My Weekend Adventure: Gifu City and Nagoya!

This past Friday was the second Mid-Term conference that my prefecture (think US State) had this year. Basically all 52 ALTS in Gifu Prefecture came to the capital of our prefecture and meet at the convention center to go over new developments and learn new tricks and ideas for teaching English. To be honest, there really isn’t anything too special about this conference; it is really a lot of catching up with your friends who live far away from you.

My adventure started with a train ride for 75 minutes to the capital, Gifu City. Then I miraculously found the bus stop I needed to board the bus taking my 25 minutes to the convention center. About two hours after I left my apartment, I arrived at the convention center!

We heard some speeches about captivating audiences and children, but nothing that I didn’t have an idea about in the first place. My favorite part was the book swap! You can exchange books you’ve read with others or you can pay 100 yen ($1.25) for a book. Think well used books and rarely used books! Jackpot!

After the conference, about 32 of us went to this event called an Enkai. It is basically a dinner party/event with your friends. You pay a base fee and for 2-3 hours, you get as much food and drinks as you want. I paid 3500 yen ($42), which is a pretty good deal in a big city. The night was very eventful and it was nice to unwind with other ALTs. We made our way to karaoke after dinner and eventually, 8 or 9 of us found our way to someone’s apartment and all crammed in and called it a night. The nice part about coming a long way for a conference is that it is never difficult to find a place to stay after your last train leaves.

Saturday morning came quickly, and soon we were out on the street with no plans. I decided that since I was so close to Nagoya, I might as well spend the day shopping and spending time with actually civilization. Let me tell you how awesome it turned out. I’ve been dying to see a movie on the big screen, so I made it a point to find a movie theatre. Guess what, I did! But first, I had one of the greatest turkey sandwiches at Subway. Then, I went to a bookstore and loaded up on some free viewing of foreign magazines (the Economist was $25, People $15, Harvard Business Review $40!! Crazy I know!). I also used the bookstore to get some ideas of books I want to buy from Amazon Japan. I never used Amazon in America, but I love it here! It’s so much cheaper than at home, I can pay in cash at the convenience store, and it’s delivered free to the convenience store! Ok, but back to the main point. After the bookstore, we were feeling a little smelly and dirty from not having a shower the night before, so we asked the wonderful people at the Nagoya Station INfomration Center for a onsen or hot spring bath they recommended. We followed the directions and about 2 hours later, I was clean and incredibly relaxed! If you’ve never had an onsen or hot spring bath, google it and go to one ASAP. It will change your world! After the bath, I found a movie theatre by the main Nagoya stations. I went and saw “The Social Network”, I heard great things about it after it seemed to have won every single Golden Globe this year. I was accompanied by another ALT from about 2 hours North of me, and we were lucky enough that every 22^nd is “couples day”, so we paid 1000 yen ($13) a person instead of 1800 yen ($22). I even went all out and got caramel popcorn (amazing!).

Subway: Japanese Style

Caramel Corn!

After the movie, the other ALT and I, met up with other foreigners and ate dinner at Outback! YUM! I forgot how amazing foreign food can be! I had grilled chicken, with veggies and fries and oh my gosh, it was amazing! After dinner, I caught the last train to my town and walked home from the local train station with all of my goodies from my day in Nagoya.

Sunday was no big event. Since I was gone last weekend, I had an accumulation of clothes and general cleaning to be done. It was a task! I don’t remember the last time I spent so much time cleaning and such.

The Snowboarding Weekend Getaway

Hakuba-Iwate Resort

My first week back from Winter Vacation was a blur. Just as I thought it was starting, it was already over. I taught at 2 JH schools, and this week, I’m rotating through my last JH before my ES rotation starts again. Last week was very uneventful because thanks to the time change, I was usually asleep before 10pm. On Friday, I saw my first snowfall of the year (about 1.5 inches). However, today is a far cry from the light dusting we received on Friday. This weekend was steady snowfall all around the colder parts of Japan. My town received a little over 4 inches of snow, but with the low temperatures, it has lasted throughout the weekend and it continued snowing today. After living in Moscow for the past four year, I’ve grown accustomed to driving in the snow and ice. However, I wasn’t so sure this morning if my car could handle getting out of my JHS parking lot, so I trudged my way about 1.5 miles to school in my Ugg boots (not the best idea). The inside of the school was roughly 34-42 degrees depending on a hallway or classroom. I love the fact that the doors are still open to the outside even when it is snowing. I even asked a teacher and she didn't even notice the doors were open and starting laughing.

Okay, back to the weekend! There were 5 of us going to Nagano Prefecture (which is right next door to my Prefecture). You might remember Nagano from the 1998 Olympics or the famous ALT soccer team that won a tournament there in October…Since my apartment was the closest to Nagano, three people arrived at my apartment at 1am Saturday morning to sleep for about 3 hours, and then depart for Nagano at 4am. It was quite the early morning, but thanks to the 4-hour car ride, I was able to nap for another 3 hours. We made our way through the snowy towns, and finally ended up at the Hakuba-Iwate ski resort. For 3300 yen ($40), I got a ski pass and a lunch voucher (similar to golf). I thought it was a pretty awesome deal! We snowboarded all day and left the resort at closing time. We stayed at this lovely hostel, (more like a hotel), and I met quite a few individuals from other countries (New Zealand, Wales, England, and some other countries)…some people were staying there for 3 months! Could you imagine that!

Sunday morning, we went to the Hakuba-Goryu / Hakuba-47 resorts (they are adjoined, but technically separate). This resort was much larger and I would say there had to have been 30% foreigners there! They even had a Subway in the lodge. That was my little piece of heaven for the weekend for sure! After two days of steady snowfall (it snowed 20 inches Saturday night alone!), my body was exhausted! I forgot how much snowboarding through powder can wear down you body. We went back to the lodge and took a shower and got the car all packed up at headed out at 6pm. After a stop for dinner (sushi), we were on the way back to Mitake. I can honestly say I don’t remember much, due to the fact I passed out due to snowboarding fatigue. We got back to my apartment at about 11:45pm and everyone else headed back to their places (about 90 minutes further away). My apartment was a welcoming 44 degrees and I couldn’t turn the heat on fast enough.

We Found This "Character" Having A Smoke Outside

Things I learned: they don’t have lift tickets in Japan, instead you have a metal scanner that you scan at each lift and then return at the end of the day. The snow must be different because I’ve never had my goggle fog up as bad as they did, and it wasn’t just me. Ski lifts open when they want to, not necessarily at 8:30 or 9am when they are scheduled to. Lunch is usually included with your lift ticket. A lot of people snowboard; I might say that it’s 50-50 skiing to snowboarding.

This weekend was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go skiing or snowboarding again. I’m definitely thankful I brought most of my snowboarding gear, as now I can say that I’ve been snowboarding in Japan. (this was on my bucket list).

As for Monday, it came way too early. Another morning of steady snowfall, lead to my decision to walk to school. The snow would be okay if it didn’t have ice beneath it. The best part about walking to school was the fact that I got to walk home with 3 JHS girls. I had a blast talking to them about random topics in Japanese and English, I even learned who their "boyfriends" were. Definitely the highlight of my Monday!

My Walk (Adventure) To School

Well, as I sit here on Monday, I’ve got a lot of decisions to make before my recontracting deadline of February 4^th. So far, I’ve loved my time in Japan, and I know I will always love living here, but I wonder if the awe of teaching English will fade sooner than expected.

My Hawaiian Winter Vacation: Family, Friends, and American Food

Well, I’ve only been back in Japan for about two days now and I’m aching to go back to the warm, Hawaiian weather. Nevertheless, my return to Japan means another blog entry to inform you all of the happenings in Japan

I left Japan on December 23rd to meet my family and friends in Maui. My last day of school was at a difficult ES and since we are way ahead at that school, I decided to take it easy and have a Christmas lesson with the 5th and 6th graders. I showed them pictures of my Christmas tree, lights on the house, presents under the Christmas tree, and of course, all of the winter activities, including sledding. Then, they were able to ask any question related to Christmas they could think of. I got some interesting questions, but sadly I don’t remember them anymore (I should’ve typed this right after the fact).

On the 23rd, I started my journey to Maui. I walked about 1/2 a mile with my suitcase and golf clubs to the closest train station and bought an $18 ticket to the Nagoya International Airport. 2 trains and 3 airplanes were all that stood in my way of seeing my family, and it was quite the travel adventure. Let me walk you through my day: walk ½ mile, take one train for 7 minutes, transfer, take another train for 120 minutes, hop on a plane to the Tokyo-Narita airport, take another plane to Honolulu, and finally, a short trip to the Kahului, Maui airport. What an adventure! I finally realized what a small world it is, when on the airplane to Honolulu, I sat next to a former JET participant, who is currently pursuing her MBA at a university in Kyoto. Personally, my favorite part of my wild travel day, was the fact that I left my local train station at 10:03am, Thursday morning. When I arrived in Maui, it was only 10:05am, Thursday morning! When I finally calculated it, my Thursday was about 40 hours long.

I spent my vacation with my friends and family, which was a nice break from everything Japanese. We did a variety of Hawaiian things. I was lucky enough to see a former teammate who lives in Maui. We got to play golf a few times (and for those of you who know Kelly aka. “the professional”, I want you all to know that I actually beat her my final day).

I got to see Kelly and her parents!

After 18 days, it was time to head back to Japan. In the end it was just my parents and I, a far cry from the 18 people who were with us during the vacation.

Now that I’ve been back in Japan for about two days, I’ve noticed a few changes. First, I’m back to layering clothes. The temperature took a change for the worst; the highs are about 40 and lows around freezing. My car also does not like this weather, every morning it’s been a struggle to get the car started, and I feel like one morning I’m going to walk out and it won’t start (fingers crossed that won’t be the case). Second, I forgot how large school lunches are! I’ve been fortunate that the past 3 days have had some type of pork, meaning I didn’t have to eat the full lunch, but I’m still full! Third, there is this one JHS that I’m currently at, and I can’t believe how funny this girls are. Today, I spent recess in an 8^th grade classroom with some girls. They asked me a variety of questions, do you have a boyfriend, what music, actor etc do you like. However, the highlight were these two girls that took red, green, blue, and yellow chalk, and used it as makeup to make this girl look like….Lady Gaga. And finally, I was showing pictures of Winter Vacation to the JHS kids, and every time I showed a picture of my family outside wearing sunglasses, they got the biggest laugh out of all of us. Not that many people wear sunglasses here, so I guess it was a little interesting looking.

The picture that made everyone laugh!

Sorry I don’t have anything too exciting to report. I am going snowboarding this weekend over in Nagano. I’m pretty stoked to get back up to the mountain, Japanese style!

Hopefully I’ll have a wonderful story and pictures to post after this weekend.

5th Graders, Go Fish, and Tears

Yes, I know the title of this is quite funny, but the sad part is that it is true. To make class more interesting for 5^th graders, the teachers’ book recommends the game “Go Fish”. Simple right? This was the last group of 5^th graders to play the game, so I thought I had all kinks figured out. I guess I overlooked the 5^th grade boy. All of a sudden, a seemingly easy game of “do you have blue shorts” -> “yes, I do…No, I don’t. GO FISH!” got way more emotional than it should have. It wasn’t my greatest moment, watching this poor 5^th grade boy cry because of a card game, but oh well, life must go on!

Last week was my last 5 day week of 2010! I’ve only got 3 more days of school and then I’m America-bound! I’m quite excited to see my family, although packing is going to be tougher than I originally thought (Christmas gifts really add up!).

This weekend I got a double dose of golf, which also meant I got nothing else accomplished. On Saturday, I was lucky enough to play with the Mayor of Mitake again and two other members of the town office. We played at a prestigious golf course, at least that’s what I translated from the conversations on the course. I played well and I must say, I’m really starting to enjoy the after golf onsen (hot spring) time. Every course has it and it really is just part of the routine.

On Sunday, I played with some of the teachers at a JHS in Mitake. This was the second time I played with them, and they are quite the characters. I learned some new Japanese phrases, some of which they said I shouldn’t say when playing with the Mayor. For all of you golf fanatics out there: in Japan, when you sky your tee shot, they call it “tempura”. Yes, like the food. Let’s just say, I couldn’t stop asking if they “tempura-ed” their tee shot for the rest of the day :) Being on the golf topic, I thought I’d clear up some golf differences from Japanese to American golf courses.

- Okay, most golf courses here have two greens.

- On Sunday, we played golf when the ground was still frozen, something that never happens in America.

- In America, you pay for the round before you play. In Japan, you pay after.

- In Japan, the cost includes breakfast, lunch, 2 drinks on the course, the round, the cart, and the onsen. If you think about it, golf is pretty reasonable.

- In Japan, golf cars seat 4 people in Japan and drive itself (pretty awesome).

We were learning country flags, since we are most commonly referred to as America, I asked the 6^th graders if they knew USA. They did. Then I asked them what USA stood for…That was amusing. The best response, “The United Super of America”. Personally, I liked it.

As I sit here at my desk, I’m listening to the fighter jets fly overhead, which is fine, but every time I hear them now, I wonder if North Korea is starting a new war. A war I definitely don’t want to be involved in.

On Tuesday, I had the privilege of eating lunch with the special education students. They are by far my favorite, most of them (there are 6-7 of them) will start a conversation with me, whether I understand what they are saying or not. This really doesn't happen in other school lunch situations. There is this one 4^th grade girl whose English level astonishes me. We were playing Japanese alphabet Karuta and she would look at a card and think of the word in English, 3 out of 4 times, she knew the word. One that really got me was bicycle. Back in October, the 6^th graders couldn’t understand what a bicycle was, I had to draw pictures. And here is the 4^th grade girl, just saying bicycle like its no big deal. I love it when simple things like that can brighten my day!

Sumo-ing+Afternoon Beers=Ekiden Time!

The Kani River: 30 Feet From My Front Door

Oh Ekiden Day. For those of you who are wondering what Ekiden means, let me help you out. According to the most trusted source on the internet, Wikipedia, Ekiden refers to a long distance relay race. To be honest, I definitely underestimated the hugeness of Ekiden in Japan. I’ve heard the term used in conversation, but it really is a great team-school sport. The students train together for countless hours all year long hoping to bring pride to their school.

Some of the Students

On Friday (my last day at JHS for 2010!), I trained with the girls Ekiden team after school. It was quite a fun way to spend my Friday evening, believe it or not. Something interesting I learned. Students love English outside of the classroom. It’s like, once we are out of school, talking English with Amanda is like the coolest thing ever. I must say, I gained a lot of respect for those students. The coolest part of the practice was the "sumo-ing" activity at the end. You get a partner and you stand side-by-side and try to push each other across the line. Pretty simple, but surprisingly a really good workout.

The Ekiden format is pretty simple. 5 people run a total of 8.7km. I got the honor of starting the race (so the first leg, 2km) for our team. I ran with 4 other women, 2 of which were teachers, and the other two I met the day of the race. The race was over quite quick and I’m so thankful the weather was nice (blue skies and about 45 degrees, little breeze but oh well).

The Finish Line

The Ekiden Team

And of course, a relay race wouldn't be complete without a 2 hour "all you can eat and drink" lunch afterwards. At 7:50am, I didn't realize what I was agreeing to, but I found out a little while later that I agreed to lunch. It was pretty cool, although I only knew 2 people (JHS principals).

Well, there you have it. My first Ekiden.

Christmas Shopping + Road Excursions = What’s This...A Catholic Church?

Well, my countdown is at 2 weeks until I’m on Christmas vacation and in the lovely USA! Can you tell I’m excited? Although, in a little more than 2 weeks, Christmas will be over and I will have to retire Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” song for another year, the thought of which makes me pretty bummed.

This week has been pretty boring to tell you the truth. This weekend I went into Nagoya for some Christmas shopping. I’m getting pretty good at finding my way around Nagoya, I just wish it was a little closer so I could go on weekdays.

Osu Kannon Temple in Nagoya

Let The Shopping Begin!

On Sunday, I went on my first car adventure/excursion! Ok, driving 30 minutes isn’t quite an adventure, but when you have no idea where you are going, it definitely gets your heart pumping. I mean think about it, you have to make sure you’re: on the correct side of the road, hitting the blinker and not the windshield wiper (I still do that), not running red lights, not crossing the Japanese equivalent of double yellow lines (although I'm convinced they don’t exist), not getting a speeding ticket (oh wait, I’ve only seen 2 police cars on the road… and the one cop was going to get gas), etc.

So yes, I went on an official adventure. I trekked to the area just SE of me, an area famous for its pottery, hot weather (they set the Japanese record in 2007), and its outlet mall! My first stop was this shopping “center” on the highway. In Japan they have “road stations” (roughly translated), and they offer fresh fruits, veggies, and things special to the area. They usually have restaurants and outside food and local farmers selling goods. I bought some Christmas presents and I actually found an Advent calendar, which was quite expensive at 2100 yen- about 25 dollars, but totally worth it. Instead of turning around and going home, I decided to continue on the road to see where I would end up next. Now of course I would never attempt this without either my phone or a map…I made it to the new town, and then I realized that this was the town with an outlet mall with American brands. Yes, stores that I’ve heard of and carries size 8.5 women’s shoes (I have large feet here!). With my trusty GPS, I charted my path to the outlet mall. Being a rookie at driving in this new town, I missed my exit. So, I kept going looking for a place to turn around (I was on a highway, so not so easy). At the next light, I took a right and turned right into a Catholic Monastery! What are the odds of finding a Catholic church in Japan? Of course, I went in and walked around, even lit a candle. After my little detour, I finally found my way to the outlet mall and treated myself to some shopping. Let’s just say I did more personal shopping than Christmas shopping :)

Yep, That Is A Catholic Church In Japan!

Well, Hello Outlet Mall

This week I’ve been at two different Junior High Schools and I know I’ve said this before, but I truly enjoy the JHS girls. They never cease to amaze me. I was told that it had been 4-5 years since they had a female ALT in the area, so it must be a shock for some of them. I’ve been able to have some interesting conversations with the students about Christmas and their weekend plans. I’m also learning a ton about Japanese pop culture from the students! The big news for this week was that I got to plan/run an entire 1st grade JHS class (7th grade). I was given no restrictions (even games were okay!). Instead, I took an idea from a fellow ALT and had the students write letters to Santa Claus! It was an entire Christmas themed lesson, we started out with brainstorming about what came to mind when they thought about Christmas, to how Christmas in American differs from Christmas in Japan (they eat KFC on Christmas and Christmas cake….do any of you eat xmas cake? Because I’ve never heard of it), and then they wrote to Santa about themselves, their hobbies, they asked Santa some questions, and finally they told Santa what they wanted for Christmas. I must say, it was so much fun reading the letters to Santa (I ended up being Santa)! I was pretty happy with how well the students did writing in English, even using new grammar topics they learned.

This Sunday is the Kani City Marathon and about 2 months ago I agreed to participate. It’s for students and teachers, so I’m on the female teachers' team from the JHS I’m currently at. It is a 5 person event, and I’m running the first leg which is 2 km. I’m a little nervous that the JHS students are going to whiz by me, remember in JHS when running was really easy? Well, tomorrow we are going to practice for it after school, yikes. We will see how fast these kids are!

Well, there you have it. Enjoy the rest of your week!

School Lunch Update: (from top right)-> milk, persimmon, green tea, Mitake miso soup (bomb!), rice, and sweet beans (think of maple syrup/baked beans~ish). There was some pork product, which I passed on.

Month 4: Check!

It’s time for another monthly check in. November brought several changes to Mitake. I rang in my 23rd birthday, not too much jazz or anything. Mitake has been experiencing its weather woes, with lows occasionally dipping into the high 30’s or low 40’s, but daytime highs are still in the high 50’s and low 60’s. Although the weather may sound nice, it really has been a lesson in layering. Every morning, I reluctantly walk out of my only heated room into the mid 50’s temperature of my entire apartment. Yes, we don’t have insulation here or central heat. When you combine low 50’s in the morning and every possible window open at school, you learn very quickly what layers work best. Honestly, it probably isn’t the most flattering look (at the moment I have on a tank top, tee shirt, button up shirt, and sweater) but it does the job. Now that it’s December, I can look forward to the use of heaters in school! Although it still is fairly nice weather, I hear that January and February are the months I’m really going to dislike.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t have a lot of cool stories to tell you. I made some day trips to towns in my prefecture or just outside of it. I’ve been more adventurous with driving (I even hit 80km/hr with my car, it was shaking…about 50mph I believe). But that’s about it.

At school, I’ve been making my rotations, I’m currently starting my Junior High School rotation and I’m very excited to give Christmas presentations. Last rotation I made a poster about Thanksgiving in America for the largest JHS (it was pretty cool, I must say). I’m happy to say that the JHS students are warming up to me, especially the girls, which is shocking because they are incredibly quiet in class. I’ve learned that the occasional joke or me making a mistake in Japanese is just what they need to try a little harder in class. At Elementary School, I’ve taught things like colors, numbers, rock-paper-scissors, and more complicated subjects like directions (we played simon says), location names (department store, school, police box…no, not police station), world locations and maps, and how to tell time. I’ve definitely got a better hang of things, which is good since I have been teaching now for 3 months! I’ve had some tough days at school, but generally there isn’t much that recess can’t fix, lots of tag and basketball. I’m really coming to like the balance between JHS and ES because it gives me a little change of pace, which is good for the students and me!

But here we are in December. And what I’m most excited about is Christmas vacation! I didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving; so instead, I plan on making Christmas twice as special. As of now, I have less than 3 weeks until I’m in Hawaii and trust me, those days can’t go by fast enough.

Happy Holidays!