Pre-Christmas in Ito, Christmas in Nagoya

Well, Christmas has come and gone, so here is a (timely!) update. It's not very exciting, so I've loaded it with more photos than necessary.


Yay! Presents! I opened my gifts early, on Dec. 23 (the Emperor's birthday!) in Ito. My favorite?

Nintendo DS styluses modeled after Darth Vader's red, Obi Wan Kenobi's blue and Luke Skywalker's green lightsabers. Sweet!

The closest thing I came to a "Christmas cake" (which is apparently an integral part of the Japanese Christmas experience) was this "rare" cheesecake from the convenience store. It wasn't bad. In my experience, Japanese sweets are 20 - 60% as delicious as they look. Insult to their taste, or compliment to their appearance? You be the judge!


Since my Christmas tree options were limited to what I could buy at the 100 yen store, but also unlimited, as in: as tacky as I wanted! So of course when I saw this little pale pink one, I had to get it. That's a snow man hand puppet on top, if you care to know.

Were the tiny lightsabers the best? Or what is the Reese's peanut butter cups? (Already consumed.)

I went to Nagoya on Christmas Eve, hoping to meet up with some friends. However, some problems arose with illness and other complications, so I ended up solo for the night. I did, however, find a junior high choir / orchestra performance near the main park in Nagoya, so I took in some Christmas music.

This lighted tree was actually really impressive, with spinning word messages, shifting colors, changing patterns ... I got a photo when it was green.

The area around Nagoya station was decorated with festive Christmas dolphins!

On Christmas day, I started out wandering around Nagoya City.

I decided to head toward the port, where I hadn't been since a group trip the first week I was a student at NUFS. I ate at Red Lobster (!) and went to the big aquarium there.


When turtles move too slow for your camera to affectively capture, it might be time to invest in a new model.

Penguins!

Dolphins!


I had my friend's engagement party (my main reason for going to Nagoya) on the evening of Christmas, but I did manage to make a quick trip to Nagoya Castle in the rain.

Afterward, I had a nice time seeing my friends and meeting some new ones for supper.

On the shinkansen (bullet train) ride home, I got to pass by Mt. Fuji looking its Mt. Fuji-est. My camera was out of batteries, but I still got some nice shots on my phone.

Fuji city is also Japan's paper-making capital, which I think is the reason for the many smokestacks (?) there.

If you've never ridden on the Shinkansen, it's quite nice (provided you buy a reserved seat). It looks like an airplane, but roomier.

Even enough space for me to just throw my luggage in front of me, which is niiice. If you don't have a reserved seat, it's just as nice... except that you might have to stand.

Probably a second update to come regarding my winter break, but that's about all of my Christmas-y information. Hope everyone is having happy holidays!

Culture festival and autumn in Tokyo

We recently had our school's culture festival (koyo-sai). It wasn't a huge event, but all the non-sports clubs did little projects and / or displays that you could look at after school for a week. The English Club paired up with the Broadcasting club and... interviewed members of the sports teams? And me, briefly? I only saw a little bit of the final product, so I'm not entirely sure how it turned out.

Look! I'm on a photo collage...

and cringe-ing-ly labeled as "Holly cute." It's flattering at first, but it eventually feels a little weird how much Japanese teenage girls yell about everything being cute (in English and Japanese). Let's try new adjectives!


A couple of club members had, two weeks prior, run into an English Club meeting and asked to take my photo (close up, in my grill). I didn't know what it was for, but apparently to make a project with me half-photo, half-painted school girl. It was not the most flattering picture to have blown up of me (considering I was a little startled and end-of-the-day sweaty), but I still think I got off better than the teacher pictured next to me, huh?


It was also a good reminder that Japanese young people are somehow almost all artistic. Manga culture? These are from the ... fashion club and ... tea ceremony club? I'm not sure what the first one means at all, but I liked the looks of it.


On Saturday of the recent three-day weekend, I made a trip into Tokyo. I didn't get as much Christmas shopping done a I had hoped, but I picked up some nice Christmas cards and did a little site-seeing-- I went to the top of the city government offices for the first time to check out the view (and, unlike Tokyo Tower, it's free!).

Now I have three days of no classes, because Wednesday - Friday is final exams. So I guess, with the exception of grading a few exams, I should have plenty of sitting around time... (it's not true, I never seem to find more than 10 minutes of sitting around time at school...)

Quickly changing seasons

Okay, very belatedly, is another post.

It's mostly been the same old, same old, but I think we're just running out of the last of our warm weather, and the leaves are starting to change on the mountains.

I went to a two-day mid-year seminar earlier this week. I wasn't happy about messing up my class schedule, but at least I got to learn some new ideas on how to teach phonics! (That wasn't intended to be sarcastic.)

I did make it out to Nagoya during October to re-visit some old friends. It was nice to see people I knew and revisit a couple of old places. Definitely made me long to be back in semi-suburban Nagoya, though. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any good pictures.

I also made a second trip to Gotemba, hometown of a former yosakoi teammate, to do some shopping at the massive outlet stores there. I got some awesome photos of Mt. Fuji (my first time to see more than just the base) -- or so I thought. Actually, they all came out like this:


I think I want to invest in a new camera.

But speaking of yosakoi, a Japanese English teacher at my school took me to see a local team practice. They're mid-dance, but they said they'll start a new one in January, so I might join then (and the JTE is thinking of joining, too).

BTW, much earlier in the year (August or September), I caught a tiny snippet of the Harajuku yosakoi festival in Tokyo (I was there just to shop and happened upon it). I was on the wrong side of the street for good photos, but here are a few grainy shots from my phone:



And now, because I can't think of anything very interesting to say, are a few captioned photos (I'll try to think of better content and update again).

Proof of how close my apartment is to the train tracks (how's that for good photo timing?).


What appears to be the most famous building in Ito, across the river. I've been inside, but I'm not entirely sure what it is.


A sculpture that's on our school grounds.


A bunch of loot given to me by a local temple after a vice principal took me there.


The beach at Usami.

My apartment in Usami

Well, I haven't done a very good job at keeping friends and family informed of my goings on in Japan so far, so here's my first update. I intend to add fairly regularly, so feel free to harass me if I don't keep good on that!

Here's a description and photos of my apartment, to start. Sorry if the formatting is weird. Probably it's more pictures of my little apartment than necessary, but I imagine some of you aren't familiar with Japanese apartments.

I'm living in a little teacher's apartment in Usami. I'm lucky that it's fully furnished -- everything that's been left by untold numbers of JETs is mine to keep (some JETs aren't so lucky -- my predecessor didn't try to charge me for anything, but some people I know had to buy the used things or start from scratch completely).

Here's my front door, complete with peep hole and safety chain.


Of course, you have to remove your shoes when you come in.



These shelves face the door, and are filled with random books and papers. Surprisingly, I have more storage space than I need (so far).

To the right, when you first come in, is the toilet (separate from the bathroom)



It's... basically a closet with a window. You might be able to see that there's a faucet on the back of the toilet. It runs automatically when you flush, so you can wash your hands. Those aren't actually my shells and glass bulbs in the basin, nor did I buy that fuzzy toilet cover, but I've been much too lazy to worry about redecorating my toilet closet.

The space beside the bathroom just has a window, and a pile of the junk that I can only recycle on specific days. Obviously, I forgot the time or two when I was supposed to recycle my plastic bottles.... There's also a hatch on the floor that I can open for my "basement." It's just kind of a cement pit with some old junk it from ALTs past. I keep my luggage in it, but am too scared of a big spider corpse to try and clean the old stuff out.



To the left when you come in (to the left of the shelving) is the door to the actual bathroom. There's a vanity and the washing machine, then a divided section with the shower and bathtub. (That whole section is a big shower stall with a tub in it.)


Further to the left is the kitchen (which has sliding doors to separate it from the entry area). It's a lot bigger than expected, with an almost-full sized refrigerator, table, microwave, toaster oven, etc. Thanks to the past ALTs, I will never be left without enough cups, bowls or plates. I could host a large dinner party, if only I could fit a large number of people in my apartment.


On the left of the kitchen (if you're facing into the kitchen, toward the balcony) is the living room / bedroom. It's tatami. There are closets on one side, the windows to the balcony on the other. I can close it off completely from the kitchen with the sliding doors, or have it half open. There's a little couch, which actually can be pulled out and used as a bed, but I still roll out a futon (kept in the closet) and sleep in the middle of the floor. I spend most of my time using the computer, sitting on my fold-able chair. The TV has a working VCR, but can't pick up any of the over-the-air channels.



Overall, I really like the apartment. Not great for hosting guests maybe, but it's easier to keep clean than something bigger and/or older might be (it's a somewhat new building, maybe built within ten or fifteen years?). It's also pretty easy to cool down with my little air conditioning unit.

Next time, more photos from around the city and my school. Hope everything is well overseas.