August 4th and 5th

August 4^th

Last night was so much fun!  Tomomi, her husband, son, and daughter were a breath of fresh air.  She actually picked me up from my house and drove me to her place, with the kids giggling in the back.  Her husband and I spoke broken English about surfing, fishing, and food while drinking Kirin beer and Shochu mixed with hot water.  Her son, 7, was interested in exchanging Japanese and English words (especially names of fish and pokemon characters).  Their daughter, 2, is quite possibly the cutest kid I have ever seen!  For an omiyage, I brought a box of jelly candies that she immediately opened and began eating like it was a meal.  All night, I would catch her studying me and then she’d give a quick smile with her dimples and I would melt. 

Through dinner, I quickly had a full page of notes and translations.  The husband cooked a dish of yakiudon with bonito shavings.  The aroma, the presentation, and quite possibly the Shochu made it perfect.  They even accompanied the meal with French fries, or as the kids call them, “potach.”  I remembered my etiquette and got my food from the main dish with the opposite ends of my chopsticks, and they quickly stopped me to say that I’m now family.  A tear glistening in the corner of my eye couldn’t even do justice to the feeling I felt.  I now have a family in Japan (outside my actual family in Okinawa that I have yet to visit).  Less than a week in the country and they have accepted me as family in their home.  Later in the night, the Takehara family (my neighbors) came and visited with their 8 year old daughter and twin 5 year old daughters.  The kids ERUPTED!  Huge fighting beetles were brought out to play with, they were jumping on cushions, eating puffed shrimp crisps, throwing wads of paper at each other, and I was sitting there probably staring like an idiot.  I don’t know if you can imagine all this, but they went even crazier when Tomomi cut up mango and melon.  Mangos over here, they go for about $5 - $7 each since their growing season is so short, and the kids know it’s quite a treat.  Screaming and running to the table, the kids were allowed two pieces each (about the size of a sugar cube if not smaller) and they were satisfied.  That was a culture shock, I actually felt it.  I saw the kids eat their pieces and immediately go back to what they were doing.  No complaining about who got the bigger piece, asking for more, or anything.  Does this place really exist, am I dreaming?

Another couple glasses of Schochu, some talk about “The Endless Summer,” and we were all beat.  The neighbors had left and the kids were falling asleep fast.  Actually, their son was sleeping under the table and the daughter wanted to ride in the car when Tomomi brought me home.  Perfect, perfect night.  Bad, bad morning.

I woke up, not feeling the greatest, but managed to get to work early.  We had an English seminar with my JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) from all 9 of my schools.  The two girls presenting were absolutely full of energy and helped me forget about my hangover.  We played some games that are going to help students learn about fruit, as well as practice the phrases, “What are your favorite fruits?” and “My favorite fruit is…”  We went from 9-12 and luckily we have an hour lunch break at the BOE.  Hamaya and Masuyama had ordered a bento box for me which was the fish special.  The main dish was some part of the fish’s face (best tasting of the bunch), followed closely by some sort of small fish (maybe their local sea bream) that still had tiny edible bones, chunks/tentacles of squid, and tofu-miso soup.  Unme! (Kagoshima-ben for delicious).  After lunch, Moroki (the superintendent of education) took me to Osaki Junior High to watch the girls play volleyball.  He was going there to congratulate them for winning their 2^nd championship in a row and wanted to introduce me.  In unison, the girls stopped what they were doing at the sight of Moroki, and lined up a chair for each of us.  They then finished their drill and came over for introductions, which sounded like a military drill team .  One girl would shout something and the others would shout back without hesitation.  I would actually love to get this on video to show all the punk high school kids back at SDUSD.

Nishitake brought me an envelope with my first week of pay.  Here’s what two of the items on the list said (and I swear I did not make this up): sarary and erectricity.  I thought ‘sarary’ was hilarious until I saw ‘erectricity’ and immediately thought of some low-budget ‘romance’ movie.  

I became a thousand-aire in 5 days, including erectricity.

Nothing special at the end of today.  I went to the Daiwa to get an omiyage for my office, some cool looking mushrooms, chicken, and of course a bottle of Lah Yu (J).  I hope you’re all enjoying this because I’m having a blast.  Lah to all.

August 5^th

I fell asleep to some intense rain last night.  When I woke up, it was nice and humid again but luckily there were clear skies.  For a majority of today, I read ‘Japanese for Busy People.’  Much better than the CLAIR workbook that was given to us.  I surfed on the web for a bit, until it was lunch time.  Had a BBQ pork meal today, again accompanied by miso soup and some pickled veggies.  Tomorrow, Tomomi and I are going to go out for lunch, so I’m hoping I’ll find something rural (I think that’s what I’m trying to say).  She introduced me to some other big-wig guys in the building across from us.  I’m going to attend some sort of Chinese martial arts that takes place every Friday evening.  I was trying to hint that I was more interested in the archery area they have set up next to our parking lot.  Oh well!  Moroki-san told me that I have a meeting with all my kochos (principals) tomorrow.  I’m supposed to give an introduction, but I still don’t know how to say more than a few things.  This will be fun.

Saturday is ‘New JET Day Out,’ for the Kagoshima prefecture.  I’m either going to be going to the Kagoshima Aquarium (they have a captive whale shark), the Sakurajima Onsen and Park, or a place called ‘Round 1 - Amusement Center.’  Sound like it’ll be a great time, plus I’ll finally get to navigate the car over some long distance.

I’ve been amazed with my new phone!  Well, the whole typing process is insanely horrible (it’s meant for Kanji and Hiragana), but I haven’t had to charge this thing for 2 whole days and it still shows full battery.  I’ve made a couple local calls and have taken more than enough time to type out some e-mails.  If they would transplant the battery of this into an iPhone, I would be sold.  Well, I actually wish I had gone with the iPhone out here, but spending $400 for a phone and then $100 a month that doesn’t include internet just didn’t sound right.  One of my co-workers brought in an iPad today and said it cost him $700!  Is that how much they’re going for?!  Now I don’t feel so bad about my ‘base’ model phone. 

I went for a run this afternoon, for the first time in a long time.  Didn’t go far because I kept scaring school girls who weren’t ready for a westerner yelling ‘Sumimasen!’ behind them.  Haha, I had to laugh, it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen since being here.  

I was invited to go surfing with Tomomi and her husband this Saturday, but completely forgot about the JET event.  I think someone is going to bring their foam board for me tomorrow, but I have no clue how to get it home.  All I have is some bundling twine and they haven’t said how long the board is.  Hopefully they’ll be willing to go on Sunday instead.  I just want to riiiiide.

That’s it, Bob Dylan is putting me to sleep and I need rest after all that office-sitting today.    Adios!