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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Next Three Days

July 27th
Again, we had orientation all day. 

At night, Albert David, Brian, Curtis, and I go to meet one of Curtis’ friends in Rappongi.  She takes us to a cool little restaurant where we sit in our own private room and enjoy small plates of beef tongue, chicken gizzard, seafood salad, and a few beers. 
Chicken Gizzards
Brian and Curtis in their usual poses

Beef tongue!!!

Everything was ‘Oishi’ – sp?- (delicious).  She leaves us to explore the town and we head to Shinjuku, to check out a huge video game arcade.  Super John, Danny, and Adam, if you’re reading this, you need to Google a game called Border Break 1.5.  This game was insanely awesome looking, and the line for it showed how popular it is.

Coffee vending machines, men dressed in business attire, and rows of video games packed this small place.   Almost reminds me of a Nickel Nickel arcade, but with high definition screens and awesome gameplay.
July 28th
Our last morning in Shinjuku, Albert David, Curtis, and I eat breakfast and leave at different times with our prefectures.  We take a bus to the Hanada Airport and take off at 11:25am.  There was a warning before we left of bad weather, possibly forcing us to land in Miyazaki or Fukuoka, but luckily all went well.  One unfortunate flight was cancelled due to volcanic gasses.  I’ve never heard that excuse for a cancelled flight before.  Arriving at the Kagoshima Airport, we are welcomed by current JETs as well as our supervisor, predecessor, and others.  I am lucky and have my supervisor Shinmiya, one of his coworkers at the Board of Education (BOE), Hamaya, and my predecessor Andrew waiting for me with a huge sign reading ‘Nicholas Stavroulakis, Welcome to Osaki Town.’  Oh thank goodness, they have my awesome new passport photo (no smile, no teeth showing) of me looking like some sort of thug, enlarged by 1,000 on the sign.  I couldn’t help but laugh a little at what they imagined from that picture.  Andrew answered a bunch of questions I had, we drove through green forest-y, jungle-y, farm-y terrain.    We stopped for lunch at a little ramen shop on the side of the road and I can’t begin to describe how great it was.  When I heard ‘Ramen,’ all I could think of is the horrible, salty, crap Top Ramen in the states.  Now, I’m a Ramen addict.  They even ordered some hand-made gyoza to accompany the already delicious lunch. 
After lunch, I was taken to my new house.  Did you hear that?  I didn’t say room, apartment, condo, or even town-house.  I have a HOUSE!  A HOME! 

Kitchen, living room, tatami-floored room for storing my clothes, tatami-floored bedroom, toilet room, shower, washer, dryer, and even a little shed outside for storing the bike, tent, and barbeque that is being left to me. 

There’s even one of those small front rooms, where you take off and store your shoes before actually walking into the house.  The place is huge!

Roommate?  Nope, just me.  I think I have just become the luckiest JET ever.

I am told by Andrew that there have been 10 other JETs that have lived here since 1995, and none of them staying more than 3 years.  Andrew has been here the last 2 years.  Anyway, when we arrive, co-workers from my BOE are busily scrubbing, sweeping, and vacuuming my entire place.  It’s spotless!  The hardwood floors are gleaming and they have purchased new tatami mats for both rooms that require them.  Really, can this get any better?  You betcha!  Andrew tells me that all the JETs who have lived here have ‘Paid it forward,’ leaving something for each new JET that comes to live here.  I’m setup with a TV/VHS combo, tables, drawers, dishes, pots/pans, laundry detergent, teaching materials, two air conditioners, heaters for the winter, and a cabinet stocked full of various alcohol.  So who’s visiting first?  No really, I have room.
So I see the house, we drop off my luggage, and head to the BOE for me to meet all the bigwigs of the place.  I even meet the Mayor of Osaki Town.  Smiles, bows, and handshakes later I find myself at my own desk at the BOE.  Andrew, Hamaya, and my female co-worker (Nishitake),  take me to the store to buy some groceries.  Chicken, salmon, locally raised Osaki pork, veggies, fruit, juice, bread, and world famous natto are all in the bag.  We unload, the new tatami mats are brought in, and they look over some things that need to be replaced/fixed.  I find out there are 27 different categories for sorting trash here.  Osaki town is supposedly the most environmentally friendly town in all of Kagoshima (perhaps all of Japan).  I won’t get into it too much, but just to throw away a bottle top, saran wrap, and a can has taken me more than an hour.  I still don’t even know what to do with food scraps.
Everyone leaves me to unpack and I eat a salmon and rice dinner for my first night in Japan.  I sleep like a baby, until I am woken up at 6 am by the local wakeup call.  Speakers are located right near my home, so I have no use for an alarm clock anymore.
July 29, 2010
Today was wonderful!  I spent my first whole day working for the BOE.  It was raining all last night with intermittent pouring.  Before Shinmaya (my supervisor) picked me up, we were lucky enough to get some clear weather.  Mind you, although it’s raining, it’s still probably in the mid-80’s.  We got a lot of paperwork done, including my contract (Yay!  I’ve got a real job!), alien registration, bank account, water bill, and a piece about me that they will publish in the newspaper.  The banking process took quite a while, but the nice young lady helping me out wouldn’t let the smile fade from her face (everyone else keeps the same smile all day, it’s amazing!).  She even asked if I could help her with her English, I have a feeling this is going to be a common thing. 
Andrew (my predecessor) took me around to all the schools, which was, to say the least, perfect!  Of course, it was confusing for me and I know I’ll get lost when trying to find them on my own, but hope is in the air that I’ll get it down. I was able to meet some of the students, since they are still in clubs during the summer vacation and from what I can tell, this is going to be quite fun.   When meeting most of the staff, they would bring everyone in for introductions and in one case, a female staff member made an announcement over the loud speaker for everyone to come meet me. 
For lunch, I ate my first bento that consisted of a ground beef patty, chicken, fish, potato salad, spaghetti with sauce, coleslaw, pickled vegetables, and miso soup.  Masuyama, one of the men in the BOE, bought me my first ‘Fire Black Special’ coffee.  Although you may know me for not drinking coffee, this was particularly good (considering it was ice cold and I was tired).  The men in my BOE also made my official name tag.  It was hilarious because all I could hear them repeating over and over was, ‘Ni-ku-ra-su Sta-bu-ro-ra-ki-su’.  This was even more fun when getting my alien registration card, because they thought Stavroulakis was my first name.  Bah!  What a long day.  I came home, began making some food and cleaning the kitchen a bit. 
My neighbors, also coworkers at the BOE, brought their children over to introduce themselves.  I could only get a ‘Konnichiwa, Watashi wa Ni-ku desu,' and 'Watashi wa Nihongo ga scochii (sp?) wakarimasu,’ out, but the kids were great with introducing themselves in English.  I cannot wait until I can start to speak whole sentences and understand most of what’s going on.  Honestly, it hit me today that I’m excited to learn a new language!  Anyway, tomorrow is my big day!  Work til 4:30, and then a Going Away/Greeting Ceremony for Andrew and myself.  I get to give a quick speech about who I am and then it’s as much food and drink as you could possibly want.  Did I mention that Shochu (a liqueur) originates from Kagoshima (a different form of araki) ?  They are also well known for their black pork and black beef.  I think I’m in for a treat tomorrow.  Tonight, cubed chicken, onion, shiitake mushroom, and rice for dinner.  Maybe an Asahi too J
Okay, time for me to keep cleaning and get my speech ready.  Love you all!

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