Settling in

Things are good in Ichinohe! Tyler and I are pretty settled, I began teaching last week, and we've met lots of new friends.

The month of August was very slow in the office, but Tyler and I were very busy with traveling and trying to setup the living luxuries. We have our keitais (cell phones) but we haven't had any luck with getting the internet set up. The latest quote for us having internet in our home is the 3rd week in September. One of my fellow JET colleagues reminds me almost daily that I should have used the internet company he used, but it just wasn't an option for us after I applied to YahooBB. Ah well...

We traveled to Morioka on a quest to find a bike and do other random shopping. We also went to Hachinohe to continue looking for a bike but we had no luck. We went back to Morioka for a JET orientation. This time, I went with the ALTs (assistant language teachers) that live next to and met some of the other JETs and ALT's from other private companies that live in Iwate. We went to this really great Ramen place (that has a chain opening in Brooklyn soon) and we went to an activity center that had indoor soccer, batting cages, basketball and volleyball courts. It also had kareoke booths, a large arcade, rollerskating ring, and bowling alley. The place was awesome. Tyler met up with us the next day so that we could get our re-entry permits in case we want to travel outside of Japan. We also had some pretty good Italian food followed by Starbucks. We went to a karaoke booth after dinner. The next day Tyler and I did some more shopping. I was successful in finding a bicycle.

I began teaching last Tuesday (8/26) at Chokai Junior High. This school has close to 30 students. Chokai is a town that is West of Ichinohe and takes about 20 minutes on a bike (1-1/2 hrs to walk). Tyler came with me because the school had a welcoming ceremony for me/us. The ceremony was really impressive. It was a pretty formal ceremony with speeches (including my speech in Japanese and English) and a pep rally of sorts with shouting kids and Taiko drumming. It was quite flattering. After the ceremony, I accompanied the full-time English teacher to our classes and I gave my Keynote introduction presentation. I think that I will have a good time at this school. Wednesday (8/27) I started at Chokai Elementary school. This school had a similar welcoming ceremony. Most of my teachers here have a very basic level of English so sometimes it gets a bit quiet when there are only a few of us in the office. I gave my introduction presentation to each of my classes (only 5 classes) and met all of the students. There is a lot of free time between my classes, so I try to visit the students through out the day. I played dodge ball with the 4-6th graders, I ate lunch with the 4 and 5th graders, and I participated in the daily, school-wide run in the mornings. The kids in the elementary school are much more out-going than the junior high schoolers. A few times this weekend, students from elementary school came up to me and siad hello. It is really great that they will come up to me, but I wish that I could speak to them. Their English abilities are pretty poor and my Japanese ability is worse. I hope that this will be motivation for me to learn.

This past weekend was the weekend of the Ichinohe Matsuri (festival/carnival). There were a series of parades and events each day. Tyler, Alex, Claire, and I danced in the parades on Saturday with a group from our office. The parade also had 5 large floats that represented neighborhoods around Ichinohe. Each of the floats were handmade by the community and had room for children to play the taiko drums that were affixed to them. Flutists and dancers accompanied the floats along with community members pulling/pushing the floats. Some of our friends from the areas around Ichinohe came over to our house after the festivities and we had a BBQ. Sunday, one of my neighbors invited all of us Gaijin (foreigners) to help pull the float from our neighborhood. Tyler wanted to watch the parade and the others were busy, so I pulled the float with the rest of the community members. It was a really great experience that I am glad I participated in. I will post some pics and video when I can.

I want this!!!

This is an actual phone that you can purchase in Japan

3 Days deep

How about that house, eh?

The house is much nicer than I could have imagined. The only thing that its missing is Tyler (and the cats if they were allowed). Having a nice place to stay is helping me deal with being away from home. I have been getting a little lonely but my neighbor and fellow JET and I have been hanging out a lot and exploring the town.

The town is interesting in certain ways and kinda depressing in others. There is a main street that is sort of run down and many shops are abandon. We live pretty close to the center of town so its pretty easy to get around (at least while there isnt a foot of snow on the frozen tundra). There is a river that runs through town and there is some really nice country side scenery. There are also some great people here. My neighbor, Alex, and I went to a festival last night and had a gerat time! Alex is fluent in Japanese so he has been a great help for me. We were welcomed by many of the community members and we met many of the children in the town. I will post pictures of the festival as soon as I can.

Our new place!

Konichiwa from 東京 (Tokyo)

It is Tuesday night and I have just completed my JET orientation in Tokyo. I will be leaving tomorrow morning heading to the capital of Iwate, Morioka, by bullet train. My days here have been pretty busy. It has been pretty non-stop from 8:00 AM until 7-8:00 PM both Monday and Tuesday. The orientation had many incredible presenters and speakers offering a plethora of information, insight, and motivation. I must say that I am really looking forward to teaching. I have also met some great fellow JETs, but I am also ready to say sayonara and get out of the Tokyo. I just didn't enjoy the big city this time.

Let me fill you in on my experiences. Monday evening, the ALTs from went out for drinks in Shabuya. Understand that drinking with you co-workers (within reason) is pretty typical in Japan. Japanese do not usually have guests over to their homes, instead people meet up at restaurants and bars to socialize outside of work. And for Shabuya, If you have ever seen a movie that has anything to do with Tokyo, chances are at least a scene from it was filmed there. This is one of the busiest areas in Tokyo especially for Japanese youth and foreigners. After a drink, we went to sing karaoke also in Shabuya. Karaoke is huge in Japan, but is different than karaoke as Americans know it. When you go to a karaoke, you are given a room in what is typically a multi-level building. The rooms usually have a booth that surrounds a table and a karaoke machine hooked up to a TV. You can also order drinks at karaoke. There are many songs that are offered in English because American Pop music is also popular in Japan and the prices are reasonable, especially when a group of friends go. We sang karaoke for a few hours then headed back.

Tuesday night I ventured out on my own...nothing terrible happened, but I did have an interesting adventure. As I was getting a ticket for the train, a "helpful" man came up and assisted me in buying the ticket. I assured him that I knew what I was doing, but he still went at navigating the screen on the machine. As we finished he asked for 200 yen for his troubles. I gave him 100 and I was on my way. I was heading back to Shabuya to look around at some of the shops and I made it there with no problem. As I was walking around, I was approached by someone to buy drugs. From what I understand, this is not common. Messing with drugs of any sort is highly illegal, selling or using. It didn't concern me, it was just kinda shocking. I wonder if he was a cop....

I got stuck in a pretty crazy rain/thunderstorm as I was heading back to the train station but I decided to hold off on purchasing another umbrella (Japan is where Tyler and I bought at least 3 of our umbrellas before). I bought another ticket (this time on my own) and I boarded the train back to the hotel. I was doing so well, until the train broke down and everyone had to find another route. Remember that Shabuya is one of the busiest areas in Tokyo. There were probably thousands of people heading to other trains. It was really quite impressive to watch. I followed the crowd and ended up at another train that appeared to be going close to the hotel but I wasn't sure, so I asked someone, IN JAPANESE!! Of course I had to consult my phrase book, but I mustered up the courage and asked. That was sort of the climax of my evening. I did make it back to the hotel and I did have enough time to iron my shirt at the communal ironing station.

I am heading to Iwate first thing tomorrow morning and I'm not sure when I will be around the internet again, but I will post more soon including some pics that I've taken during my orientation.

The Final Countdown

I just hit me...WE'RE MOVING TO JAPAN!!

It seems as if I haven't convinced myself yet that we'll be living in Japan for a year.

This past week has been incredibly busy for the both of us. We had our final yard sale and going away party. We packed, cleaned, and vacated our apartment with the help of my parents and little brother. We drove to Clovis with the cats to visit Tyler's side of the family. Then Tyler's parents drove us to San Antonio to drop off the cats with Tyler's brother and his wife. Tyler will be staying in San Antonio for a couple more weeks then she will be joining me in Japan just in time to celebrate our one year anniversary.

If you've been following our journey, you'll know that I am writing you on the eve of my departure. Thanks to the Holiday Inn that has free WiFi and my air conditioned Ford Focus rental car, I am able to keep you as up-to-date as possible. I have around five hours to waste before I can check in to my hotel. Tonight I will be attending a Pre-departure Orientation and reception to follow. I will breathe my last breathes in the US tonight then depart for Japan early tomorrow. I will follow the sun around the globe (literally) until it I arrive in Japan on Sunday in time for 2-3 days of orientation in Tokyo. I believe I will be in Ichinohe by Wednesday or Thursday. Many things are unclear at this point, but I will keep you as current as/when I can. I promise.

Thanks for following!

4th of July trip to Northern NM

We went to Eagle's Nest for an old fashioned, all-American 4th of July celebration this year. I was craving the type of 4th of July you read about of see in movies. Here are some of the pics from our trip.