, haha no way, they asked if I was a comic artist haha NOPE! It's funny because alot of the teachers here like Naruto (an anime I watch) as much as the kids. I taught 4 classes today, which is all of the 3rd grade at my school. The lesson plan was almost the same as yesterday. I got to sing head shoulders knees and toes and the kids all laughed because I did mine exagerated. I would open my mouth huge on the mouth part and pull my ears out on the ears part. I also lifted my leg and touched my knees and toes instead of bending down sometimes hahah. The kids are all so freekin cute!

It seems that every class has some sort of trouble maker, which isn't that bad because I can just tell them to stop it in Japanese. Some are just more forward and or weird that others, like one today tried to jump to much on me so I stopped him.

Today I got to go to recess with the kids which was alot of fun. I taught them how to play Frisbee. This one kid, I never got to asking his name, was attached to my hip for the whole recess. Even though all the rest of the kids went crazy for the Frisbee, would throw it and rush to it, this one kid just stood by me the whole time haha. They just crowded and fought over the Frisbee until someone finally threw it. I had to break them into teams so they could actually throw it and catch it without hitting each other in the face. Naturally they wanted a Otoko team and a Onna team (boys and girls) which was fine. After breaking them up they threw it from group to group which was fun to watch.

After recess I had a 2 hour break and then a meeting to make lesson plans for classes next week (4th grade and 6th grade). It went well and I understood alot of what they were saying at the meeting. I also brought my dictionary just in case haha.

After the meeting I posted a note in Japanese that if any teachers want to learn English I'd be happy to teach them, and I put my email on it.

On the way home (on my bike) I rode past a store and some kids inside said NIKORASU SENSEI!? I noticed and waved they all went crazy haha. That right there pretty much made my day that I've only been there two days and kids are already recognizing me and excited to see me.

Tomorrow I teach 1st graders, apparently they don't learn anything, but I'll see what I can do.

Drunk and Soaked but Lovin It

Let me tell you im kinda drunk and soaked but tonight was fun. More about it later when I wake up and I am capable of typing.

**Edit**

Ok, so yesterday was pretty fun. I woke up and started my day. Went out and bought a couple more things for my house including printing paper (because I was inspired to draw haha). I read alot of manga yesterday, something I don't really ever do. After watching Naruto here on TV I got inspired so I read the manga online. I read a bit ahead and after reading a few chapters I stopped myself because I want to wait for the Anime to catch up to where I am now. Its crazy how far ahead the manga is. After reading I also got inspired to draw (someting I haven't done since like middle school) and I drew a picture of a character from the show. I'm still working on it but so far I like how it has turned out considering how long its been since I've drawn anything.
After drawing for a bit it was time to head to the station. So I hopped on my bike and went there. I met up with everyone at about 7:00. Once we all met we went to an Izakaya (A bar with big tables and good a la carte food) It was about 17 people total, the biggest get together we've had so far. It was hilarious because 3 of my bosses we're with us. Noshiro-Sensei (The head of all ALT's in Sano), Grant (the guy from joytalk who hired me), Asumi (Another staff at Joytalk, ALT cooridnatior) were all going to come out with us which was awesome. You all know how I am with pictures so here's a pic of me and the staff.

Noshiro and I (He's awesome)

Asumi and I (She did a good job of looking crazy, haha she's alot of fun)
Grant and I (He's the man because of all the work he does for us at the office) He takes time away from family to help us and of course party with us ahhaha

In addition to all the bosses almost all the ALT's from Sano and Ashikaga came in addition to a couple people I met for the first time. After enjoying ourselves at the izakaya we went to Karaoke (the 2nd time for me since I've been here).

Karaoke was alot of fun but hella expensive. I need to cut back on stuff like that when I can because it's pinching my wallet! Next time I'll head back lol, or not get all you can drink. Haha I want to say thank you to Zamira for singing "If we hold on together" by Diana Ross ahaha that song brought be straight back to my childhood. It was the ending theme to The Land Before Time .. an awesome movie. Once it came on I somehow knew the lyrics... good song.

After that I biked home, in the pouring rain. Kind of sucked but ya know it was worth it. I'm looking forward to more nights like this.

To see more pictures for those of you who don't have facebook click the following link : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064570&l=d684a&id=38001190

Exploring Sano/Engrish Explosion

So today has been semi productive. I basically woke up, ate some breakfast, showered, put some laundry in the washing machine (it's been a couple hours and its still running, I hope it works hahah) and then hopped on my bike to explore Sano. Luckily today was only cloudy and not raining so my 3-5 hour bike exploration went pretty well. Below is a little video I complied from a bunch of clips I took throughout the day. I thought this would be easier than putting all these clips separetely.


Something cool about where I live is I live off of two highways kind of. It's funny because the two highways are same number as the ones I lived near growing up in Maryland and in College. 270 like Montgomery County and 50 like Salisbury.



I biked east of where I live and there's nothing really out there but I did found out that I live very close to Daimonji. Daimonji is explained below: Daimonji at Night:

Gozan no Okuribi (五山送り火), more commonly known as Daimonji (大文字), is one of the iconic festivals of Kyoto, Japan. It is the culmination of the O-Bon festival on August 16th, in which five giant bonfires are lit on mountains surrounding the city. It signifies the moment when the spirits of deceased family members, who are said to visit this world during O-Bon, are believed to be returning to the spirit world—thus the name Okuribi (送り火) (roughly, "send-off fire").

The origins of the festival are obscure, but it is believed to be ancient. Specific families have the hereditary duty of organizing all the logistics of the bonfires, and they spend many hours annually providing volunteer labor to maintain this tradition. Starting at 8PM, the giant bonfires are lit, each with a distinctive shape. Below is the picture I took of it from the bridge near me.

So let me explain what Engrish is for those of you who don't know, its English that Japanese people believes sounds correct, but its just not. After exploring I started to head back and hit up every clothes store I could find. I found so much engrish its not even funny, but it is.

More exploration to come tomorrow.

Quick Question

Does it ever stop raining in Sano? It's honestly starting to get super annoying and really depressing. It hasn't stopping raining since I got here about a week ago. I really want to explore more of the town but when its raining like this its difficult.

Last night I arranged a huge get together that started off at meeting at the train station at 8pm. I got up with some other ALTs that have been here for over a year. All and all we had I think around 12 people. It was good to meet the group that had been here for a year because they know all the good spots to go.

First we went to this italian food place called like Salvatori or something. It was alright food wise, but we went there to drink a bit. Next we went and Karaoked! There was a place within walking distance of the food place to Karaoke. I was a fun time at karaoke we sang tons of crazy songs. I have a couple videos I might post later of it. The other ALTs also got some great videos and pictures I'll try to set links up once they post them. My friends know I like to get into random pictures with people I never met before so I did hahaha. They were drunk and liked




And here's a pic of the people I do know
After karaoke we went to some small bar where someone in our group knew the owner. It had like a Rhasta theme to it. Bob Marley was playing of course ahha. I was pretty tired at that point and stopped drinking all together. We played some pool and hung out for a couple hours then headed out. All an all an OK night.

Today my mission is to try to figure out my laundry machine. I need to buy a pole for hanging my clothes up but since its raining all the time I don't know where I can dry them...

A little Better

Ok, so thankfully I felt a little bit better today. I was able to eat some regular food finally. I finally got a rice cooker and some groceries. This way I can control my own diet a little better.

Training today was better than yesterday. I learned a bit and got some good ideas for lesson plans and games. We watched a video basically giving us examples of how work will be in the classroom and it looks pretty fun. The kids in elementary school are all super enthusiastic to learn English. The stuff they review is pretty basic as most of it is vocab and just word exposure. The Junior High looks a little boring as most of it is grammar related but luckily I will only be teaching it twice a month.

The weather here is still very bad in that its really humid and its been raining on and off the past 3 days. Tomorrow all the ALT's are going to an overnight kids camp. While there I guess we're supposed to interact with the kids and break into groups and make lesson plans. Joytalk never really tells us what's going on until its happening so I don't really know what to expect. I think we're also supposed to practice being around kid and getting everything we've learned in training down. Its a 1 hr 30 min train ride on top of a 2 hour car ride to the camp so I hope it'll be fun.

So far the other ALT's in Sano seem real nice. Two are from New Zealand (Regan and Oliver), One is from Canada (Astria) and the rest are from America (Graham, Becky, Me). There are a couple others that are in a city close by called Ashikaga that are pretty nice people as well, Sean (British) and Zamira (American). The problem is we all live so far away and don't have any real transportation (besides my bike). Sano Japan is kind of like the suburbs of America. You really need a car to get around/have fun/go fun places. Some of the other ALTs might be required to get a car but until then we're all kind of stranded in our own places. Also we don't have cell phones yet so communication is tough. Yesterday I registered to get my Gaikokujin (Foreigner) Card yesterday and I can pick it up on Sept. 3rd. (You need this to get stuff like a cell phone in Japan) Today once we got back from training I helped Becky and Graham get theirs as well.

Working in Japan will be alot different than going to school here. Last time I had tons of free time, this time I won't have that much free time because I'll be working probably over 40 hours a week and have tons of school event to go to on the weekends, seeing as how I'm expected to attend school events and I have 5 schools I'll be teaching at. I really just want to start already, all this training has got me ansy.

One more thing, I experienced my 3rd earthquake in Japan, but don't be alarmed it was nothing serious. It just felt like a subway was going by.

I Moved In!

I changed my blog layout because this one is a bit easier on the eyes. Anyways....
Ok, so today was a bit stressful and very long but now has almost come to an end. It started off with me waking up at 4am again. I talked with people online and killed time until 8:00, then Graham (Another ALT, from Texas) and I went out for a stroll. We had a good chat about how he's never been to Japan, and I explained how he's going to be in culture shock for about a month, then we went to the convenience store.

After getting some stuff at the store we came back and got our luggage ready because today we were supposed to move into our new places. After getting everyone rallied and packed up we got in 2 vans and headed out. After about an hour of driving we made it to Sano city. Once we got there we went to pick up two other ALTs from Sano Train Station. After that we were supposed to find the office for the housing we live in (Leo Palace). This way we could get our keys and everything settled. It took us a long time to finally find the office. Once we got there, there were some problems. Apparently the office (in Utsunomiya) our company filed all the paperwork with hadn't sent it to the office we went to (in Sano). After about a half and hour of getting that settled Grant showed us where we'd all be living. See the picture below for my location in relation to Sano Station. The station is right above the red, and I'm at the blue circle.

I live in southwest Sano about a 15-20 minute walk to the main station. I also found out today that I'll be teaching at 5 different schools! This wasn't very good news considering I kind of preferred to work at less schools so I could get to know the students and staff better but I guess on the brighter side I'll get to meet tons of people. After that we started to move into our new places one by one. Next we went to a shopping mall and bought futon matresses for our bed area. I also bought sheets but they were accidentally left in the car so now I'll have to just sleep on the futon itself. Below are pictures of the main room. Click on them to make them bigger.



My place is actually really nice, and I'm glad I got to choose this over the older place. Also the internet wasn't supposed to start working until tomorrow but it luckily works tonight. Next you can get a virtual tour of my house haha.(Once it uploads I'll post it)



Sano isn't quite how I pictured it, but most of the time things rarely look how you imagine or picture them so I wasn't too surprised. I think it will look much nicer once it stops raining. Today the weather was pretty bad but hopefully tomorrow it will be nicer. Tomorrow I have to wake up early because I have a meeting with one of the schools I'll be teaching at and the board of education. Its kind of important that I make a good impression with both.

All my life up to this point I've been living with other people whether it be family or a roommate/roommates. Now living on my own I kind of see how much I enjoyed living with other people. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the luxuries of living on my own but I feel it doesn't make up for having a someone around to just hang out with or talk to ect. I need to make some friends here to keep myself from being lonely. Right now I'm ok but I can see myself getting lonely and possibly bored pretty quick if I don't make friends quickly.

In other news I haven't been eating much at all but surprisingly I haven't been hungry. I hope I'm alright.. my stomach must of resigned itself haha. Either that or somethings wrong with me, I need to see a hypnotist to make me like Japanese food or a doctor to find out I have some type of psychological problem or something.

Farewell to America アメリカよ さようなら

The next couple days I'm going to be pretty busy getting everything packed, and getting my visa processed, so more than likely this will be my last post from America. I'm only three days away from Japan. It doesn't feel like I'm that close to leaving. I'm pretty much positive it won't hit me until I'm on the plane. It doesn't feel the same as it did last time but that's because this time I'm going to a different place, and I'm going alone (at least until I make friends). If this trip is half as fun as the last it'll be amazing and well worth any stress I've dealt with up to this point. (Including the fact that I have to get my visa processed in one day, and hope I get it otherwise who knows what I'll do.)

(Last time was awesome)

My family really helped me out a ton with raising money for my first few months in Japan. My grandmother even gave me Yen so I don't have to scramble for an ATM in Narita (awesome). I set a goal to raise $2000 in the beginning of the Summer. I wanted to get a job over the Summer to raise some money but it didn't work out (Stupid Target). Luckily I have an amazing family that helped me out big time. They helped me raise over $2200. This is so generous considering I recently received graduation money from all of them. I'd pay them back but I know more than likely they won't want money they will only want me to enjoy myself in Japan. I want to make a big list of everyone who contributed and get them something really nice from Japan. The only problem is deciding what to get for everyone, but I have plenty of time to figure it out.

I plan on posting a ton (if not on this blog another one) once I get to Japan so everyone back home can see how my life is while I'm there. I've started packing and I'm asking my American friends to tell me what they missed when they we're in Japan. This way I'll have ideas to tell my family because they all want to send me stuff. I'm also asking them to send me the name of songs they like so I'll have music to listen to while in Japan.



Overall I've had a pretty good Summer. It was good to live with my family again, even though the new house is so far from all of my friends. It's weird because its almost like I'm going back to school since every year over the past four years I've moved back into school about this time of the year.

Hanging out with my Brothers was alot of fun, they're both crazy characters and are a blast even though at times they got on my nerves (as brothers do). Seeing them grow up and being a part of their life is very important to me. I hope both of them turn out to be good men, and I hope I'll have an active part in that. I was also very happy to get to see and hang out with alot of my close friends before I leave. I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but I will see them when I get back and maybe if I'm lucky they will visit me while I'm in Japan.

I'm going to miss my brother's laughter.

I've got tons to pack. My friends and family will be missed dearly.

As Summer comes to an end my life in Japan waits in the distance.... (almost sounds like engrish)
*Edit*
Just finished packing and I got everything under 50 lbs. so I'm almost READY!
I wonder who reads this without me saying check out my blog? I like comments! (Make one)

Another Edit*

I went to the Japanese consulate today, and luckily, very, very luckily, I got my Visa processed in one day. Now I'm set to go, I have to wake up early and go to the airport. GOODBYE AMERICA!

Housing!!!

I recently talked to Joytalk and I got to choose my housing situation. I had the option of an older house with an additional half room and it was 5000 yen less a month or a newer house with newer furniture and other add-ons. This was a quick decision for me, I choose the newer house. Below is a picture of the layout and the main room.

Although it looks small everything in Japan is small. The housing looks really nice. It is a newer building and everything is furnished. I will also get free appliances and internet/basic cable is provided. The kitchen is tiny but I'm not going to be in there that often. I think I will get an extra futon for when people visit, and I'll set up my laptop on the desk I have. My bed is also in a raised position with storage underneath and 2 stairs leading up to it. I won't be throwing many house parties, but no one really does in Japan (no room).

NEW JOB INFO!

OK! So I found out a bunch of great info from Joytalk. First off, I got a choice as to where I teach, and where I live! I told him that I'd prefer to work with Elementary School but I'd like a mix. He basically said we have a position that's perfect for that. So I will be teaching for the majority of my time in Elementary School. However I will also have 14 total days teaching in Junior High School. This is great because it's exactly what I wanted. Also he asked me if I preferred to drive or not, of course I said not! He said that the place I'd be living is close to the main ES I'd be teaching at. AWESOME!

Next he told me that my visa is almost done and that it will be sent asap which is good, I need to get it done before I leave!

Also I found out there will be 10 ALT's in Sano, and that Sano has a curriculum which means less hard work for me! GREAT!

Next he told me that all the ALT's will be spread out in different apartments over a 5KM area. This is good because it gives me space, but I'm close enough to other ALT's that if we want to hang out we can!

SO MUCH GOOD NEWS! The little chat I had with Joytalk really relieved some stress.