In late April we held "Tottori Idol," a karaoke competition for the JETs in the prefecture. Most people missed the "karaoke" memo though and either sang their own music with live accompaniment or otherwise didn't need the machine. My favorite performance was a single group that did Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"...on Rock Band. (For those that don't know, Rock Band is Guitar Hero plus--a video game where you have two guitar controllers, a drum set controller, and a mic, and everyone hits buttons in time with the song to "perform").
I got recruited to join a boy band--sorry to disappoint, but there was no Backstreet Boys "I Want it That Way" this time. Instead we did "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe, the '90s hip-hop one-hit wonder.
We had choreo.
We won.
Showing posts with label Tottori. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tottori. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Spring Break (Woo!)
...I didn't actually do much.
The first week of spring break I wound up putting up a couple guests at my place--I've registered for a site through which you can find and connect with people who are willing to put up travelers for a night, show them local sights, etc. Being one of the few foreigners in my part of Japan (and perhaps the only one registered on this particular site), I've gotten a few requests but this was the first one I could answer affirmatively. They were a couple French travelers, who'd spent two months doing organic farming in New Zealand (for those of you familiar with the Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) program, that was it) and were spending another in Japan traveling before returning back home. I was pretty hesitant at first--after all, I'm taking a couple strangers into my home--but they were very nice and I actually really enjoyed the chance to play the role of guide, showing off my local knowledge and putting my Japanese skills to good use (they couldn't speak any).
The ensuing week (+change) had me going to the aforementioned farewell banquet, but mostly doing a LOT of housekeeping. I did a quick bang-up job before my guests arrived and at one point one jokingly commented that my home was "very much a young man's house." Other exciting ventures: taxes, financial aid paperwork.
Unfortunately, my grand visions of plentiful travels with the other JETs were dashed by the realization that, unlike me, who gets to chill at home, most JETs are forced to show up to work by their BOE--with no students there, there's very little to do. Some will take vacation days then, but we only have so many so a lot choose to grin and bear it. Overall, though, I had a very restful spring break, and I've returned to school for the new year with a renewed energy, in part due to the gorgeous weather, in part due to the excitement of having new people around again.
The first week of spring break I wound up putting up a couple guests at my place--I've registered for a site through which you can find and connect with people who are willing to put up travelers for a night, show them local sights, etc. Being one of the few foreigners in my part of Japan (and perhaps the only one registered on this particular site), I've gotten a few requests but this was the first one I could answer affirmatively. They were a couple French travelers, who'd spent two months doing organic farming in New Zealand (for those of you familiar with the Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) program, that was it) and were spending another in Japan traveling before returning back home. I was pretty hesitant at first--after all, I'm taking a couple strangers into my home--but they were very nice and I actually really enjoyed the chance to play the role of guide, showing off my local knowledge and putting my Japanese skills to good use (they couldn't speak any).
The ensuing week (+change) had me going to the aforementioned farewell banquet, but mostly doing a LOT of housekeeping. I did a quick bang-up job before my guests arrived and at one point one jokingly commented that my home was "very much a young man's house." Other exciting ventures: taxes, financial aid paperwork.
Unfortunately, my grand visions of plentiful travels with the other JETs were dashed by the realization that, unlike me, who gets to chill at home, most JETs are forced to show up to work by their BOE--with no students there, there's very little to do. Some will take vacation days then, but we only have so many so a lot choose to grin and bear it. Overall, though, I had a very restful spring break, and I've returned to school for the new year with a renewed energy, in part due to the gorgeous weather, in part due to the excitement of having new people around again.
Labels:
spring break,
talking,
Tottori
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Daisen Snow and Stay, or: Mackey turns 22 (plus an onsen aside)
Over my birthday weekend (that's Feb. 7th-8th for those of you keeping track at home) there was a large gathering of JETs at Mt. Daisen (the "Big Mountain" I hiked back in the fall) for a ski weekend. Daisen is the biggest mountain in Japan West of Mt. Fuji, and despite Japan being so mountainous there is not a ton of skiing to be had; Daisen is one of the better slopes out there. A group of maybe 20 of us (including some native Japanese friends) stayed at a ryokan on the mountainside on Saturday night (a ryokan is a Japanese-style inn: think a large, communal bath area*, tatami mat floors, and yukata--light cotton kimono. Wonderful after a day of skiing). Naturally, we had easy access to the hills first thing Sunday after skiing for most of Saturday.
I wish I could put Daisen in better context, but all I know is Dartmouth's ski mountain in New Hampshire--it's definitely a big ski area, with a few mountainsides contained in the "Daisen" ski resort. However, outside of some deep moguls at the very top of one of the mountains the area is generally a bunch of wide open ski fields, so the degree of difficulty was not terribly challenging. That said, most of us there were not terribly great skiiers (and snowboarders--the split was maybe 20-80 skis-snowboards, with myself in the 20), so the mountain suited us perfectly.
After half a day of icy slopes on Sunday I drove back to the Eastern side of the prefecture with some friends (about a 2 hour drive). Being my 22nd birthday, (and 22 being a pretty uneventful age after you've run the 16-18-21 significance gauntlet) I didn't have plans to do anything special but a friend insisted and we went out for some delicious dinner at an okonomyiaki place, and followed it up with some delectable cake from the inauspiciously-named Pandora's Box for a full weekend and a happy birthday.
*Easily one of my favorite facets of Japanese culture. In one's home you have a single bath which the whole family will use in a given night--you clean off before you get in, and then soak in the hot water to relax. It's blissful. Onsen--your bath houses or large hotel baths--are the same thing, but instead of a one-man bath it's a large open area.
Got to go to a really big one a couple weeks back--this one has the feature of being co-ed (bathing suits), and had a good dozen baths, including one outdoors, a small-sized pool complete with water slide (which was AWESOME!), sauna with a freezing bath to chill yourself right outside, and a massage bath with strategically placed jets you could use. America could do with some more bath time, I think.
I wish I could put Daisen in better context, but all I know is Dartmouth's ski mountain in New Hampshire--it's definitely a big ski area, with a few mountainsides contained in the "Daisen" ski resort. However, outside of some deep moguls at the very top of one of the mountains the area is generally a bunch of wide open ski fields, so the degree of difficulty was not terribly challenging. That said, most of us there were not terribly great skiiers (and snowboarders--the split was maybe 20-80 skis-snowboards, with myself in the 20), so the mountain suited us perfectly.
After half a day of icy slopes on Sunday I drove back to the Eastern side of the prefecture with some friends (about a 2 hour drive). Being my 22nd birthday, (and 22 being a pretty uneventful age after you've run the 16-18-21 significance gauntlet) I didn't have plans to do anything special but a friend insisted and we went out for some delicious dinner at an okonomyiaki place, and followed it up with some delectable cake from the inauspiciously-named Pandora's Box for a full weekend and a happy birthday.
*Easily one of my favorite facets of Japanese culture. In one's home you have a single bath which the whole family will use in a given night--you clean off before you get in, and then soak in the hot water to relax. It's blissful. Onsen--your bath houses or large hotel baths--are the same thing, but instead of a one-man bath it's a large open area.
Got to go to a really big one a couple weeks back--this one has the feature of being co-ed (bathing suits), and had a good dozen baths, including one outdoors, a small-sized pool complete with water slide (which was AWESOME!), sauna with a freezing bath to chill yourself right outside, and a massage bath with strategically placed jets you could use. America could do with some more bath time, I think.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Hair
So, some of you may not know this, but I was asked to cut my hair before I came to work here in Japan.
I went from this:
To this:
Today my supervisors' supervisors (IE, the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education folk--they're obviously above my local BOE, and definitely above my school's teachers) came to observe a class and chat with me a bit--afterwards, talking to one of my supervisors--a prefectural advisor for all of the JETs in Tottori, who, incidentally, was my primary liason before I came and forwarded the original request to cut--relayed to me comments from my Principal: glad he's getting involved, still seems a bit shy, ...man, am I glad he cut his hair!
Apparently my principal had been enraged at the prospect of me coming over with my dreads, and it was in part due to his vocal complaints to the placement service that I wound up hearing that I should cut my hair.
I'm glad my principal is happy with me, instead of really super pissed off.
I went from this:
To this:
Today my supervisors' supervisors (IE, the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education folk--they're obviously above my local BOE, and definitely above my school's teachers) came to observe a class and chat with me a bit--afterwards, talking to one of my supervisors--a prefectural advisor for all of the JETs in Tottori, who, incidentally, was my primary liason before I came and forwarded the original request to cut--relayed to me comments from my Principal: glad he's getting involved, still seems a bit shy, ...man, am I glad he cut his hair!
Apparently my principal had been enraged at the prospect of me coming over with my dreads, and it was in part due to his vocal complaints to the placement service that I wound up hearing that I should cut my hair.
I'm glad my principal is happy with me, instead of really super pissed off.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Visiting in Iwami, Adventuring in Hyogo...
Sailing the sea of Japan, departing from the Port of Iwami-cho.
The waterfront is often very rocky, but it makes for some great formations.
They're big on squid here. This guy spins and air dries the scallywags.
They sell squid ink (or maybe octopus ink) ice cream. Tastes just like Vanilla, but...
...it blackens the tongue.
Later, we went to the beach, and got to catch a beautiful sunset (as well as throw the frisbee around, which was much needed).
On our way to Takeda castle...but somehow we wound up lost. Adventure, huzzah!
Aha! Found it!
There's many a great view to be had from this mountaintop castle.
Here's the layout of Takeda castle. Totally worth the trip.
Labels:
adventure,
beach,
food,
Hyogo,
Iwami,
pictures,
Squid Ink Ice Cream,
Takeda castle,
Tottori
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A package came for me today.
There was a note inside my door, asking me to let them know when to drop it off again (all in japanese, so I just called the number assuming).
Guy picks up...I explain I can't speak Japanese very well...
He goes, "Oh! gaijin-san!" ("Oh! Mr. foreigner!")
"Hai. gaijin-san desu."
The package was at my door about 5 minutes later.
Guy picks up...I explain I can't speak Japanese very well...
He goes, "Oh! gaijin-san!" ("Oh! Mr. foreigner!")
"Hai. gaijin-san desu."
The package was at my door about 5 minutes later.
Labels:
gaijin-san,
mail,
talking,
Tottori
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Work Impressions, So Far.
This week has been pretty easy so far--outside of a bit of help for a couple students who are participating in speech contests, and giving a couple classes where I did a more in-depth self-introduction, with Sports Day being this weekend the kids have a reduced class load to begin with and many of these first classes back are actually tests, leaving me with little to do. Far different from the Trips/orientation experience at Dartmouth, no?
Sports Day, incidentally, is a day (Saturday for my middle schools; Sunday for my elementaries) where the various grades compete by homeroom in a variety of activities. Today I got to watch some of the practice--in addition to learning and performing a dance that seems suspiciously like contradancing, I saw them do a giant version of jump rope where the homeroom has to all jump in time to clear the rope (there are about 25 students to a homeroom) and a task that involved handing a ball down a line from one end of the field to the other, with students dashing to the end of the line as soon as they handed off to continue the flow. Pretty entertaining stuff, and actually rather fascinating as far as understanding Japanese culture goes. I'm not sure I can put it all into words just yet, but if I feel sufficiently capable I'll indulge my rambling urges with a long bit on that at a later point.
Some more general work impressions/factoids: the kids all have the same uniform, down to the shoes they wear in class and in the gym. Girls wear the sailor suit, which you might be familiar with; guys wear white collared shirts with long pants. The kids are wonderful by the by--really cute. They're all a little timid and a little intimidated, I think, but in a fascinated kind of way that will lead to some fun connections, I think. In contrast to America, where teachers have their own rooms and the students go to them, in Japan students stay in their homerooms the entire day (outside of going to the gym, or needing to use art supplies, ec) and the teachers come to them. We teachers all share a teacher's room, all the desks organized into a few groups. With few classes and little lesson prep to do at the moment, I've spent most of my time there idly sitting at my desk on my laptop (thank god for the internet!). I can speak a bit of Japanese, which is helping my entering a new community somewhat as the language barrier is not so high as to be insurmountable without the aid of one of the Japanese Teachers of English (JTE's, the teachers who I work with in the classroom)...but I'm still often left to my own devices and wind up bored with some frequency as the rest of the teachers seemingly have a far more vast workload than I. And somehow I get paid more than they do...go figure.
Oh, and so far none of my classes have recognized me with long hair when I show them a picture of me and my family at graduation. And Mom, you and Dad might be pleased to know that, in addition to being very impressed with how young you both are, one kid in my class today mistook Dad for an older brother. Yep.
Sports Day, incidentally, is a day (Saturday for my middle schools; Sunday for my elementaries) where the various grades compete by homeroom in a variety of activities. Today I got to watch some of the practice--in addition to learning and performing a dance that seems suspiciously like contradancing, I saw them do a giant version of jump rope where the homeroom has to all jump in time to clear the rope (there are about 25 students to a homeroom) and a task that involved handing a ball down a line from one end of the field to the other, with students dashing to the end of the line as soon as they handed off to continue the flow. Pretty entertaining stuff, and actually rather fascinating as far as understanding Japanese culture goes. I'm not sure I can put it all into words just yet, but if I feel sufficiently capable I'll indulge my rambling urges with a long bit on that at a later point.
Some more general work impressions/factoids: the kids all have the same uniform, down to the shoes they wear in class and in the gym. Girls wear the sailor suit, which you might be familiar with; guys wear white collared shirts with long pants. The kids are wonderful by the by--really cute. They're all a little timid and a little intimidated, I think, but in a fascinated kind of way that will lead to some fun connections, I think. In contrast to America, where teachers have their own rooms and the students go to them, in Japan students stay in their homerooms the entire day (outside of going to the gym, or needing to use art supplies, ec) and the teachers come to them. We teachers all share a teacher's room, all the desks organized into a few groups. With few classes and little lesson prep to do at the moment, I've spent most of my time there idly sitting at my desk on my laptop (thank god for the internet!). I can speak a bit of Japanese, which is helping my entering a new community somewhat as the language barrier is not so high as to be insurmountable without the aid of one of the Japanese Teachers of English (JTE's, the teachers who I work with in the classroom)...but I'm still often left to my own devices and wind up bored with some frequency as the rest of the teachers seemingly have a far more vast workload than I. And somehow I get paid more than they do...go figure.
Oh, and so far none of my classes have recognized me with long hair when I show them a picture of me and my family at graduation. And Mom, you and Dad might be pleased to know that, in addition to being very impressed with how young you both are, one kid in my class today mistook Dad for an older brother. Yep.
Labels:
school,
Sports Day,
Tottori,
work
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Travels to the Beach
Beautiful Kozomi Beach.
Sea Urchin? But she's too far away!
Apparently you can break 'em open and eat them! How cruel. Also, it's a lot of work crushing that tough guy shell to get to the sensitive urchin interior, and there isn't much to be had for it.
I have a waterproof camera. Whee!
Labels:
beach,
Kozomi Beach,
pictures,
Tottori,
weather
Monday, August 25, 2008
Meeting the Staff
Today I started "work" proper, which meant going to a few schools to do introductions with the staff (more of the jiko-shoukai; I've repeated the phrases giving my name and where I'm from and "Nice to meet you" more often than i can remember). Josh, the other JET in my town, and I went with our supervisor to the various schools, hitting mostly elementary schools (Josh is teaching at 5 elementaries and 1 junior high; I've got 3 elems and 2 JH) along with one of my junior high schools. The kids are adorable. A lot of clubs practicing and whatnot happening these days before class starts--seems every school has a gym and/or a dirt patch which is apparently the Japanese idea of a practice field--so there were a fair number of the little kiddies running around, offering a "konnichi wa" or a "hello/good day" depending on how confident they were feeling. Apparently they're a lot more open when they're young than when they get to high school and become too cool for school, so they should be fun to work with.
Meeting the staff itself was kind of an awkwardly formal affair; we were universally interrupting some meeting or another for introductions, and after stealing somebody's thunder would proceed to stammer through basic introductions (we were applauded after our introductions by the group, which was kind of cool. I think they appreciate the fact that Josh and I can speak the language with some competency, as neither of us have the glaring foreigner accent). The best was when one of the schools' directors turned to her staff (seems the staff always feed off of however the kacho (principal) or whoever is the highest-ranked person available for initiative on what they should do) and told them to introduce themselves, in English! Usually we just introduce and bounce so as not to interfere too much with meetings, but this time it was fun to see the tables turned and watch THEM stammer through an introduction in a foreign language (most of them didn't know more than "my name is" and even that was with prompting from the head).
On the plus side, I'm getting really good at introducing myself!
Meeting the staff itself was kind of an awkwardly formal affair; we were universally interrupting some meeting or another for introductions, and after stealing somebody's thunder would proceed to stammer through basic introductions (we were applauded after our introductions by the group, which was kind of cool. I think they appreciate the fact that Josh and I can speak the language with some competency, as neither of us have the glaring foreigner accent). The best was when one of the schools' directors turned to her staff (seems the staff always feed off of however the kacho (principal) or whoever is the highest-ranked person available for initiative on what they should do) and told them to introduce themselves, in English! Usually we just introduce and bounce so as not to interfere too much with meetings, but this time it was fun to see the tables turned and watch THEM stammer through an introduction in a foreign language (most of them didn't know more than "my name is" and even that was with prompting from the head).
On the plus side, I'm getting really good at introducing myself!
Labels:
aisatsu,
introductions,
jiko shoukai,
Tottori,
work
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Tottori Sand Dunes
Before we went to the sand dune, we went to the sand museum. My favorite sculpture by far was the great wall of china. Note the small sand people on the steps!
After observing several sculptures we got to try our own. Lisa and I made a model of Tottori's mascot, a bird that is also a pear. How about 'dem wings?
There's the dune! Now to head to the top...
Phew! That was a long way to go!
The top of the dune offers a spectacular view of the Sea of Japan, though, so it's totally worth the trip.
Afterwards, we all sprung back to the souvenir shops and got some Nashi (pear) Ice Cream, easily one of the most delicious things I've ever had (and it's not just dehydration and fatigue from the sand dune climb talking!). (I got two)
Labels:
pear ice cream,
pictures,
Sand Dunes,
Tottori
Graham Baecher Could Not Live in This Country.
Evidence to this fact (for those of you that don't him, Graham
"Bonesaw" "GBot" "Gmail" "Bonesaucy" Baecher is 6'6" tall):
-I clear the doorways in my house by about one inch
-The cars here are scaled down by about 70%. I fit ok, but my
predecessor (who's been showing me around) is maybe 6'1" and his knees
hit the steering wheel every time he gets in to drive
-Food portions are smaller. Eating for one Graham would definitely
constitute eating for two Japanese
-They don't make shoes or clothes for people above 6'0" or so
I'm sure I'll discover more reasons with time.
I'm finally starting to begin to get settled in my home--which is
spectacularly big (by Japanese and my standards): 4 rooms with a
kitchen, including two rather large tatami rooms (tatami mats are
traditional Japanese flooring: In Japan it's not at all uncommon to
remove your shoes and change into slippers or go barefoot at the
threshold to a house, and this is in an effort to preserve the
fine-woven rice stalk threads of the tatami--granted, not everywhere you
de-shoe has tatami, but tradition is tradition). I very honestly am
unlikely to use more than 1/3 of the space in this house. And to top
it off, my rent is dirt-cheap thanks to the property being owned by
the town who's contracted me. In short, I have a sweet living
situation. Feel free to come visit!
The past week has been pretty hectic. First, we had orientation in
Tokyo, which yielded full days with all sorts of Japanese talking
heads with formal information interspersed with former or returning
JETs talking much more candidly about living and working in Japan--not
bad, but we were left with a mountain of materials to bring with us
for "reference" (or, as many of us call it, "trash").
Immediately following that, we flew out to Tottori prefecture ("we"
being myself and the other 8 or so new JETs working in the prefecture
that arrived in the 2nd travel group). The flight was fairly
brief--only about an hour--and it was totally worth it. We got to see
a small bit of Tokyo during takeoff, and an aerial view of Tottori
when we were coming in, both of which were beautiful. Tottori is
particularly picturesque--I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet or
not, but Tottori is the least populated prefecture in Japan--the City
of Tottori boasts about 200,000 residents, and outside of that and
Yonago, the other big city on the Western side of the prefecture, the
prefecture is mostly Inaka (countryside) with towns dotted here and
there. What this means is that there's a good expanse of wilderness
with rolling hills and mountains, interrupted by patches of
residences. Very reminiscent of New England in Vermont and New
Hampsire, albeit with different foliage. There's apparently some
decent hiking in the central part of the prefecture (I reside in the
Eastern part), and there are plans in the works to climb one mountain
to visit a Buddhist temple there at the end of the month which I'll
definitely be taking part in.
The weather also emulates New England, though it's decidedly
hotter/more humid here in the summer and a bit warmer in the winter as
well (though they still get snow--apparently the skiing season is
fairly long here, which has me excited). I spend most of my time at
home situated in the direct line of a fan, only daring to venture
farther when I want to make myself some food (or purchase some from
the local grocery store or combini--Japanese short for "convenience,"
these little guys are ubiquitous and super-useful. Think CVS smooshed
down to 1/3 the size, plus more foodstuffs you can grab and eat
immediately, and you've got a general idea).
Once we arrived in Tottori proper, I had about a day to move in--my
supervisor, an English teacher to translate, and my co-JET out here in
Yazu, Josh, met me at the airport, and from there we ran several
errands. We stopped at the town office so I could file for my alien
registration card (which is my ticket to not being deported during my
time here--in the meantime, my passport suffices), and then they took
me by the Yazu town Board of Education, where Josh and I received our
contracts. Immediately following that, they took us out into the main
office, where, standing awkwardly in front of them, my supervisor told
us:
"Ah...please introduce yourselves."
Thank goodness I've had some Japanese before. Introductions (in
Japanese, Jikko-shokkai) are basically a rote repetition of who you
are, where you're from, and maybe a canned phrase about how you're
excited to work together with the person you're meeting, so they're
very simple, but I still feel terribly awkward starting in that
awkward, semi-expectant gap that comes when you meet somebody who
you're going to work with. Hopefully this will improve with time.
After an evening at home on Wednesday, I woke up early Thursday and my
supervisor drove me into the city (I have a car which I bought off my
predecessor, but I can't drive it until I have insurance arranged) so
I could register for a bank account.
Aside--you know how, in America, we sign our names on official
documents? In Japan, they use inkan--a small seal with your name in
it (mine is in Katakana, and reads "Ma-ki") which you can use on a
stamp pad. This strikes me as rife with counterfeit opportunity, but
then again, so is our signature system.
Thursday afternoon, Tottori orientation started, which touched upon
more work information, only more specifically geared towards Tottori.
We in Group B, the second travel group, got to meet all the JETs who
came in Group A a week before us, as well as several returners, and
most of the group seems to be very good-natured, and should be a good
network to lean on for support here.
Friday yielded more orientation in the morning, but then in the
afternoon we traveled and did some sightseeing, including the Tottori
Sand Dune(s) and sand museum. Yes, they have a sand dune, and it's
ginormous--it's the only "desert" in Japan (see attached). It also
had a wonderful view of the Sea of Japan (I do believe the Chinese
call it the Sea of China from their side) from the top (see other
attached). They also had some SPECTACULAR pear-flavored ice cream
(don't knock it 'til you've tried it) which I would attach a picture
of (along with many others), but I only have access to pictures on my
cell phone at the moment as I left my camera cord back in the States.
Yesterday also proved busy--Tottori City has an annual festival, the
Shan Shan festival, which apparently involves massive groups of
Tottorians dancing with ritual umbrellas through much of the afternoon
and evening. On top of that, I was invited to my first enkan (I'm not
sure if the best translation is "party" or "drinking
party")--basically, social gatherings of staff where, in contrast to
the uptight, formal nature of their work, people speak freely (using
alcohol as a lubricant or, in some cases, an excuse), telling people
what they really think, before going back to work the next day and
acting as though nothing ever happened. Weird, but apparently a
really good way to get to know my coworkers--and this one was a
welcome party for me (and a farewell party for my predecessor, who
I'll talk about in a second), so I kind of had to go. This one was a
fairly small gathering, with only 5 or so of the 20 workers from just
one of my middle schools (I work at two), so it wasn't particularly
raucous or exciting, just mellow chit-chat over dinner. Not a typical
enkan, according to Jimmy, my predecessor, and I actually crashed
pretty hard in the middle of dinner energy-wise, still feeling the
effect of the jetlag (which will apparently last another week--it's a
13 hour time difference here), so I didn't enjoy it perhaps as much as
I was able to.
There's a general update. Apologies for the gargantuan nature of this
update, but I'm not done yet. Some anecdotes...
1) Jimmy. My predecessor, he just arrived back here after traveling
through SE Asia. He's been really helpful, showing me around (and
continuing to show me around) and giving me the skinny on the JET
gossip. Really nice, good-natured guy, but I do worry that he's going
to talk me to death sometimes. We'll see how the next few days play
out while he crashes with me before returning to home in Kentucky on
Thursday...
2) Travel. So, a couple evenings ago the Tottori Association of JETs
(AJET) held a social function after orientation ended. I wasn't
planning on staying the night in the city, so I resolved to take the
train home...unfortunately, I missed my transfer and wound up heading
in the wrong direction on the last train for the night...but then,
fortunately, I wound up in Chizu, where one of the other JETs lived
and had returned to earlier that day. By a stroke of luck, she also
lived just a short walk away from the train station. My ass = saved.
The next day, I took the proper train back home--but, when I got to
the station where I needed to transfer, and asked about the train to
Funaoka (the district of Yazu in which I live), the conductor pointed
down the street and said I should walk, because the train wasn't due
for an hour. Resolving to make the walk (which, in retrospect, would
have been about 2 miles), an old Japanese woman interjected to tell me
that she could give me a ride (this is all happening in Japanese--the
natives being fluent, myself being very broken and hard to
understand). So she took me to my district, dropped me off in the
middle (it's a small district), and from there I walked home--stopping
at the combini for a bite, and saying hi to the neighbors on the way
as though nothing had happened and I was just out for a short jaunt
despite getting home, oh, 10 hours later than I intended. I have the
schedule straight now, though! And soon I'll be driving, so that'll
be my preferred means.
3) Driving. Cars here are ridiculously gas efficient, for a few
reasons. One, they're small--they have two calibers of cars here, one
that's somewhat comparable to American cars (and more expensive to own
and maintain), and the other, more common, which is the smaller
variety I described above. They have smaller engines and just chug
along. Two, the speed limit is lower here, about 40 or
50...kilometers per hour. That's a little over 30 miles per hour.
Life has a slower pace here, and nowhere is this more clear than on
the road.
4) Mitsuharu Ota. Apparently a big higher-up in the Japanese English
education board, he gave us a speech in our Tokyo orientation. Of the
30 minute speech, he opened with a phrase about how there was a delay
that caused him to start late, and how "time is very precious, here
and in the classroom..." and then proceeded to spend about half of his
time talking just dropping one-liners and puns in English. He didn't
have a great command of the language, either, which made it even more
hilarious. My favorite--he was talking about how he had butterflies
in his stomach, and then asked us...would we rather have butterflies
in our stomachs, like him, or "butter" flies? "yuck. not very
tasty."
5) Radio. All Japanese, all Japanese music, until..."Bringing you the
heartbeat of Tottori, with the best sounds of today--82.5,
s-s-s-st-starrrrbird!" Exactly like you'd expect for pop radio in the
states. What a wonderful country.
6) Address. See below!
Matt Mackey
Assistant Language Teacher
JET Program
519-3 Funaoka
Yazu-cho, Yazu-gun, Tottori-ken, Japan 680-0471
If you have an interest in receiving a postcard, let me know what your
address is and I'll do my best to get one to you at some point during
the coming year. Or write me first and I'll write you back!
Hope things are well with the rest of you. Even if you don't read the
full update, feel free to drop me an email and let me know how you're
doing!
Zya ne,
Matto-sensei
"Bonesaw" "GBot" "Gmail" "Bonesaucy" Baecher is 6'6" tall):
-I clear the doorways in my house by about one inch
-The cars here are scaled down by about 70%. I fit ok, but my
predecessor (who's been showing me around) is maybe 6'1" and his knees
hit the steering wheel every time he gets in to drive
-Food portions are smaller. Eating for one Graham would definitely
constitute eating for two Japanese
-They don't make shoes or clothes for people above 6'0" or so
I'm sure I'll discover more reasons with time.
I'm finally starting to begin to get settled in my home--which is
spectacularly big (by Japanese and my standards): 4 rooms with a
kitchen, including two rather large tatami rooms (tatami mats are
traditional Japanese flooring: In Japan it's not at all uncommon to
remove your shoes and change into slippers or go barefoot at the
threshold to a house, and this is in an effort to preserve the
fine-woven rice stalk threads of the tatami--granted, not everywhere you
de-shoe has tatami, but tradition is tradition). I very honestly am
unlikely to use more than 1/3 of the space in this house. And to top
it off, my rent is dirt-cheap thanks to the property being owned by
the town who's contracted me. In short, I have a sweet living
situation. Feel free to come visit!
The past week has been pretty hectic. First, we had orientation in
Tokyo, which yielded full days with all sorts of Japanese talking
heads with formal information interspersed with former or returning
JETs talking much more candidly about living and working in Japan--not
bad, but we were left with a mountain of materials to bring with us
for "reference" (or, as many of us call it, "trash").
Immediately following that, we flew out to Tottori prefecture ("we"
being myself and the other 8 or so new JETs working in the prefecture
that arrived in the 2nd travel group). The flight was fairly
brief--only about an hour--and it was totally worth it. We got to see
a small bit of Tokyo during takeoff, and an aerial view of Tottori
when we were coming in, both of which were beautiful. Tottori is
particularly picturesque--I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet or
not, but Tottori is the least populated prefecture in Japan--the City
of Tottori boasts about 200,000 residents, and outside of that and
Yonago, the other big city on the Western side of the prefecture, the
prefecture is mostly Inaka (countryside) with towns dotted here and
there. What this means is that there's a good expanse of wilderness
with rolling hills and mountains, interrupted by patches of
residences. Very reminiscent of New England in Vermont and New
Hampsire, albeit with different foliage. There's apparently some
decent hiking in the central part of the prefecture (I reside in the
Eastern part), and there are plans in the works to climb one mountain
to visit a Buddhist temple there at the end of the month which I'll
definitely be taking part in.
The weather also emulates New England, though it's decidedly
hotter/more humid here in the summer and a bit warmer in the winter as
well (though they still get snow--apparently the skiing season is
fairly long here, which has me excited). I spend most of my time at
home situated in the direct line of a fan, only daring to venture
farther when I want to make myself some food (or purchase some from
the local grocery store or combini--Japanese short for "convenience,"
these little guys are ubiquitous and super-useful. Think CVS smooshed
down to 1/3 the size, plus more foodstuffs you can grab and eat
immediately, and you've got a general idea).
Once we arrived in Tottori proper, I had about a day to move in--my
supervisor, an English teacher to translate, and my co-JET out here in
Yazu, Josh, met me at the airport, and from there we ran several
errands. We stopped at the town office so I could file for my alien
registration card (which is my ticket to not being deported during my
time here--in the meantime, my passport suffices), and then they took
me by the Yazu town Board of Education, where Josh and I received our
contracts. Immediately following that, they took us out into the main
office, where, standing awkwardly in front of them, my supervisor told
us:
"Ah...please introduce yourselves."
Thank goodness I've had some Japanese before. Introductions (in
Japanese, Jikko-shokkai) are basically a rote repetition of who you
are, where you're from, and maybe a canned phrase about how you're
excited to work together with the person you're meeting, so they're
very simple, but I still feel terribly awkward starting in that
awkward, semi-expectant gap that comes when you meet somebody who
you're going to work with. Hopefully this will improve with time.
After an evening at home on Wednesday, I woke up early Thursday and my
supervisor drove me into the city (I have a car which I bought off my
predecessor, but I can't drive it until I have insurance arranged) so
I could register for a bank account.
Aside--you know how, in America, we sign our names on official
documents? In Japan, they use inkan--a small seal with your name in
it (mine is in Katakana, and reads "Ma-ki") which you can use on a
stamp pad. This strikes me as rife with counterfeit opportunity, but
then again, so is our signature system.
Thursday afternoon, Tottori orientation started, which touched upon
more work information, only more specifically geared towards Tottori.
We in Group B, the second travel group, got to meet all the JETs who
came in Group A a week before us, as well as several returners, and
most of the group seems to be very good-natured, and should be a good
network to lean on for support here.
Friday yielded more orientation in the morning, but then in the
afternoon we traveled and did some sightseeing, including the Tottori
Sand Dune(s) and sand museum. Yes, they have a sand dune, and it's
ginormous--it's the only "desert" in Japan (see attached). It also
had a wonderful view of the Sea of Japan (I do believe the Chinese
call it the Sea of China from their side) from the top (see other
attached). They also had some SPECTACULAR pear-flavored ice cream
(don't knock it 'til you've tried it) which I would attach a picture
of (along with many others), but I only have access to pictures on my
cell phone at the moment as I left my camera cord back in the States.
Yesterday also proved busy--Tottori City has an annual festival, the
Shan Shan festival, which apparently involves massive groups of
Tottorians dancing with ritual umbrellas through much of the afternoon
and evening. On top of that, I was invited to my first enkan (I'm not
sure if the best translation is "party" or "drinking
party")--basically, social gatherings of staff where, in contrast to
the uptight, formal nature of their work, people speak freely (using
alcohol as a lubricant or, in some cases, an excuse), telling people
what they really think, before going back to work the next day and
acting as though nothing ever happened. Weird, but apparently a
really good way to get to know my coworkers--and this one was a
welcome party for me (and a farewell party for my predecessor, who
I'll talk about in a second), so I kind of had to go. This one was a
fairly small gathering, with only 5 or so of the 20 workers from just
one of my middle schools (I work at two), so it wasn't particularly
raucous or exciting, just mellow chit-chat over dinner. Not a typical
enkan, according to Jimmy, my predecessor, and I actually crashed
pretty hard in the middle of dinner energy-wise, still feeling the
effect of the jetlag (which will apparently last another week--it's a
13 hour time difference here), so I didn't enjoy it perhaps as much as
I was able to.
There's a general update. Apologies for the gargantuan nature of this
update, but I'm not done yet. Some anecdotes...
1) Jimmy. My predecessor, he just arrived back here after traveling
through SE Asia. He's been really helpful, showing me around (and
continuing to show me around) and giving me the skinny on the JET
gossip. Really nice, good-natured guy, but I do worry that he's going
to talk me to death sometimes. We'll see how the next few days play
out while he crashes with me before returning to home in Kentucky on
Thursday...
2) Travel. So, a couple evenings ago the Tottori Association of JETs
(AJET) held a social function after orientation ended. I wasn't
planning on staying the night in the city, so I resolved to take the
train home...unfortunately, I missed my transfer and wound up heading
in the wrong direction on the last train for the night...but then,
fortunately, I wound up in Chizu, where one of the other JETs lived
and had returned to earlier that day. By a stroke of luck, she also
lived just a short walk away from the train station. My ass = saved.
The next day, I took the proper train back home--but, when I got to
the station where I needed to transfer, and asked about the train to
Funaoka (the district of Yazu in which I live), the conductor pointed
down the street and said I should walk, because the train wasn't due
for an hour. Resolving to make the walk (which, in retrospect, would
have been about 2 miles), an old Japanese woman interjected to tell me
that she could give me a ride (this is all happening in Japanese--the
natives being fluent, myself being very broken and hard to
understand). So she took me to my district, dropped me off in the
middle (it's a small district), and from there I walked home--stopping
at the combini for a bite, and saying hi to the neighbors on the way
as though nothing had happened and I was just out for a short jaunt
despite getting home, oh, 10 hours later than I intended. I have the
schedule straight now, though! And soon I'll be driving, so that'll
be my preferred means.
3) Driving. Cars here are ridiculously gas efficient, for a few
reasons. One, they're small--they have two calibers of cars here, one
that's somewhat comparable to American cars (and more expensive to own
and maintain), and the other, more common, which is the smaller
variety I described above. They have smaller engines and just chug
along. Two, the speed limit is lower here, about 40 or
50...kilometers per hour. That's a little over 30 miles per hour.
Life has a slower pace here, and nowhere is this more clear than on
the road.
4) Mitsuharu Ota. Apparently a big higher-up in the Japanese English
education board, he gave us a speech in our Tokyo orientation. Of the
30 minute speech, he opened with a phrase about how there was a delay
that caused him to start late, and how "time is very precious, here
and in the classroom..." and then proceeded to spend about half of his
time talking just dropping one-liners and puns in English. He didn't
have a great command of the language, either, which made it even more
hilarious. My favorite--he was talking about how he had butterflies
in his stomach, and then asked us...would we rather have butterflies
in our stomachs, like him, or "butter" flies? "yuck. not very
tasty."
5) Radio. All Japanese, all Japanese music, until..."Bringing you the
heartbeat of Tottori, with the best sounds of today--82.5,
s-s-s-st-starrrrbird!" Exactly like you'd expect for pop radio in the
states. What a wonderful country.
6) Address. See below!
Matt Mackey
Assistant Language Teacher
JET Program
519-3 Funaoka
Yazu-cho, Yazu-gun, Tottori-ken, Japan 680-0471
If you have an interest in receiving a postcard, let me know what your
address is and I'll do my best to get one to you at some point during
the coming year. Or write me first and I'll write you back!
Hope things are well with the rest of you. Even if you don't read the
full update, feel free to drop me an email and let me know how you're
doing!
Zya ne,
Matto-sensei
Labels:
my address,
Orientation,
Sand Dunes,
Shan shan,
Tottori,
weather
Monday, August 11, 2008
My Home
Welcome to my humble abode! Allow me to show you around a little...
This is Fred, my humble door servant. Always works with a smile.
The doorways are short. This house was built some 40 odd years ago, very obviously by Japanese for Japanese...
This is the living room (viewed from the back, so you just came in and turned around). I've got a TV, though I haven't connected it currently.
Take a left and you'll peek in my kitchen (we won't look at my room, as it's currently a mess).
Left of the entrance to the kitchen, you'll find the dishes...
...this is my "stove." Two burners and a broiler, all gas-powered, get the job done.
My fridge sits across from the stove. It's shorter than me, so I have to be space efficient. On top is the combo microwave/toaster/oven. Part two of my "stove," I have discovered it to be very useful so far for toast.
Leave the kitchen and follow the hall outside the livingroom, and you'll stumble upon the washer. Also very small. No wonder the country is so energy efficient!Other rooms, perhaps to be chronicled later:
- My bedroom (currently a mess)
- The upstairs "drying room"
- The downstairs room, which will become my workout/practice room
- Toilet and Bath/shower
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