Today was my first full day on Ishigaki, since I spent most of yesterday just getting here. However! That's not to say I didn't do anything my first half day! The guest house I'm staying at, Maetakaya, offers dinner and breakfast, so I figured I would sign up for both, though personally, I think dinner is a little steep seeing as how cheap you can buy taco rice from local restaurants and stuff. An well. At least it's always pretty good. And actually, given that it's a set meal and that so far, it's come with some form of seafood, it would probably cost around the same price in a decent restaurant. Last night there was sashimi and pickles with I think champuru (a stir fry with Goya, and ours had ground meat and tofu and veggies). Plus dessert. Plus it's the closest I've had to home cooked food (of the Japanese variety) that I've had for a while. So other than the fact that I can't quite justify eating more taco rice, I really can't complain about the food!
Anyways, I was ready to write off last evening as a kind of dude "go to bed early" day but after dinner, the chef guy (who actually worked/lived in CA -the OC- and later Maui as a sushi chef) drove a few of us out into this jungle thicket area, where we were advised to suit up in long pants, long sleeves, and boots if we had them or close toed good shoes. We got there during dusk, so we killed time by spraying ourselves with bug spray to avoid being eaten alive. After night fell, we trumped through the jungle on a small muddy path to this small grove, where we were privileged enough to observe magic happening. Truly, it was amazing.
Though it was nearly pitch black, small light green and yellow lights floated in the air, while others seemed to sparkle in the distance. I had no idea there was more than one kind of firefly. The shiny ones were so pretty! It reminded me a bit of Christmas. The regular ones though... I dunno, there's something that just makes them seem so magical when there are ten or more floating around high in the air. So pretty. :)
But yes! That was my evening. :) I honestly cannot think of a better evening. Or well, okay, we'll I mean I can, but that ranks up there in the top. It's kinda nerdy, but I would choose to go watch fireflies like that over going to a club any day.
Today though, I got to go diving! It was ridiculously fun, even if we didn't go to the manta point. Kinda disappointed about that, to be honest. The waves were pretty choppy at our first dive site, and they said that they would probably be choppier at the manta point. As a diver, choppy waters make surfacing a pain in the ass, but it doesn't really matter once you're underwater. Our group, however, also had some snorkelers (waves, as I'm sure you can imagine, are not so great for snorkeling), one of whom got seasick at the first point. Having been with people who freak out with choppy waves (I swear, one day, that post about the Philippines will be finished), and knowing how scared people can get.... and the fact that the poor lady was seasick, I didn't want to be the douche and decide that the whole group is going to go to manta point. Despite the fact that I would have loved to go there and see manta possibly twice.... since I'm going tomorrow I decided to be a nicer person and let them take us somewhere calmer.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the second dive as well. Actually, we saw a bunch of really cool things that almost made up for not seeing manta. Almost. Among the fish we saw, we saw a couple of cool lionfish, a b ch of small tiny black fish hiding In an anemone, loads of clown fish, and a moray eel. But. Y far, my favorites were a sea snake I swam behind for a while (seriously, those things are so awesome! It was at least as long as my whole arm, and possibly as long as my leg, though it was hard to tell since it was swimming). That was freaking sweet. I don't think it was (too) dangerous (and by dangerous I mean poisonous). It was white with black stripes. I'll have to look it up later.
Oh! And the other rad thing we saw was an electric.... clam! Who knew clams could be electric! I didn't that's for sure. This one was a bright vivid orange color, and was I a small crevice-like hole inside a small cave/tunnel thing we went into. It had long tentacles coming out of it and when our guide, Harvey, shine his light on it, it was like watching lightning streak around the outside! Freaking sweet.
What else did we see that was awesome.... Hm... well, we also saw a puffer! They're actually quite large; I was kinda surprised. And we saw oh! We saw an octopus, though it wouldn't come out of its hiding spot. Lots of sea slugs, an orangutan crab, ghost pipe fish... Those were cool. Really large Nemos. Angelfish. I think I saw all the fish from the Tank except for Peach, though I did see some starfish, some no bigger than your thumbnail. Oh! And some awesome spikey sea slugs.
I also met a fellow JET from Fukuoka, where I quickly established that I suck at geography lol. Apparently, she came the same year I did. She was part if the snorkeling team, and we had a good time chatting away in English :)
Our trip finished way earlier than I expected though, so I was left with an over abundance of time on my hands... So I walked around Kabira, the name of the city/area I'm staying at, for a bit. They're well known for their cultivated black pearls (less known for their soba) so I visited one of the vendors there, learned about how they inject oysters with irritants in hopes that it'll take and produce a perfectly spherical pearl, and window shopped hahaha. I also walked around the beach a bit, before going "back into town" and grabbed some ice cream and checked out the souvenir shop. They had a bunch of cute things! They also had Jasmine gelato! It turns out, Sanpin-cha is Jasmine Tea - had I known this last time I would have only bought that lol!
Actually, when I went to eat my gelato, the cashier lady came up and started talking to me, and we chatted for a bit in Japanese before she introduced me to her coworker who spoke English and lived in Pennsylvania! We chatted for a bit in English hahahaha. It was really weird, but I keep hearing from Japanese people that they don't like the states much, or places where there aren't many Japanese people to talk to and stuff. That was fun though. I also got into a conversation with the vendor of a glass store who lived in South Africa for a while; he spoke English, and I spoke Japanese. Super good practice! It was a lot of fun too (also apparently according to him the unemployment rate is 50%, or was when he was there, so it was super dangerous in the city he was in).
Actually, that's why I enjoy traveling alone sometimes. I find that I get into more random conversations like that (and will even start some myself!) which, if the conversation is in Japanese, does amaz g things for my Japanese. :)
OH YEAH. ALSO TODAY A COCKROACH THE SIZE OF MY THUMB WAS CRAWLING ON MY ARM. MOST DISGUSTING THING EVER.
Oh also, so I learned a little bit today from the local man at the glass shop about the kind of places you can stay here in Japan. I knew most of them.... Just not about guest house, which is what my place is.
Hostels are super cheap of course, and feature dorm style housing. Guest houses, however, while still economical offer individual rooms and stuff apparently? That's what Maetakaya is.
Anyways, for future reference, if anyone ever decides to go to Ishigaki and stay in Kabira, here's a rundown of the place I stayed:
Maetakaya guest house
Regular price: ¥4700/night
W/breakfast: +600¥
w/dinner: + 1600? I think.
Dinner & breakfast: 6300¥
Good points: Own Room. Clean. Close to Kabira (everything). Good food (albeit a little early). Clean bathrooms. Deck. Free wifi downstairs. Hotaru viewing. English ある！bathroom has paper towels. Has shampoo and body soap. Nice view.
Meh: tatami rooms and futons. Ridiculously skinny stairs. Dinner is kinda expensive and kinda early. rental towels are kinda small. Only four showers and three bathrooms to share with the while guest house (our wing anyways).
Bad: pay for AC! 400 yen/8 hours. Windows have no screens! If you're going to make us rely on our windows and a fan, at least make sure the bugs can't crawl in while we sleep! So many bugs. :( seriously, while I've been writing this, I've squashed four bugs. Four!
Overall thoughts: not too bad. Kabira is hella quiet, and it's probably one of the cheapest places here, but I would splurge for a bed and free AC. Also I think if I came again, since there's free shuttle pickup, I'd totally stay I. Ishigaki for
Ty next time, since the other JET chick said she was at a super cheap hostel. But ,
Maetakaya Wasn't too bad; I've stayed at worse I guess.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Mountain Jazz
Today I went to my special needs school and was treated to a concert performed by one of the most... Interesting trios I've seen. There was a pianist, a tap dancer, and a woman who sang this kind of... scat or blues jazzy thing with lots of Doo-ops and stuff. It was a lot of fun! She sang her songs in English (!) and I really wanted to go up and talk to her after since she said she lived in New York. It was really interesting to watch! Definitely not what I pictured when they first said we were going to have a concert.
I've also learned a very valuable lesson I think, over my years here. For the love of smartphones everywhere, bringing out the iPhone because you're using it as a pocket electric dictionary is a really bad idea in front of students, because they will ask to play with it. And if you let them play with it once... They'll expect to be able to play with it again and again. The one time I didn't bring it, the kid started to cry because he was so disappointed. Mind, this is my special needs school with the elementary kids. Perhaps this wouldn't happen at high school, but I am a lot more loathe to bring out the smartphones in my more serious schools.
I think everyone had a good time though. The singer sang some Stand By Me and something else I'm pretty sure Michael Buble covered. Either way it was fun, and the kids looked like they enjoyed it a lot despite some songs being in English. They also sang that Sukiyaki song; it was super pretty. That reminds me, I need to see if I can get kokurizaka something something by Studio Ghibli with subtitles yet. Hmmm. Really cute movie, and it was actually easy enough to understand via nonverbal communication what was going on despite being able to only understand when they were saying unimportant things like "Shut the door!" and "go to bed!" lol. Oh well.
My goal though, in the next year or so, is to become really freaking good at Japanese so I can go and understand everything. I got a fellowship to do that after all, so they're basically paying me to study Japanese. :) it means I really need to work though and take the most advantage of the following year; brush up on the grammar fundamentals and make sure that's solid so I don't make a fool of myself next year. I feel like generally, I'm mostly lacking in vocab, but I'm still not super great when it comes to generating content in Japanese. I'm okay at writing, given enough time and someone to check it. I can convey my meanings and feelings for relatively basic things and lower intermediate grammar, though spoken Japanese makes this pretty easy since half the time in colloquial conversations you're just allowed to kind of trail off and the other person just intuitively understands what you're trying to say based off of context and intonation.
Mind reading. I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese people develop this ability first.
I've also learned a very valuable lesson I think, over my years here. For the love of smartphones everywhere, bringing out the iPhone because you're using it as a pocket electric dictionary is a really bad idea in front of students, because they will ask to play with it. And if you let them play with it once... They'll expect to be able to play with it again and again. The one time I didn't bring it, the kid started to cry because he was so disappointed. Mind, this is my special needs school with the elementary kids. Perhaps this wouldn't happen at high school, but I am a lot more loathe to bring out the smartphones in my more serious schools.
I think everyone had a good time though. The singer sang some Stand By Me and something else I'm pretty sure Michael Buble covered. Either way it was fun, and the kids looked like they enjoyed it a lot despite some songs being in English. They also sang that Sukiyaki song; it was super pretty. That reminds me, I need to see if I can get kokurizaka something something by Studio Ghibli with subtitles yet. Hmmm. Really cute movie, and it was actually easy enough to understand via nonverbal communication what was going on despite being able to only understand when they were saying unimportant things like "Shut the door!" and "go to bed!" lol. Oh well.
My goal though, in the next year or so, is to become really freaking good at Japanese so I can go and understand everything. I got a fellowship to do that after all, so they're basically paying me to study Japanese. :) it means I really need to work though and take the most advantage of the following year; brush up on the grammar fundamentals and make sure that's solid so I don't make a fool of myself next year. I feel like generally, I'm mostly lacking in vocab, but I'm still not super great when it comes to generating content in Japanese. I'm okay at writing, given enough time and someone to check it. I can convey my meanings and feelings for relatively basic things and lower intermediate grammar, though spoken Japanese makes this pretty easy since half the time in colloquial conversations you're just allowed to kind of trail off and the other person just intuitively understands what you're trying to say based off of context and intonation.
Mind reading. I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese people develop this ability first.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Eeny Meeny Miney Moe~
Catch a tiger by his toe
If he hollers let him go
Eenie meeny miney moe~
What do we even call these things? Counting rhymes? Today in English club we had a fun kind of cultural exchange. The students were talking about counting/deciding rhymes from their hometowns - more on that in a bit - and they asked the other teacher if she knew any, which allowed me to ask them what the heck they were talking about (I thought they were talking about tongue twisters or something). Then they explained what it was and I was like "aaahhhhhhhhhhhh got it" which led to them asking me, which in turn led to me teaching them (and I'll admit, a small bit of showing off how fast I could say the rhyme) how to say the first half of the rhyme.
It was actually a lot of fun! I suppose that's what English club is really about - having fun using English.
I learned something too though. According to my students, each of the areas (generally separated by junior high school) had a different rhyme. Or well, the first half is the same, but the second half is different. I was super surprised! I mean, most of the people in the states I know use some variation of Eenie Meeny miney moe (most commonly the one above, followed by "my mother said to pick the very best one and it is not you" though I know there are more variations on that) but I've never quite heard of it so separated by region like what I heard from my students today!
It really makes me wonder why that happened. Perhaps it had to do with how originally, each of these small junior high school areas were a different village and different region, and how they wanted to differentiate themselves from each other. Why this manifested itself as a counting rhyme... I'm not sure, but Japan sure does like to differentiate each of its regions from each other, what with regional specialties, regional food, regional souveniers and so on. I suppose the US does that a little bit... with the food at least, but I feel like it's not to the same extent as here in Japan.
I mean, I'm from Concord and Berkeley. I have no idea what food we'd be famous for. Berkeley is famous for... I guess Vegan food? Or ethnic food? But that's not quite the same as how Takahashi's food is Yubeshi (and more recently tomato yakisoba or something), or even how Osaka is known for deepfrying stuff on sticks (among other things). I think Walnut Creek was probably famous for Walnuts. Gilroy does garlic. But seriously, that's it. Am I not paying attention or something back at home because I'm used to being there? The students here seem to know their foods though, even if they're from the countryside.
Anyways though, counting rhymes and tongue twisters and English club. We have five new members! ONE OF THEM IS A BOY. HOOORAY. One boy, fourteen or fifteen girls. Yikes. But I'm so happy we have so many members now! When I first got here there were like... not many. Maybe six or something. I forget. It was small though.
Granted, some of the girls in English club... I wonder why they're there, other than because they want to have parties all the time. It was like pulling teeth to get some of them to speak English! I mean, not even hard English. We asked them just to say one thing that they like - and these are third years, so I know they know how to say chocolate and candy. But they didn't want to! Me and the other teacher were like "... this is English club.... ne? NE? NE?!?!?!?!"
Sigh.
That's only some girls though. Others are a little less resistant to it, and some of them even want to speak it more! :) Yay! I've been trying to focus on doing cultural things though, and now that my Japanese is a bit better, it's not so bad. Before though, when I had no idea what they were saying, English club was suuuuuuuper boring because the girls would just chatter away in Japanese.
I'm trying to remember what our high schools do in Japanese club, other than watching anime. I don't think Northgate had a Japanese club. We had an anime club.... but yeah, we watched anime in that. Plus I don't want this to just turn into a movie watching club, though sometimes, certainly, it's fiiiiine.
Actually, my mom gave me this Easter themed movie she thought I could show my students, which was sweet. The movie didn't have Japanese subtitles though... so unfortunately, over half of the students would be completely lost. I thought about showing it to them anyways... but personally, having watched animes and dramas and movies without the subtitles and only a mediocre understanding level, things are kinda like... eh. Not as enjoyable, since you're constantly like, "wtf is going on."
Maybe some day though. Maybe. : )
If he hollers let him go
Eenie meeny miney moe~
What do we even call these things? Counting rhymes? Today in English club we had a fun kind of cultural exchange. The students were talking about counting/deciding rhymes from their hometowns - more on that in a bit - and they asked the other teacher if she knew any, which allowed me to ask them what the heck they were talking about (I thought they were talking about tongue twisters or something). Then they explained what it was and I was like "aaahhhhhhhhhhhh got it" which led to them asking me, which in turn led to me teaching them (and I'll admit, a small bit of showing off how fast I could say the rhyme) how to say the first half of the rhyme.
It was actually a lot of fun! I suppose that's what English club is really about - having fun using English.
I learned something too though. According to my students, each of the areas (generally separated by junior high school) had a different rhyme. Or well, the first half is the same, but the second half is different. I was super surprised! I mean, most of the people in the states I know use some variation of Eenie Meeny miney moe (most commonly the one above, followed by "my mother said to pick the very best one and it is not you" though I know there are more variations on that) but I've never quite heard of it so separated by region like what I heard from my students today!
It really makes me wonder why that happened. Perhaps it had to do with how originally, each of these small junior high school areas were a different village and different region, and how they wanted to differentiate themselves from each other. Why this manifested itself as a counting rhyme... I'm not sure, but Japan sure does like to differentiate each of its regions from each other, what with regional specialties, regional food, regional souveniers and so on. I suppose the US does that a little bit... with the food at least, but I feel like it's not to the same extent as here in Japan.
I mean, I'm from Concord and Berkeley. I have no idea what food we'd be famous for. Berkeley is famous for... I guess Vegan food? Or ethnic food? But that's not quite the same as how Takahashi's food is Yubeshi (and more recently tomato yakisoba or something), or even how Osaka is known for deepfrying stuff on sticks (among other things). I think Walnut Creek was probably famous for Walnuts. Gilroy does garlic. But seriously, that's it. Am I not paying attention or something back at home because I'm used to being there? The students here seem to know their foods though, even if they're from the countryside.
Anyways though, counting rhymes and tongue twisters and English club. We have five new members! ONE OF THEM IS A BOY. HOOORAY. One boy, fourteen or fifteen girls. Yikes. But I'm so happy we have so many members now! When I first got here there were like... not many. Maybe six or something. I forget. It was small though.
Granted, some of the girls in English club... I wonder why they're there, other than because they want to have parties all the time. It was like pulling teeth to get some of them to speak English! I mean, not even hard English. We asked them just to say one thing that they like - and these are third years, so I know they know how to say chocolate and candy. But they didn't want to! Me and the other teacher were like "... this is English club.... ne? NE? NE?!?!?!?!"
Sigh.
That's only some girls though. Others are a little less resistant to it, and some of them even want to speak it more! :) Yay! I've been trying to focus on doing cultural things though, and now that my Japanese is a bit better, it's not so bad. Before though, when I had no idea what they were saying, English club was suuuuuuuper boring because the girls would just chatter away in Japanese.
I'm trying to remember what our high schools do in Japanese club, other than watching anime. I don't think Northgate had a Japanese club. We had an anime club.... but yeah, we watched anime in that. Plus I don't want this to just turn into a movie watching club, though sometimes, certainly, it's fiiiiine.
Actually, my mom gave me this Easter themed movie she thought I could show my students, which was sweet. The movie didn't have Japanese subtitles though... so unfortunately, over half of the students would be completely lost. I thought about showing it to them anyways... but personally, having watched animes and dramas and movies without the subtitles and only a mediocre understanding level, things are kinda like... eh. Not as enjoyable, since you're constantly like, "wtf is going on."
Maybe some day though. Maybe. : )
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Fatty Bumblebee
So this isn't anything like... actual, but that bumblebee I thought was dead?
Nope. Still alive.
Meaning I haven't been able to do my laundry for two days, and I currently can't get into the bathroom or take out my contacts since I shut the bee in that room. Seriously, that thing is huge.
I did a google search for what it could possibly be, and you know what came up? Something about how it was a queen bee, probably. But then I looked at the link... and actually, it was a description for a killer bee in Pathfinder, which is the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
Yeaaaaaah. Further proof that this bee in my house is a monster. AUGH.
I feel kind of sorry for it though, which is part of the reason why I can't kill it. The other, more rational part of me says that if I kill it in its current location, it will drop down behind my washing machine and be impossible to retrieve. But I mean, all it really wants is to get out I think, otherwise it wouldn't be obsessed with the window. Poor thing. Shame I can't actually like... touch it. I'm hoping that it either finds the way out or dies of natural causes so I can stop having a heart attack any time I'm near the bathroom. Sigh.
Nope. Still alive.
Meaning I haven't been able to do my laundry for two days, and I currently can't get into the bathroom or take out my contacts since I shut the bee in that room. Seriously, that thing is huge.
I did a google search for what it could possibly be, and you know what came up? Something about how it was a queen bee, probably. But then I looked at the link... and actually, it was a description for a killer bee in Pathfinder, which is the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
Yeaaaaaah. Further proof that this bee in my house is a monster. AUGH.
I feel kind of sorry for it though, which is part of the reason why I can't kill it. The other, more rational part of me says that if I kill it in its current location, it will drop down behind my washing machine and be impossible to retrieve. But I mean, all it really wants is to get out I think, otherwise it wouldn't be obsessed with the window. Poor thing. Shame I can't actually like... touch it. I'm hoping that it either finds the way out or dies of natural causes so I can stop having a heart attack any time I'm near the bathroom. Sigh.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Day of Rest
Today was supposed to be my day of rest... and well, I guess it was my day of rest. But by "day of rest" - when I thought about it on saturday - was supposed to be more like "day of productiveness and doing things like laundry and school prep and stuff."
Thanks to a giant huge (and still at large) bumblebee (yes I know they're mostly harmless) and this drama series called My Boss My Hero, yeah, that didn't really happen today. Oops. The drama at least is practicing my Japanese a little (I'm determined to get better and pass the N3 level JLPT! For the sake of enrolling at Stanford, sheesh, I need to pass this test since I told them that I had taken the test and I dunno, it'd be kind of shameful if I got there and was like "well yeah, actually I didn't pass the test..." so I'm going to try my hardest).
The bee though. The bee was one of those fatty ones, with the huge bodies like pompoms. I think it was about the size of my thumb up to the knuckle - the body. Like the size of my whole thumb. It was a big mofo! I actually shut the doors and ran to hide from it in my room for a while haha. Eventually, when I had to use the bathroom (it was trapped in the bathroom area) I went back to see if it was still there and found that it had kinda like... crash landed next to my laundry soap.
So yeah, no laundry got done today. Sigh.
Actually, shamefully, I didn't really go outside much. I just aired out my futon a little bit, which is a shame because today was actually really nice. I really should have gone outside! Sigh. Somehow it's nine pm, and while I did study a little bit on my Japanese, there were a bunch of things I didn't do. Saaaaaaaaaaaa.
Yesterday though, was fun.
I went in to Okayama for a cherry blossom viewing party, called "hamami." I also saw one of my former students at the train station. She asked if I remember her, and I told her もちろん - or, "of course!" since she was one of the really loud cheerful students in my home ec girls class. Really thankful though that she didn't ask me what her name was because yeaaaaaaah I wouldn't have actually known. I'm so bad with names!
The hanami party was really fun though. My friend Maeve organized it, and a bunch of us went down to the river area and sat under the cherry blossoms, drank, and had a grand old time. Hanami - which literally translates into something like "flower look" - is where you go for a picnic with friends or family in a place with cherry blossoms and enjoy both the beautiful flowers and the good company. Often times as well, people will bring portable BBQs -- or in the case that it's near a famous place, they'll have a place where you can rent one. Usually too, people will drink alcohol as well as they watch the cherry blossoms fall. It's kind of like a giant excuse to drink during the day.
It was especially fun though, because it was like a big group BBQ, so I got to see a lot of people whom I haven't seen in ages! That's why I really enjoy going to the AJET events and big group stuff, though my closer friends are also fun to hang out with. Even if there are going to be people there I'm not really fond of (and at times want to punch lol, but let's be honest, my bark is way bigger than my bite), the fact that I can see a bunch of other people as well make me look forward to going to more of these things.
So yesterday was basically a day of enjoying good company, a good view of flowers, and a tiny bit of daytime drinking to make the lights a little shinier hahaha. It's times like those that I feel like - despite being in the company of a bunch of foreigners - I'm truly in Japan.
Now that the winter doldrums have disappeared (mostly) spring and flowers and greenery (and bugs -- boo I'm such a downer!) have returned, and I've come to realize that I live in a very very beautiful place. In August, most people know (since I've been on a smallish bragging streak lol), but I'm leaving Takahashi to come back to California for graduate school at Stanford studying East Asian Studies, or basically, Japan and Japanese. I'm even getting paid for it! Actually, I've been trying hard not to brag, but every time someone says it inside me has a reaction like this:
I'm not going to lie - I really look forward to returning to burritos and cheddar cheese and chipotle. At the same time though, I'm sad that I'll be leaving my bug-infested second home. I really do love the people here. Everyone is so kind -- even the Chinese and Korean foreigners here, as much as I want to shake my fist at them for driving so damn fast and close next to me on my bike. Really, I've found so many small places here, and actually, I can get pretty much everything I need at Polka, albeit for a little bit more sometimes than I can obtain elsewhere. And Izumi is far, and there's no gym. And that I really probably would prefer to live in a city or suburb like Kurashiki or Okayama.
But still. I really do like Takahashi and Okayama Prefecture (and Niimi too!). The friendliness of the people and students and other teachers has made my experience wonderful and memorable, and I'm truly thankful for the opportunity to have lived here for my tenure on JET. I even like commuting now, up and down to Niimi, for all that means that a social life on Friday is impossible. Though maybe I'm biased since like, honestly the kyudo students make Niimi a thousand times more amazing. That's my favorite part about going to school, is getting to participate in kyudo and interact with students in that setting.
That's not even including all the wonderful foreigners I've met over here -- my fellow JETs, as well as the Japanese people I've met as well!
I won't miss the work though hahaha. I'm not super fond of lesson planning and it's kind of tiring to be this organized all the time with my classes, so I don't think I'll miss that very much. Maybe a little, after I leave and stop doing it. But what I'll miss the most I think, are the friendships and connections with people here. Those kinds of things though, I suppose, are the kinds of things that - given a little effort - can span over distance though, it's not quite the same as being here in person.
Ahhhh I'm getting so sentimental! Still have three more months! Guess we gotta make the most of it then, hm?
Thanks to a giant huge (and still at large) bumblebee (yes I know they're mostly harmless) and this drama series called My Boss My Hero, yeah, that didn't really happen today. Oops. The drama at least is practicing my Japanese a little (I'm determined to get better and pass the N3 level JLPT! For the sake of enrolling at Stanford, sheesh, I need to pass this test since I told them that I had taken the test and I dunno, it'd be kind of shameful if I got there and was like "well yeah, actually I didn't pass the test..." so I'm going to try my hardest).
The bee though. The bee was one of those fatty ones, with the huge bodies like pompoms. I think it was about the size of my thumb up to the knuckle - the body. Like the size of my whole thumb. It was a big mofo! I actually shut the doors and ran to hide from it in my room for a while haha. Eventually, when I had to use the bathroom (it was trapped in the bathroom area) I went back to see if it was still there and found that it had kinda like... crash landed next to my laundry soap.
So yeah, no laundry got done today. Sigh.
Actually, shamefully, I didn't really go outside much. I just aired out my futon a little bit, which is a shame because today was actually really nice. I really should have gone outside! Sigh. Somehow it's nine pm, and while I did study a little bit on my Japanese, there were a bunch of things I didn't do. Saaaaaaaaaaaa.
Yesterday though, was fun.
I went in to Okayama for a cherry blossom viewing party, called "hamami." I also saw one of my former students at the train station. She asked if I remember her, and I told her もちろん - or, "of course!" since she was one of the really loud cheerful students in my home ec girls class. Really thankful though that she didn't ask me what her name was because yeaaaaaaah I wouldn't have actually known. I'm so bad with names!
The hanami party was really fun though. My friend Maeve organized it, and a bunch of us went down to the river area and sat under the cherry blossoms, drank, and had a grand old time. Hanami - which literally translates into something like "flower look" - is where you go for a picnic with friends or family in a place with cherry blossoms and enjoy both the beautiful flowers and the good company. Often times as well, people will bring portable BBQs -- or in the case that it's near a famous place, they'll have a place where you can rent one. Usually too, people will drink alcohol as well as they watch the cherry blossoms fall. It's kind of like a giant excuse to drink during the day.
It was especially fun though, because it was like a big group BBQ, so I got to see a lot of people whom I haven't seen in ages! That's why I really enjoy going to the AJET events and big group stuff, though my closer friends are also fun to hang out with. Even if there are going to be people there I'm not really fond of (and at times want to punch lol, but let's be honest, my bark is way bigger than my bite), the fact that I can see a bunch of other people as well make me look forward to going to more of these things.
So yesterday was basically a day of enjoying good company, a good view of flowers, and a tiny bit of daytime drinking to make the lights a little shinier hahaha. It's times like those that I feel like - despite being in the company of a bunch of foreigners - I'm truly in Japan.
Now that the winter doldrums have disappeared (mostly) spring and flowers and greenery (and bugs -- boo I'm such a downer!) have returned, and I've come to realize that I live in a very very beautiful place. In August, most people know (since I've been on a smallish bragging streak lol), but I'm leaving Takahashi to come back to California for graduate school at Stanford studying East Asian Studies, or basically, Japan and Japanese. I'm even getting paid for it! Actually, I've been trying hard not to brag, but every time someone says it inside me has a reaction like this:
I apologize if it's seemed like I was bragging. I'm trying not to. Sometimes when I'm alone though I giggle gleefully because oh my god Stanford is giving me money.
Also, the slightly immature part of me that has a bunch of family and friends who are Cal alums and also got rejected from UC Berkeley want to say something like, suck it Cal, since omg, stanford, full ride.
But that would be immature. Hee.
I digress. Since I'm leaving though, I've come to realize that I actually really really like Okayama and Takahashi, and not just -as when I first came here - "the scenery is beautiful" (which, really, it is). I've come to love the people here, the atmosphere, the students, the not-big-city feel, and of course, the scenery. And while I do prefer city atmospheres like Kobe and Seoul and San Diego (Tokyo and Osaka are a little too big for me) there's just a certain charm about Okayama that makes me happy to be here. Perhaps that's what rubbed me the wrong way about certain people in our prefecture, and some of the Interact ALTs here in Takahashi. They would count down the number of days before they were released from their hellish existence here, or would say things like that Okayama was ridiculously backwater and that the whole country thinks of it as a hicktown and how much they couldn't wait to escape. I guess this is how people from the midwest/south feel when us city folk poke fun at countryside places. I'd like to claim that it's different, but honestly, it probably isn't.
I'm not going to lie - I really look forward to returning to burritos and cheddar cheese and chipotle. At the same time though, I'm sad that I'll be leaving my bug-infested second home. I really do love the people here. Everyone is so kind -- even the Chinese and Korean foreigners here, as much as I want to shake my fist at them for driving so damn fast and close next to me on my bike. Really, I've found so many small places here, and actually, I can get pretty much everything I need at Polka, albeit for a little bit more sometimes than I can obtain elsewhere. And Izumi is far, and there's no gym. And that I really probably would prefer to live in a city or suburb like Kurashiki or Okayama.
But still. I really do like Takahashi and Okayama Prefecture (and Niimi too!). The friendliness of the people and students and other teachers has made my experience wonderful and memorable, and I'm truly thankful for the opportunity to have lived here for my tenure on JET. I even like commuting now, up and down to Niimi, for all that means that a social life on Friday is impossible. Though maybe I'm biased since like, honestly the kyudo students make Niimi a thousand times more amazing. That's my favorite part about going to school, is getting to participate in kyudo and interact with students in that setting.
That's not even including all the wonderful foreigners I've met over here -- my fellow JETs, as well as the Japanese people I've met as well!
I won't miss the work though hahaha. I'm not super fond of lesson planning and it's kind of tiring to be this organized all the time with my classes, so I don't think I'll miss that very much. Maybe a little, after I leave and stop doing it. But what I'll miss the most I think, are the friendships and connections with people here. Those kinds of things though, I suppose, are the kinds of things that - given a little effort - can span over distance though, it's not quite the same as being here in person.
Ahhhh I'm getting so sentimental! Still have three more months! Guess we gotta make the most of it then, hm?
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Springtime: A New Hope
Ahhhh springtime is so busy! I'm not used to working any more... or having to prep for classes and keep everything organized. I feel like my head might one day explode from having to store all this information, or that (more likely) I'll end up at the wrong school on the wrong day with the wrong lesson plan. I'm waiting for that to happen. I forgot how hard keeping track of all my schools and all my teachers are, when there are a billion things going on at once.
Or well, maybe not a billion, but currently, I work with seven different teachers (not counting the teachers at my special needs school) at three schools at four campuses, but in total I've worked with sixteen different JTEs, all with different styles. I've tried keeping track of my classes on digitally Evernote with mixed success; I've found that it's better for keeping track of more extensive lesson plans and stuff. Right now, what's been working (as long as I remember to check it) has been a calendar which I write everything down in. Everything. I use memos to keep reminders of things I need to put in the calendar, and I try to keep it up to date. One of the hardest parts is remembering to check....
Also, I officially have taught all the students at all my schools -- or will after the first lessons with the first years. That's over 1500 students -- over 2000 if you count the classes that have already graduated! And they all know who I am. I can probably count the number of kids whose names I know on my hands. Yay. I remember a lot of their faces though, but not necessarily what school they go to or which class they're in.
Dunno how I'm going to survive at grad school.
But the students whose names I *do* know tend to be kinda awesome, since they've managed to stick in my head for some reason. That, or they're really loud all the time hahaha. Actually, when I look at the names of students I remember, most of them are pretty interested in English, or at least trying in class even if they're not always the best. These kids always raise their hands and stuff, or will always have the right answer. A lot of them are leaders in the things they do - some are captains of sports teams, others are on student government. A couple taught me how to do Japanese archery (kyudo). There's one kid who I'll chat with; it's really fun just talking in our mixed English and Japanese. Kind of worried though, cause like, he forgot about the round he was supposed to shoot in and the other students had to call them over. Haha... That's almost kind of awkward. I felt bad for the poor kid, since he'll probably get teased for it. Oh high schoolers. I also talk a bunch with the girls in kyudo as well, but for some reason their names never seem to stick. Sigh. But seriously, these kinds of small chatty times are some of my favorites, and probably what makes me like Niimi south campus and Takahashi Jounan so much. I don't always speak to the kids in English (occasionally I'll bust out the Japanese), but I think it's the process of exchanging that's the most important thing, rather than which language we're using to communicate. English -- and Japanese -- are vehicles and tools we can utilize to communicate with others. This is one time where I'd say it's the destination that matters, rather than the journey. I mean, of course I want their English to get better, and that I don't want to teach them how to say things incorrectly. But I believe more in fostering a positive attitude and confidence in students, rather than the correct grammar and syntax. So even when they make mistakes, unless it's really big, I won't point it out since I feel like it will make them feel less inclined to speak when they're worried about getting the whole thing right.
I know I was/am like that when I speak Japanese, and I feel like I don't speak nearly as much because I'm always searching for the "right" way to say it. THe times when I kind of just word vomited, I ended up being able to convey my idea (usually) and I would feel really proud when they understood. I knew that I wasn't saying things right, and I wasn't sure about that particle, but like, I did end up speaking a lot more.
Tomorrow we're doing Easter activities in English club. I'm kinda excited, since this means we'll be dying Easter eggs! Hooray! I actually had a hard time explaining precisely what Easter was without sounding super super Christian, though I definitely don't really self-identify as one. But my family is, so that means easter egg hunts! Seriously, I love doing those. It was always a competition at my house. Who could gather the most? I remember the younger kids were let out earlier to give them a fair shot at "winning" (ie, collecting the most eggs). Those were good times.
Or well, maybe not a billion, but currently, I work with seven different teachers (not counting the teachers at my special needs school) at three schools at four campuses, but in total I've worked with sixteen different JTEs, all with different styles. I've tried keeping track of my classes on digitally Evernote with mixed success; I've found that it's better for keeping track of more extensive lesson plans and stuff. Right now, what's been working (as long as I remember to check it) has been a calendar which I write everything down in. Everything. I use memos to keep reminders of things I need to put in the calendar, and I try to keep it up to date. One of the hardest parts is remembering to check....
Also, I officially have taught all the students at all my schools -- or will after the first lessons with the first years. That's over 1500 students -- over 2000 if you count the classes that have already graduated! And they all know who I am. I can probably count the number of kids whose names I know on my hands. Yay. I remember a lot of their faces though, but not necessarily what school they go to or which class they're in.
Dunno how I'm going to survive at grad school.
But the students whose names I *do* know tend to be kinda awesome, since they've managed to stick in my head for some reason. That, or they're really loud all the time hahaha. Actually, when I look at the names of students I remember, most of them are pretty interested in English, or at least trying in class even if they're not always the best. These kids always raise their hands and stuff, or will always have the right answer. A lot of them are leaders in the things they do - some are captains of sports teams, others are on student government. A couple taught me how to do Japanese archery (kyudo). There's one kid who I'll chat with; it's really fun just talking in our mixed English and Japanese. Kind of worried though, cause like, he forgot about the round he was supposed to shoot in and the other students had to call them over. Haha... That's almost kind of awkward. I felt bad for the poor kid, since he'll probably get teased for it. Oh high schoolers. I also talk a bunch with the girls in kyudo as well, but for some reason their names never seem to stick. Sigh. But seriously, these kinds of small chatty times are some of my favorites, and probably what makes me like Niimi south campus and Takahashi Jounan so much. I don't always speak to the kids in English (occasionally I'll bust out the Japanese), but I think it's the process of exchanging that's the most important thing, rather than which language we're using to communicate. English -- and Japanese -- are vehicles and tools we can utilize to communicate with others. This is one time where I'd say it's the destination that matters, rather than the journey. I mean, of course I want their English to get better, and that I don't want to teach them how to say things incorrectly. But I believe more in fostering a positive attitude and confidence in students, rather than the correct grammar and syntax. So even when they make mistakes, unless it's really big, I won't point it out since I feel like it will make them feel less inclined to speak when they're worried about getting the whole thing right.
I know I was/am like that when I speak Japanese, and I feel like I don't speak nearly as much because I'm always searching for the "right" way to say it. THe times when I kind of just word vomited, I ended up being able to convey my idea (usually) and I would feel really proud when they understood. I knew that I wasn't saying things right, and I wasn't sure about that particle, but like, I did end up speaking a lot more.
Tomorrow we're doing Easter activities in English club. I'm kinda excited, since this means we'll be dying Easter eggs! Hooray! I actually had a hard time explaining precisely what Easter was without sounding super super Christian, though I definitely don't really self-identify as one. But my family is, so that means easter egg hunts! Seriously, I love doing those. It was always a competition at my house. Who could gather the most? I remember the younger kids were let out earlier to give them a fair shot at "winning" (ie, collecting the most eggs). Those were good times.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Visitors
This past week, my parents came out to visit me in Japan! (Hi mom and dad! Hee hee) It was definitely... hm, interesting haha.
I was originally going to say snarky things about it, but when I came home to an empty house, it hit me a little hard. I guess I do miss them a lot after all. That they came all the way out to my little house in the country town is really kinda touching for me, even if traveling with them was a bit stressful at times.
Wednesday after work, I caught the shinkansen up to Kyoto, where we were staying for a few days before traveling down to Takahashi. Some stupid idea popped into my head when I was waiting for the shinkansen. I was waiting in line for the nozomi train - the fastest shinkansen - when I noticed that the Hikari train (the fastest train that people with the rail pass can take, and generally the second fastest, while the kodama tends to be the slowest and stops at the most stations) had no people in it, while the nozomi was probably going to be very crowded. So hey, I figured, I'll just catch the hikari because it's not *that* much slower than the nozomi, and while it stops at more stations, that shouldn't add that much time onto it... right?
WRONG SO WRONG. Not only did it stop at all the stations between Okayama and Kyoto, but it also waited at said stations for sometimes up to 15 minutes! I watched THREE trains pass us at one station. THREE. OMG WAT. I was so angry, haha, but it turns out I timed it pretty well, because I arrived at the shuttle stop a few minutes before my parents did (which according to my mother, was a good thing, since they might have missed it otherwise, which sounds plausible to me).
We only stayed in Kyoto for a day and a half more, but I felt like almost every moment was packed! We trekked out to Arashiyama to see the monkeys - and holy cow, there were a TON of monkeys. You have to climb up a small mountain/large hill to get to the monkeys though (and I can proudly say that I am in better shape than my mother, and not too far behind my father but that's okay because he runs every day and I... I sleep). So worth it! We went right around noon, so there were a ton of monkeys hanging around (lols) despite our prior worries about them being cloistered away due to the sporadic showers we were having (I got a super cute umbrella out of it though!).
There must have been like... twenty monkeys. Or well, to be proper, Japanese Macaques. Macaques! The potato and hot spring primates! That's the same kind of monkey as Imo (the macaque who first introduced the phenomena of washing potatoes in the ocean to add a salty flavor to it - also HA I totally understand the name now. Clever scientists.). I saw a macaque hitting two rocks together (tools!) and geeked out a little bit. Or a lot of bit. You don't understand (or maybe you do?). Cognitive Science (one of my majors) was like... 40% stuff about primates (mostly chimpanzees, bonobos, and some macaques and orangutans). I detest primates now because of that, but seeing them in person was pretty crazy.
After the mountain, we decided that we would go check out some of the shops and then some of the shops along the street and then walk over to the oldschool shopping area in the Arashiyama district. The tentative plan was to do that, and then head over to the Gion district to hopefully see it at night (and unbeknowst to me, if I had bothered to read the signs earlier, I would have noticed that that whole area was doing a special light up that we could have gone to. REGRETS, I HAS THEM).
Unfortunately, walking over to that district was a very... not great idea seeing as how we were a) somewhat on a time schedule and b) my mother has a stamina bar that decreases as she walks and decreases at a faster rate when going up or down stairs. Don't get me wrong, the area was pretty, but I wish we had gotten a taxi or something... By the time we got there, most of the shops were closing up since it was nearly 5 -- and all things that are country-esque or oldtimey Japan-esque (and government buildings and banks) close around 4:30 or 5. We did get to go into a really cool bamboo shop (they gave us free tea!) and we walked along and it was pretty and stuff. But it took us nearly an hour and a half to get back to Kyoto station (and the train ride is only 20 minutes). By the time we got back we were pretty tired, and my parents thought it would be a good idea to stop by the hotel and drop things off before heading out.
My mom estimated it would take us about an hour - I was hoping for half an hour or something, but as usual, my mother was spot on. We didn't get into Kyoto station until around 7:30 and we didn't get to the restaurant (we had to wait) until around 8, and then we were finished around 9 and at that point we kinda gave up on the Gion (REGRETS. Though, by the time we got there they would have finished the light up at Kiyomizu Temple). Instead we went to the Lipton restaurant (eee Lipton has a restaurant!) and had tea and cake instead. They had berry tart too, though it was a bit sour.
Probably was better we didn't go to the Gion district, since it was clear from our attempt to get there the next day that we had very little idea how public transit worked. Or well, *I* wanted to take the bus since it would only cost 220 yen to get there and we didn't need to worry much about walking or whatever. My plan was to bus to kiyomizu then walk to the Gion. Or take the bus the website told us. But no. We took the subway instead - the subway, NOT the private train line that stops a block away from the gion. Then we got off at a super far station and I swear we walked for at least an hour before we were in the Gion proper. As expected of going somewhere with dad though. Sigh.
We didn't actually go all the way up to Kiyomizu though. We only went to the part where the temple starts, because we were looking for this tofu restaurant we had eaten at seven years ago. I mean, I had also kind of assumed that it would just be sitting there the same, and the thought that it could have changed didn't enter my head until we were standing there (and was accompanied with a facepalm). I was a little cranky from having to walk so far and it being rather late for lunch and (probably most of all) for my time schedule to be thrown off by somewhere around an hour at least, but man, was lunch amazing. We ended up at a place that did Yudofu and also Yu...ba... I think? It's the tofu that you skim off the top. Lots of work, that one. I didn't have the patience. The yudofu (boiled tofu) was amazing though. Most of the meal was tofu, but we also got - swear to god - some of the best tempura I've had in my life. NOMMMM. I think they put the salt into the batter or something. Everything was vegetarian though, and I actually got really really full. I felt super healthy too! Yay!
It made up for the fact that later that night we had Kobe beef, godmeat of beef. Seriously. I've always heard that it melts in your mouth, but I did not know how beef could literally melt in your mouth until that dinner. It was pricey (100,000 yen for the super fatty one and 140,000 yen for the fatty big one!) but OH GOD SO WORTH IT. Also, how often are you going to eat this stuff? But I got the sirloin steak (a nice balance between having a lot of meat -- which the rib steak had -- and tender, which obviously was the tenderloin). But with the super fatty one, my sirloin was just as tender as the not-as-fatty tenderloin my mom got and when you put it into your mouth, the juices just kind of seeped out and your mouth would fill with ridiculously tasty wonderful meat flavored juice. I was so unbelievably happy. Mouth full of meat juice hahaha.
So worth the expensive price tag. I've never chewed my meat that much in my life haha.
Oh, the place we went to - and I highly recommend it - was called "Moriya" 「モーリヤ」and we went to the "honten" or main branch restaurant near Sannomiya in Kobe. We reserved early, so we got to sit next to the grill where we watched them cook our delicious meat (with less of a flair than benihana, but I think it made up for that with the quality of the meat). The chef who was cooking our food was really nice, and he gave us really fantastic recommendations for flavor combinations for our meat and veggies (my personal favorite was just salt and pepper, but a little bit of wasabi as well was pretty good. My dad was a fan of the wasabi/salt/pepper combo and my mom a fan of salt/garlic chip).
Man though, that was the best meal of my life so far I think. Because you know what's better than super fatty Kobe beef? Super fatty Kobe beef that someone else has paid for.
Love you mom and dad :D
You know, I'm actually considering lifting the self/mom-imposed ban on having my parents as facebook friends. Almost. Maybe. Still kinda wary about that though.
I was originally going to say snarky things about it, but when I came home to an empty house, it hit me a little hard. I guess I do miss them a lot after all. That they came all the way out to my little house in the country town is really kinda touching for me, even if traveling with them was a bit stressful at times.
Wednesday after work, I caught the shinkansen up to Kyoto, where we were staying for a few days before traveling down to Takahashi. Some stupid idea popped into my head when I was waiting for the shinkansen. I was waiting in line for the nozomi train - the fastest shinkansen - when I noticed that the Hikari train (the fastest train that people with the rail pass can take, and generally the second fastest, while the kodama tends to be the slowest and stops at the most stations) had no people in it, while the nozomi was probably going to be very crowded. So hey, I figured, I'll just catch the hikari because it's not *that* much slower than the nozomi, and while it stops at more stations, that shouldn't add that much time onto it... right?
WRONG SO WRONG. Not only did it stop at all the stations between Okayama and Kyoto, but it also waited at said stations for sometimes up to 15 minutes! I watched THREE trains pass us at one station. THREE. OMG WAT. I was so angry, haha, but it turns out I timed it pretty well, because I arrived at the shuttle stop a few minutes before my parents did (which according to my mother, was a good thing, since they might have missed it otherwise, which sounds plausible to me).
We only stayed in Kyoto for a day and a half more, but I felt like almost every moment was packed! We trekked out to Arashiyama to see the monkeys - and holy cow, there were a TON of monkeys. You have to climb up a small mountain/large hill to get to the monkeys though (and I can proudly say that I am in better shape than my mother, and not too far behind my father but that's okay because he runs every day and I... I sleep). So worth it! We went right around noon, so there were a ton of monkeys hanging around (lols) despite our prior worries about them being cloistered away due to the sporadic showers we were having (I got a super cute umbrella out of it though!).
There must have been like... twenty monkeys. Or well, to be proper, Japanese Macaques. Macaques! The potato and hot spring primates! That's the same kind of monkey as Imo (the macaque who first introduced the phenomena of washing potatoes in the ocean to add a salty flavor to it - also HA I totally understand the name now. Clever scientists.). I saw a macaque hitting two rocks together (tools!) and geeked out a little bit. Or a lot of bit. You don't understand (or maybe you do?). Cognitive Science (one of my majors) was like... 40% stuff about primates (mostly chimpanzees, bonobos, and some macaques and orangutans). I detest primates now because of that, but seeing them in person was pretty crazy.
After the mountain, we decided that we would go check out some of the shops and then some of the shops along the street and then walk over to the oldschool shopping area in the Arashiyama district. The tentative plan was to do that, and then head over to the Gion district to hopefully see it at night (and unbeknowst to me, if I had bothered to read the signs earlier, I would have noticed that that whole area was doing a special light up that we could have gone to. REGRETS, I HAS THEM).
Unfortunately, walking over to that district was a very... not great idea seeing as how we were a) somewhat on a time schedule and b) my mother has a stamina bar that decreases as she walks and decreases at a faster rate when going up or down stairs. Don't get me wrong, the area was pretty, but I wish we had gotten a taxi or something... By the time we got there, most of the shops were closing up since it was nearly 5 -- and all things that are country-esque or oldtimey Japan-esque (and government buildings and banks) close around 4:30 or 5. We did get to go into a really cool bamboo shop (they gave us free tea!) and we walked along and it was pretty and stuff. But it took us nearly an hour and a half to get back to Kyoto station (and the train ride is only 20 minutes). By the time we got back we were pretty tired, and my parents thought it would be a good idea to stop by the hotel and drop things off before heading out.
My mom estimated it would take us about an hour - I was hoping for half an hour or something, but as usual, my mother was spot on. We didn't get into Kyoto station until around 7:30 and we didn't get to the restaurant (we had to wait) until around 8, and then we were finished around 9 and at that point we kinda gave up on the Gion (REGRETS. Though, by the time we got there they would have finished the light up at Kiyomizu Temple). Instead we went to the Lipton restaurant (eee Lipton has a restaurant!) and had tea and cake instead. They had berry tart too, though it was a bit sour.
Probably was better we didn't go to the Gion district, since it was clear from our attempt to get there the next day that we had very little idea how public transit worked. Or well, *I* wanted to take the bus since it would only cost 220 yen to get there and we didn't need to worry much about walking or whatever. My plan was to bus to kiyomizu then walk to the Gion. Or take the bus the website told us. But no. We took the subway instead - the subway, NOT the private train line that stops a block away from the gion. Then we got off at a super far station and I swear we walked for at least an hour before we were in the Gion proper. As expected of going somewhere with dad though. Sigh.
We didn't actually go all the way up to Kiyomizu though. We only went to the part where the temple starts, because we were looking for this tofu restaurant we had eaten at seven years ago. I mean, I had also kind of assumed that it would just be sitting there the same, and the thought that it could have changed didn't enter my head until we were standing there (and was accompanied with a facepalm). I was a little cranky from having to walk so far and it being rather late for lunch and (probably most of all) for my time schedule to be thrown off by somewhere around an hour at least, but man, was lunch amazing. We ended up at a place that did Yudofu and also Yu...ba... I think? It's the tofu that you skim off the top. Lots of work, that one. I didn't have the patience. The yudofu (boiled tofu) was amazing though. Most of the meal was tofu, but we also got - swear to god - some of the best tempura I've had in my life. NOMMMM. I think they put the salt into the batter or something. Everything was vegetarian though, and I actually got really really full. I felt super healthy too! Yay!
It made up for the fact that later that night we had Kobe beef, godmeat of beef. Seriously. I've always heard that it melts in your mouth, but I did not know how beef could literally melt in your mouth until that dinner. It was pricey (100,000 yen for the super fatty one and 140,000 yen for the fatty big one!) but OH GOD SO WORTH IT. Also, how often are you going to eat this stuff? But I got the sirloin steak (a nice balance between having a lot of meat -- which the rib steak had -- and tender, which obviously was the tenderloin). But with the super fatty one, my sirloin was just as tender as the not-as-fatty tenderloin my mom got and when you put it into your mouth, the juices just kind of seeped out and your mouth would fill with ridiculously tasty wonderful meat flavored juice. I was so unbelievably happy. Mouth full of meat juice hahaha.
So worth the expensive price tag. I've never chewed my meat that much in my life haha.
Oh, the place we went to - and I highly recommend it - was called "Moriya" 「モーリヤ」and we went to the "honten" or main branch restaurant near Sannomiya in Kobe. We reserved early, so we got to sit next to the grill where we watched them cook our delicious meat (with less of a flair than benihana, but I think it made up for that with the quality of the meat). The chef who was cooking our food was really nice, and he gave us really fantastic recommendations for flavor combinations for our meat and veggies (my personal favorite was just salt and pepper, but a little bit of wasabi as well was pretty good. My dad was a fan of the wasabi/salt/pepper combo and my mom a fan of salt/garlic chip).
Man though, that was the best meal of my life so far I think. Because you know what's better than super fatty Kobe beef? Super fatty Kobe beef that someone else has paid for.
Love you mom and dad :D
You know, I'm actually considering lifting the self/mom-imposed ban on having my parents as facebook friends. Almost. Maybe. Still kinda wary about that though.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Okinawa Part II (& the Great Teacher Shuffle)
Okinawa Part I in case you haven't read it yet. :)
The second day we got up and hit up the local Family Mart on our way to the car rental dealer, OTS. Oh my god. Family Mart has these amazing rice balls that are pretty much like spam musubi - but they were spam rice sandwiches. Spam and egg (some with miso) sandwiched between rice and nori. Oh my goooood amazing. Anyways, after our foray into the convenience store, we headed on over to the rental place and sat down with the lady, who helped us - with our limited Japanese and the occasional assist from the lady next to her who spoke a little English - and managed to get ourselves a car for cheaper than the coupon price. I'm still not entirely sure how, since they told us that it was high season so we couldn't actually use the coupon. But I'm not complaining.
Our car was a bright blue... car. I forget the model. Hyundai? To be honest I didn't really pay attention to the model. My friend, the lovely Miss Melody has a car in Kibichuo (cause it's like, super boonies and puts my complaining that Takahashi is small to shame) so she, bless her, offered to drive us around and stuff. The plan that day? Aquarium and the Pineapple Park, both of which were near the city of Nago, north of Naha.
A word of advice for anyone who goes to Okinawa: if you intend on leaving Naha proper (which has pretty good public transportation), rent a car. Your life will be a billion times easier, since there's a bunch of stuff around the island that you can't reach easily via bus alone. There's a bus that goes to the aquarium, but if I remember correctly, it takes about three hours (by car it took us about two-ish hours), and it doesn't go to the Pineapple Park, which is on the way back to Naha.
So anyways. We hopped in our car, stopped at another convenience store, and were on our way! It's amazing how fast time flies when you're in the car talking to good company. I'm afraid I wasn't the best navigator, since we missed our turn a couple times since I was reading the wrong turn on the iPhone GPS. Sigh. The GPS that came with the car was really cool though! It had an automatic gas/parking lot/conbini locator. Couldn't quite figure out how to input places though, since the system was all in Japanese. Either way, all of us really liked the car -- especially our driver, since she was used to driving a small K-car that doesn't have much power (and has a top speed of somewhere around 80 km/hr). It was pretty nice.
As
we drove up, we drove along the coast and maaaan I forgot how much I
love living near the ocean! Clear blue the whole way up - gorgeous
colors that made me nostalgic for San Diego. We stopped at a 道の駅 「michi
no eki」Or station of the road, or in just English, road station/rest
stop. They sold a bunch of discount tickets for the places around there,
so we picked up tickets for the pineapple park since the rental car
place had sold out of those.
Then it was off to the aquarium... after a quick stop for lunch. We passed this crazy spiral structure along the way (I don't remember what we theorized it was, but it turned out to be a "dream" house or something and was supposed to have a field of orchids, though I don't know if they were in bloom) and right outside of it was a place we thought specialized in vegetarian food (we also passed a taco rice stand on the way). Though it didn't actually specialize in vegetarian foods, they were able to make omurice vegetarian (Okinawa, as it turns out, is much more vegetarian friendly) and Mel and I crossed our first "Okinawa must haves" off our list:
Soki soba is an okinawan specialty (though I'm not sure if it's the same as okinawan soba). The noodles are a bit thicker, the kamaboko was a bit tougher (and huge) and it was served with delicious pork and soba. It was alrightish; I much prefer taco rice. I think I could eat that stuff all day and night! But the papaya tempura was delicious. I think it was made with a non-sweet kind of papaya or something (didn't know they had that) because normally I dislike papaya (it reminds me of vomit) but this was amazing.
Anyways. Bellies full, we went to the aquarium (where I promptly lost a hair clip I had just purchased. Sigh. This is why I can't have nice things.) and wandered through it. They had a touch pool with loads of sea cucumbers and a couple of chocolate chip starfish. Those were cool. Sea cucumbers are so squishy, which is weird because they aren't like that at all when you eat them.
The
aquarium at Okinawa, the Churaumi Aquarium, is really really huge. So
freaking awesome. The main attraction is a giant tank that holds not
one, but two whale sharks along with a number of giant manta rays. God I
love giant mantas. They're so graceful and powerful when they swim. ^_^
There
was also a pretty cool exhibit about sharks, and they had a bunch of
shark jaws and stuff, along with preserved sharks and other interesting
tidbits about them. Outside, they had a manatee tank
(manateeeeeeeeeeeees!) and a sea turtle enclosure that also had a
makeshift mini beach for the turtles to occasionally go up on. That was
pretty cool. I got lots of pictures of turtles. They're one of my
favorites to take pictures of.
Right as we were leaving, it started to rain, lightly at first. As we neared the car, it started to come down a little harder, until by the time we were out of the garage in our car, it was downright pouring. Crazy, how good our timing was.
Our next stop was the pineapple park, a place that grows pineapples and takes you on a tour in these crazy pineapple cars. The
tours were pretty informative, even if they used very uh... scary
pineapple dolls and had a video of these very unhappy looking/bored
girls doing this pineapple dance. Sadly (or thankfully) there are no
pictures of this frightening scene, because they prohibited cameras past
a certain point since they took your picture there in order to sell you
the creepy pineapple mascot picture later on. It still makes me kind of
shudder.
So the pineapple fields were really interested and they had a whole bunch of different plants other than pineapples (plus a bunch of different types - I had no idea there was more than like... one kind of pineapple...) but what I wasn't expecting was what we saw after the tour had finished.
A room full of seashells. All sorts of seashells. Like holy wow, that's a lot of seashells. There were gorgeous conch shells, and lots of different colored scallop shells, and abalone shells, and other shells I don't know the name for. Some would twist and turn, while others shone brilliantly, and even more had spikes or holes. Personally, I really enjoyed that room, but it was really random hahaha.
The pineapple park also had an omiyage or souvenir area with a wine cellar and sweets (and also vinegar, which was kinda random). The best part about this part... that while the restaurant had already closed (wtf) the gift area included about a billion stations to sample things before you bought them. Like pineapple wine, both reds and whites as well as dry wine and sweeter wine. The passion fruit was my personal favorite (and also the most expensive, so I bought some to ahem, celebrate my parent's anniversary with when they visit).
Seriously though, that place had more samples than costco, and the best part was, the people would sometimes encourage a second or third sample (to help you make up your mind of course...) The guy who was serving the wine cake (super rich and delicious, btw) was like "HERE HAVE TWO~" Who am I to refuse that? hahaha.
We finished up the omiyage place and I arranged to have some of the wine and heavy things sent to my house (very convenient, that. Much better than having to take it on the plane with us... which I did with another wine haha) then enjoyed a completely fantastic cream puff with pineapple chunks.
Man does Japan know cream puffs - or shuukuriimu (shu cream), from choux à la crème. They're a billion times better than the cream puffs we usually have in the states (you know, those small soft things). In Japan they're quite large and sometimes have a crunchy almost exterior (at least on the top) and ohhh they ar delicious. Actually desserts in general, they're really really good at. Parfaits especially. Mmm. Waffles. I never thought of waffles as dessert until I came here. Belgian waffles. Oh god, they do them better than Americans do. But it makes me giggle to think that every time I have waffles for breakfast, I'm actually having dessert. Heheheh.
Right. Anyways. We finally left around the time the park was closing (they closed the shop at the front that sold boba... I wanted to buy some so I was super sad). After we thought that maybe we'd be able to get to fruits land and they wouldn't be closed, but alas, they too had closed. Their shop hadn't though, so we went in and browsed around (and sampled things) and I picked up an amazing mango soft cream before we finally left to head back towards Naha.
Before we went back to Naha though, we decided to make a pit stop like... somewhere along the coast. So instead of taking the express way all the way back, we got off a bit north of Naha and headed towards a place that looked like there were a lot of restaurants (at least it said that on our map). We got a little lost (I pointed the wrong way to turn... oops), but eventually we saw this giant, brightly lit, colorful ferris wheel and decided that we were going to head to that place.
Turns out that place was American Village, a place that had as many lights as the Vegas Strip almost. Everything was brightly lit, and we quickly parked our car (thankfully the rain had stopped) and walked over. There were loads of marines there as well (I mean, with a name like that it should have been a duh) and some of them tried to join our conversation about how cold it was but we just kind of... ignored them haha. We stopped first at this store called American Depot, because I had left my jacket at the hostel and was actually kind of cold (it had gotten really chilly).
We spent some time in the store, me hunting in the men's section for a sweater or sweatshirt since even though this was American Village, this was still Japan, and my friend hunting for something for her boyfriend :) They had a bunch of like... sweats stuff and like, comfy loungey sweatshirts that you wear when you're at home alone or having a crap day or something that I almost bought. The sweatshirts were all kind of expensive (as sweatshirts/sweaters are wont to be). Thankfully though, it being Japan, I found this really cute looking polka dot sweatshirt that zips up super high and is just pretty cool overall. According to Mel, my style is casual sporty cool? lol. I hadn't thought of it like that, but I guess that's pretty accurate? I don't really do girly, since I don't really have the figure for that, and generally it's been too cold (recently anyways) or too hot (I sweat enough to drown, which is not the best for things like skirts and dresses. Ugh.). That's just me kinda complaining though haha.
There were so many delicious places in American Village (like curly fries and chili fries! OH MY GOOOOD) but we eventually decided on a Taco Rice place (did I mention I LOVE taco rice?) and that place did not disappoint. The food was amazing. Like seriously, I think I could eat Taco rice every day (and be ridiculously fat).
After feeling like we were going to explode (yet still wanting more taco rice) we walked around for a bit before deciding that we were tired and that the hostel seemed like a rather attractive place (oh and that we'd have to get parking, which was kind of a pain but there were loads of parking lots all over).
Day three started with us retrieving and returning the rental car, which happened to conveniently be located at the ferry port. Catching a ferry out to one of the local islands was pretty easy (though slightly more expensive than I had imagined) and we luckily were there right as the 10 o'clock ferry was taking off. We grabbed a quick lunch from the conbini (did I mention how awesome the pork sandwiches at conbinis are? Well they are.) and it was off to the beach we went!
The island we went to was called Tosomethingshima, and it was a suuuuper tiny place in the Kerama archipelago. Not so tiny though, that there wasn't a bus waiting at the docks to take us to a tiny white sandy beach named Aharen Beach (which also had a small port area). Since it was so tiny, it basically was also going to come back once - some time around 3, so that we would be back in the port in time for our return ferry. The weather was kinda cruddy though; cloudy, kind of chilly water, but occasionally the sun would peek through for a nice treat. There was a really nice (if slightly pushy) old man who kept trying to sell us hot showers after we were done with our time on the beach. There were also a butt-ton of stray cats around the area that kept mewing at us for food.
We passed the other beach - named after the island - and wow, just wow. It was absolutely gorgeous. Probably should have picked that beach, but there were also far less shops/potential kayak/snorkle rental/scuba places around there. I really wanted to go diving, but I kinda got there too late... so I settled for snorkeling instead (which turned out to be super fun anyways).
When we first arrived to the beach, there was hardly anyone else there, so my friends and I lay out our stuff and they prepped for a nice relaxing sun bathing session while I went up and rented snorkeling equipment and asked around about kayaks. They said the kayak guy was out on a tour, so I went down with the snorkel stuff back to where our things were...
...to find that many people had since returned, including a really loud group of teenagers who set themselves up literally right in front of us. The swimming area at this beach wasn't actually that big (and the water was actually a tad chilly) so I wasn't super comfortable taking off my swim shorts (I had a two piece on but yeah, my legs could be used as a source of light in a dark room). Instead I sat with my friends and enjoyed what sun there was until the kayaking man returned. It was really funny, because I tried to ask him in Japanese about renting a kayak and he actually asked me if English was okay and I breathed a super huge sigh of relief at that point haha.
I kayaked out to the small island in the bay (which was pretty much the only place I could kayak, since he warned against kayaking to the eastern part and northern part of the bay as well as behind the small island) and beached myself there, dragging the kayak up the little hill of sand well away from the water. It was like a mini pinnensula and bay there, and I was stupid enough to land near the edge, which meant that waves were washing up to the beach from behind me AND from my side. Not helpful in trying to get out of the kayak without completely flipping. Somehow I managed though. The bay was a much calmer place, so I stripped down to my bikini (in blissful privacy, since I was the only one on this small island and I couldn't blind anyone but the fish) and went out snorkeling into the small bay.
Wow. Just wow. I wish I had bought an underwater camera. There was an amazing amount of fish in that small bay, and I spent nearly an hour just swimming around there. It was interesting too, since there were small pockets of warm water that (thank god) fish tended to be found around so I was able to watch fish while staying warm. Conversely there were pockets of ridiculously cold water. Those sucked. There were decently large fish down there, brightly colored pastel fish (I think parrot fish?), large ones that looked like the Hawaiian state fish, small, brilliant bright blue fish that lived in the coral and rocks, hidden fish, sea cucumbers (oh god so many sea cucumbers) and loads of other fish.
My favorites though, were: 1. the weird four armed starfish I saw. It was a periwinkle blue. 2. The angelfish I saw swimming around in pairs. So very pretty! I was like EEEEEE GILL~~! 3. The clownfish I saw. They weren't your movie clownfish (they only had two brown stripes) but they were chilling in this jungle of sea anemone arms that looked like something out of a postcard/national geographic picture. That was freaking awesome. 4. The... abalone? Clams? I don't know what they were. I think I knew but right now I can't remember what they're called. Giant clams? They were kind of small. But they came in such bright mottled colors - purples, greens, blues, and I even saw an orange one - and they would shut any time I tried to get close. Their colors though were absolutely glorious.
I really love the underwater world. It's so beautiful, and every time I go diving or snorkeling, I feel like I've entered into a completely different world than our own, and I'm stunned and awed each time by places that have preserved this beauty. When I was diving in the philippines, it felt like I was swimming in a national geographic video or something. It was beautiful, mysterious, and I don't think words can sufficiently express how much awe I felt in looking at the coral shelves from below them. Or well, here's my best approximations: "Woah.... This is Nature."
Brilliant, I know.
Oh right, I forgot, I haven't actually typed out the Philippines yet (working on that...) and that I'm talking about Okinawa! Right. So. The rest of our day was fairly uneventful though - we got ice cream, went back home, showered, went out to the Kokusaidori street. Went towards an izakaya we had heard about from our hostel, but decided to go somewhere else instead. They had amazing amazing food. We also looked around this book store with the most amazing English section I've seen in my LIFE. They had academic books! Like, two giant rows of books with books on English on both sides! Manga in English! My neuroscience textbook! MATH and science texts! A used book section! Oh right. So that was kind of eventful.
We managed to knock everything off our "to eat" list at this izakaya restaurant. They had avocado pasta for our vegetarian friend, so that left me and Mel to go through the meat. Oh god we ordered so much. We got kaarage (Japanese fried chicken, which is really different than our fried chicken) that was as big as my palm. They were HUGE. We got agubutu (agu pork) which was my favorite favorite favorite. Rafute pork, which was super tender and fatty pork. SOmething else... uh, I don't remember. Really good fries. They tasted like curly fries! Mm. Curly fries. A tomato and something else al fresco kind of thing that was also delicious and had tons of avocados. I think there's a small chance I raised my cholestorol and blood pressure that night and added to the likelihood that I'll die from a heart attack, but the food there was soooo good. They also gave us some goya champuru which - I found out later - is tofu stir fried with veggies (in this case goya, or bittermelon. It's really really bitter unless you cook it the right way) and pork that was probably spam (or some knock off). It was super tasty. NOMMMMM. I love okinawan food.
After that night, we did a it more omiyage shopping, and then went back to the hostel and woke up and did last minute omiyage shopping haha before heading back to the airport. I grabbed a few more pork sandwiches - and some taco maki (taco rice in sushi form!) for later that night/as snacks and found out my friends were going to the conbini for their lunch. I was super hungry though, and there were loads of awesome looking places, so we went to check them out. Sadly they didn't have many veggie friendly things - but there was an A&W (actually, there were a lot in Okinawa!). And it had CHILI CHEESE FRIES AND CURLY FRIES. OMFFGGGGG. Yeah. Needless to say, I got that for lunch haha. Dude, A&W is super tasty. Why don't we have more of them?
Our flight back to Takamatsu actually got delayed a bit, so we had some time to kill at the airport (which was fine - none of us were in a rush and we were still well earlier than our last trains). Other than that, the rest of our return trip went smoothly and uneventfully (especially since the bus didn't leave the airport until most of the passengers had gotten their bags).
Oh, there was giant plastic udon on the conveyor belt at the airport (since that's what Takamatsu is famous for). That was... interesting. And different. But kind of a nice quirky touch to the end of a fantastic trip.
Okinawa was super awesome though. Definitely want to go again!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
On a different note, right now is the time when teachers change schools: The Great Teacher Shuffle. I've yet to find out what my situation is like at my Niimi schools, but most of the teachers I like (whom I teach with anyways) are staying at my schools. However, I'm not teaching with the same lady as last year at my visit school, and we don't know yet at my base school. Oh also one of my favorite teachers is leaving to participate in a teacher exchange program with Southern Australia. SUPER SAD FACE. He was the one I talked to the most probably, and who was the easiest to talk to since he was super laid back and also his English was super. Plus I taught with him the first academic year I was here, and he's constantly explaining things to me about Japanese (and I explain things about English to him - or at least, try to). So I'm really sad about that, but I guess I'll be moving on in less than half a year anyways. As the Japanese say, "しかったがない" or, "it can't be helped."
This also didn't get posted as soon as I had wanted it to, so I'm sitting here in a BRAND NEW SPANKIN' DESK. They actually had four extra new desks (all the third year teachers got new desks) so since I'm now sitting in the rows that are touching the 3rd year desks.... I got an upgrade! (Honestly though, I was kind of annoyed that like, I had to change desks because I liked my old one and I also liked the fact that I didn't have to empty out all of my drawers!) The teachers were all really surprised with how much crap is in my drawers... and the funny thing, is that a lot of it isn't actually mine (really, I should just chuck them, but I can't help but feel that one day they'll come in handy or something, or that my successor can use them for ideas or use them or something).
Also, I swear, my entry about the philippines will probably happen around the time I actually get those pictures uploaded.
The second day we got up and hit up the local Family Mart on our way to the car rental dealer, OTS. Oh my god. Family Mart has these amazing rice balls that are pretty much like spam musubi - but they were spam rice sandwiches. Spam and egg (some with miso) sandwiched between rice and nori. Oh my goooood amazing. Anyways, after our foray into the convenience store, we headed on over to the rental place and sat down with the lady, who helped us - with our limited Japanese and the occasional assist from the lady next to her who spoke a little English - and managed to get ourselves a car for cheaper than the coupon price. I'm still not entirely sure how, since they told us that it was high season so we couldn't actually use the coupon. But I'm not complaining.
Our car was a bright blue... car. I forget the model. Hyundai? To be honest I didn't really pay attention to the model. My friend, the lovely Miss Melody has a car in Kibichuo (cause it's like, super boonies and puts my complaining that Takahashi is small to shame) so she, bless her, offered to drive us around and stuff. The plan that day? Aquarium and the Pineapple Park, both of which were near the city of Nago, north of Naha.
A word of advice for anyone who goes to Okinawa: if you intend on leaving Naha proper (which has pretty good public transportation), rent a car. Your life will be a billion times easier, since there's a bunch of stuff around the island that you can't reach easily via bus alone. There's a bus that goes to the aquarium, but if I remember correctly, it takes about three hours (by car it took us about two-ish hours), and it doesn't go to the Pineapple Park, which is on the way back to Naha.
So anyways. We hopped in our car, stopped at another convenience store, and were on our way! It's amazing how fast time flies when you're in the car talking to good company. I'm afraid I wasn't the best navigator, since we missed our turn a couple times since I was reading the wrong turn on the iPhone GPS. Sigh. The GPS that came with the car was really cool though! It had an automatic gas/parking lot/conbini locator. Couldn't quite figure out how to input places though, since the system was all in Japanese. Either way, all of us really liked the car -- especially our driver, since she was used to driving a small K-car that doesn't have much power (and has a top speed of somewhere around 80 km/hr). It was pretty nice.
Then it was off to the aquarium... after a quick stop for lunch. We passed this crazy spiral structure along the way (I don't remember what we theorized it was, but it turned out to be a "dream" house or something and was supposed to have a field of orchids, though I don't know if they were in bloom) and right outside of it was a place we thought specialized in vegetarian food (we also passed a taco rice stand on the way). Though it didn't actually specialize in vegetarian foods, they were able to make omurice vegetarian (Okinawa, as it turns out, is much more vegetarian friendly) and Mel and I crossed our first "Okinawa must haves" off our list:
 |
| Soki soba and papaya tempura |
Soki soba is an okinawan specialty (though I'm not sure if it's the same as okinawan soba). The noodles are a bit thicker, the kamaboko was a bit tougher (and huge) and it was served with delicious pork and soba. It was alrightish; I much prefer taco rice. I think I could eat that stuff all day and night! But the papaya tempura was delicious. I think it was made with a non-sweet kind of papaya or something (didn't know they had that) because normally I dislike papaya (it reminds me of vomit) but this was amazing.
Anyways. Bellies full, we went to the aquarium (where I promptly lost a hair clip I had just purchased. Sigh. This is why I can't have nice things.) and wandered through it. They had a touch pool with loads of sea cucumbers and a couple of chocolate chip starfish. Those were cool. Sea cucumbers are so squishy, which is weird because they aren't like that at all when you eat them.
 |
| These are my favorite. ^_^ |
There
was also a pretty cool exhibit about sharks, and they had a bunch of
shark jaws and stuff, along with preserved sharks and other interesting
tidbits about them. Outside, they had a manatee tank
(manateeeeeeeeeeeees!) and a sea turtle enclosure that also had a
makeshift mini beach for the turtles to occasionally go up on. That was
pretty cool. I got lots of pictures of turtles. They're one of my
favorites to take pictures of.Right as we were leaving, it started to rain, lightly at first. As we neared the car, it started to come down a little harder, until by the time we were out of the garage in our car, it was downright pouring. Crazy, how good our timing was.
So the pineapple fields were really interested and they had a whole bunch of different plants other than pineapples (plus a bunch of different types - I had no idea there was more than like... one kind of pineapple...) but what I wasn't expecting was what we saw after the tour had finished.
A room full of seashells. All sorts of seashells. Like holy wow, that's a lot of seashells. There were gorgeous conch shells, and lots of different colored scallop shells, and abalone shells, and other shells I don't know the name for. Some would twist and turn, while others shone brilliantly, and even more had spikes or holes. Personally, I really enjoyed that room, but it was really random hahaha.
The pineapple park also had an omiyage or souvenir area with a wine cellar and sweets (and also vinegar, which was kinda random). The best part about this part... that while the restaurant had already closed (wtf) the gift area included about a billion stations to sample things before you bought them. Like pineapple wine, both reds and whites as well as dry wine and sweeter wine. The passion fruit was my personal favorite (and also the most expensive, so I bought some to ahem, celebrate my parent's anniversary with when they visit).
Seriously though, that place had more samples than costco, and the best part was, the people would sometimes encourage a second or third sample (to help you make up your mind of course...) The guy who was serving the wine cake (super rich and delicious, btw) was like "HERE HAVE TWO~" Who am I to refuse that? hahaha.
We finished up the omiyage place and I arranged to have some of the wine and heavy things sent to my house (very convenient, that. Much better than having to take it on the plane with us... which I did with another wine haha) then enjoyed a completely fantastic cream puff with pineapple chunks.
Man does Japan know cream puffs - or shuukuriimu (shu cream), from choux à la crème. They're a billion times better than the cream puffs we usually have in the states (you know, those small soft things). In Japan they're quite large and sometimes have a crunchy almost exterior (at least on the top) and ohhh they ar delicious. Actually desserts in general, they're really really good at. Parfaits especially. Mmm. Waffles. I never thought of waffles as dessert until I came here. Belgian waffles. Oh god, they do them better than Americans do. But it makes me giggle to think that every time I have waffles for breakfast, I'm actually having dessert. Heheheh.
Right. Anyways. We finally left around the time the park was closing (they closed the shop at the front that sold boba... I wanted to buy some so I was super sad). After we thought that maybe we'd be able to get to fruits land and they wouldn't be closed, but alas, they too had closed. Their shop hadn't though, so we went in and browsed around (and sampled things) and I picked up an amazing mango soft cream before we finally left to head back towards Naha.
Before we went back to Naha though, we decided to make a pit stop like... somewhere along the coast. So instead of taking the express way all the way back, we got off a bit north of Naha and headed towards a place that looked like there were a lot of restaurants (at least it said that on our map). We got a little lost (I pointed the wrong way to turn... oops), but eventually we saw this giant, brightly lit, colorful ferris wheel and decided that we were going to head to that place.
Turns out that place was American Village, a place that had as many lights as the Vegas Strip almost. Everything was brightly lit, and we quickly parked our car (thankfully the rain had stopped) and walked over. There were loads of marines there as well (I mean, with a name like that it should have been a duh) and some of them tried to join our conversation about how cold it was but we just kind of... ignored them haha. We stopped first at this store called American Depot, because I had left my jacket at the hostel and was actually kind of cold (it had gotten really chilly).
We spent some time in the store, me hunting in the men's section for a sweater or sweatshirt since even though this was American Village, this was still Japan, and my friend hunting for something for her boyfriend :) They had a bunch of like... sweats stuff and like, comfy loungey sweatshirts that you wear when you're at home alone or having a crap day or something that I almost bought. The sweatshirts were all kind of expensive (as sweatshirts/sweaters are wont to be). Thankfully though, it being Japan, I found this really cute looking polka dot sweatshirt that zips up super high and is just pretty cool overall. According to Mel, my style is casual sporty cool? lol. I hadn't thought of it like that, but I guess that's pretty accurate? I don't really do girly, since I don't really have the figure for that, and generally it's been too cold (recently anyways) or too hot (I sweat enough to drown, which is not the best for things like skirts and dresses. Ugh.). That's just me kinda complaining though haha.
There were so many delicious places in American Village (like curly fries and chili fries! OH MY GOOOOD) but we eventually decided on a Taco Rice place (did I mention I LOVE taco rice?) and that place did not disappoint. The food was amazing. Like seriously, I think I could eat Taco rice every day (and be ridiculously fat).
After feeling like we were going to explode (yet still wanting more taco rice) we walked around for a bit before deciding that we were tired and that the hostel seemed like a rather attractive place (oh and that we'd have to get parking, which was kind of a pain but there were loads of parking lots all over).
Day three started with us retrieving and returning the rental car, which happened to conveniently be located at the ferry port. Catching a ferry out to one of the local islands was pretty easy (though slightly more expensive than I had imagined) and we luckily were there right as the 10 o'clock ferry was taking off. We grabbed a quick lunch from the conbini (did I mention how awesome the pork sandwiches at conbinis are? Well they are.) and it was off to the beach we went!
The island we went to was called Tosomethingshima, and it was a suuuuper tiny place in the Kerama archipelago. Not so tiny though, that there wasn't a bus waiting at the docks to take us to a tiny white sandy beach named Aharen Beach (which also had a small port area). Since it was so tiny, it basically was also going to come back once - some time around 3, so that we would be back in the port in time for our return ferry. The weather was kinda cruddy though; cloudy, kind of chilly water, but occasionally the sun would peek through for a nice treat. There was a really nice (if slightly pushy) old man who kept trying to sell us hot showers after we were done with our time on the beach. There were also a butt-ton of stray cats around the area that kept mewing at us for food.
We passed the other beach - named after the island - and wow, just wow. It was absolutely gorgeous. Probably should have picked that beach, but there were also far less shops/potential kayak/snorkle rental/scuba places around there. I really wanted to go diving, but I kinda got there too late... so I settled for snorkeling instead (which turned out to be super fun anyways).
When we first arrived to the beach, there was hardly anyone else there, so my friends and I lay out our stuff and they prepped for a nice relaxing sun bathing session while I went up and rented snorkeling equipment and asked around about kayaks. They said the kayak guy was out on a tour, so I went down with the snorkel stuff back to where our things were...
...to find that many people had since returned, including a really loud group of teenagers who set themselves up literally right in front of us. The swimming area at this beach wasn't actually that big (and the water was actually a tad chilly) so I wasn't super comfortable taking off my swim shorts (I had a two piece on but yeah, my legs could be used as a source of light in a dark room). Instead I sat with my friends and enjoyed what sun there was until the kayaking man returned. It was really funny, because I tried to ask him in Japanese about renting a kayak and he actually asked me if English was okay and I breathed a super huge sigh of relief at that point haha.
I kayaked out to the small island in the bay (which was pretty much the only place I could kayak, since he warned against kayaking to the eastern part and northern part of the bay as well as behind the small island) and beached myself there, dragging the kayak up the little hill of sand well away from the water. It was like a mini pinnensula and bay there, and I was stupid enough to land near the edge, which meant that waves were washing up to the beach from behind me AND from my side. Not helpful in trying to get out of the kayak without completely flipping. Somehow I managed though. The bay was a much calmer place, so I stripped down to my bikini (in blissful privacy, since I was the only one on this small island and I couldn't blind anyone but the fish) and went out snorkeling into the small bay.
Wow. Just wow. I wish I had bought an underwater camera. There was an amazing amount of fish in that small bay, and I spent nearly an hour just swimming around there. It was interesting too, since there were small pockets of warm water that (thank god) fish tended to be found around so I was able to watch fish while staying warm. Conversely there were pockets of ridiculously cold water. Those sucked. There were decently large fish down there, brightly colored pastel fish (I think parrot fish?), large ones that looked like the Hawaiian state fish, small, brilliant bright blue fish that lived in the coral and rocks, hidden fish, sea cucumbers (oh god so many sea cucumbers) and loads of other fish.
My favorites though, were: 1. the weird four armed starfish I saw. It was a periwinkle blue. 2. The angelfish I saw swimming around in pairs. So very pretty! I was like EEEEEE GILL~~! 3. The clownfish I saw. They weren't your movie clownfish (they only had two brown stripes) but they were chilling in this jungle of sea anemone arms that looked like something out of a postcard/national geographic picture. That was freaking awesome. 4. The... abalone? Clams? I don't know what they were. I think I knew but right now I can't remember what they're called. Giant clams? They were kind of small. But they came in such bright mottled colors - purples, greens, blues, and I even saw an orange one - and they would shut any time I tried to get close. Their colors though were absolutely glorious.
I really love the underwater world. It's so beautiful, and every time I go diving or snorkeling, I feel like I've entered into a completely different world than our own, and I'm stunned and awed each time by places that have preserved this beauty. When I was diving in the philippines, it felt like I was swimming in a national geographic video or something. It was beautiful, mysterious, and I don't think words can sufficiently express how much awe I felt in looking at the coral shelves from below them. Or well, here's my best approximations: "Woah.... This is Nature."
Brilliant, I know.
Oh right, I forgot, I haven't actually typed out the Philippines yet (working on that...) and that I'm talking about Okinawa! Right. So. The rest of our day was fairly uneventful though - we got ice cream, went back home, showered, went out to the Kokusaidori street. Went towards an izakaya we had heard about from our hostel, but decided to go somewhere else instead. They had amazing amazing food. We also looked around this book store with the most amazing English section I've seen in my LIFE. They had academic books! Like, two giant rows of books with books on English on both sides! Manga in English! My neuroscience textbook! MATH and science texts! A used book section! Oh right. So that was kind of eventful.
We managed to knock everything off our "to eat" list at this izakaya restaurant. They had avocado pasta for our vegetarian friend, so that left me and Mel to go through the meat. Oh god we ordered so much. We got kaarage (Japanese fried chicken, which is really different than our fried chicken) that was as big as my palm. They were HUGE. We got agubutu (agu pork) which was my favorite favorite favorite. Rafute pork, which was super tender and fatty pork. SOmething else... uh, I don't remember. Really good fries. They tasted like curly fries! Mm. Curly fries. A tomato and something else al fresco kind of thing that was also delicious and had tons of avocados. I think there's a small chance I raised my cholestorol and blood pressure that night and added to the likelihood that I'll die from a heart attack, but the food there was soooo good. They also gave us some goya champuru which - I found out later - is tofu stir fried with veggies (in this case goya, or bittermelon. It's really really bitter unless you cook it the right way) and pork that was probably spam (or some knock off). It was super tasty. NOMMMMM. I love okinawan food.
After that night, we did a it more omiyage shopping, and then went back to the hostel and woke up and did last minute omiyage shopping haha before heading back to the airport. I grabbed a few more pork sandwiches - and some taco maki (taco rice in sushi form!) for later that night/as snacks and found out my friends were going to the conbini for their lunch. I was super hungry though, and there were loads of awesome looking places, so we went to check them out. Sadly they didn't have many veggie friendly things - but there was an A&W (actually, there were a lot in Okinawa!). And it had CHILI CHEESE FRIES AND CURLY FRIES. OMFFGGGGG. Yeah. Needless to say, I got that for lunch haha. Dude, A&W is super tasty. Why don't we have more of them?
Our flight back to Takamatsu actually got delayed a bit, so we had some time to kill at the airport (which was fine - none of us were in a rush and we were still well earlier than our last trains). Other than that, the rest of our return trip went smoothly and uneventfully (especially since the bus didn't leave the airport until most of the passengers had gotten their bags).
Oh, there was giant plastic udon on the conveyor belt at the airport (since that's what Takamatsu is famous for). That was... interesting. And different. But kind of a nice quirky touch to the end of a fantastic trip.
Okinawa was super awesome though. Definitely want to go again!
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On a different note, right now is the time when teachers change schools: The Great Teacher Shuffle. I've yet to find out what my situation is like at my Niimi schools, but most of the teachers I like (whom I teach with anyways) are staying at my schools. However, I'm not teaching with the same lady as last year at my visit school, and we don't know yet at my base school. Oh also one of my favorite teachers is leaving to participate in a teacher exchange program with Southern Australia. SUPER SAD FACE. He was the one I talked to the most probably, and who was the easiest to talk to since he was super laid back and also his English was super. Plus I taught with him the first academic year I was here, and he's constantly explaining things to me about Japanese (and I explain things about English to him - or at least, try to). So I'm really sad about that, but I guess I'll be moving on in less than half a year anyways. As the Japanese say, "しかったがない" or, "it can't be helped."
This also didn't get posted as soon as I had wanted it to, so I'm sitting here in a BRAND NEW SPANKIN' DESK. They actually had four extra new desks (all the third year teachers got new desks) so since I'm now sitting in the rows that are touching the 3rd year desks.... I got an upgrade! (Honestly though, I was kind of annoyed that like, I had to change desks because I liked my old one and I also liked the fact that I didn't have to empty out all of my drawers!) The teachers were all really surprised with how much crap is in my drawers... and the funny thing, is that a lot of it isn't actually mine (really, I should just chuck them, but I can't help but feel that one day they'll come in handy or something, or that my successor can use them for ideas or use them or something).
Also, I swear, my entry about the philippines will probably happen around the time I actually get those pictures uploaded.
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