Dartboard

This morning I was getting ready for work when I got an IM from Daniel and of course, had to drop everything and chat with him. I started a one-way video chat and spent the rest of my morning running back and forth to the computer. I didn’t even shower, barely got dressed, took my toothbrush and toothpaste to school to brush when I arrived, and ran out the door to meet Hatake just in the nick of time. It was wonderful to video chat, but I felt like I got the short end of the stick—not being able to see DT while I knew he got to see me.

Another day of chatting and internet surfing from my desk at work. Hatake and kyoto-sensei had a business meeting in Fukue so I was pretty uninterrupted in my very productive “work-day.” Satomi Norimura, the third part-time JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) who I’ll be working with this year came back from Seattle today. I met her briefly when I first arrived, but she was just leaving for Seattle with her friend and two children. Today she brought back pictures and Seattle chocolates and we got to know each other a little better. She invited me to a birthday party for one of her students up north so I’ll be going with her tomorrow morning.

A student brought me this green tea and "mochi" (rice-cake dessert) from her tea ceremony club. When classes start next week I'm going to go visit the tea ceremony club and watch them practice! The tea was so delicious!

So, I swear I’m numerically dyslexic, although it’s never been diagnosed, this is a self-diagnosis based on plenty of instances where I get phone numbers and street numbers reversed, I read numbers off credit cards and brochures incorrectly, and I can’t read clocks worth a damn.

I’m supposed take the bus home at 3:49 p.m. because I get off work at 4 p.m. and the only buses that go to my place run at 3:49 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. or something. So they let me go those 10 minutes early. Anxious about not missing the bus because there is no alternative to getting home today, I misread my clock and went down to the bus at 2:45 instead of 3:45. So I was waiting—and sweating profusely in my basketball warm-ups which I had put on in such a rush while talking to DT this a.m.—but eventually I realized on the wrong side of the road, so I went to the right side of the road...or maybe it was the left, I’m not sure... and I tried reading the bus schedule because the bus hadn’t come well after it “should have” been there. That’s when I realized I was an hour early so I went back to the teachers room and spent the last hour debating the bus schedules with some teachers that don’t ever ride the bus and don’t really know when or where they go. I was so frustrated, but I was sure not to show it because it’s not their fault I’m dyslexic or even that they have cars and don’t need to know the bus schedules.

The second time I went down to the bus stop there were several students waiting also so I knew I was right. It’s only a 7-8 minute ride home and I was so happy it took me directly home without hour-long side trips to Kimura, Asewara and wherever I went last time I tried to ride the bus. I’m determined to figure out the buses here even after I get my car because there may be times my car breaks down and I still need to get to school. I don’t want to completely rely on one system of transportation. Yeah, so that’s my goal for the month.

David and I were able to video-chat for the first time today. Now that I have a high-speed internet connection in my apartment I hope to do this lots with friends and family. Do you have an webcam??

Tonight Catherine came over because we were having our first karate lesson. We decided to do a slumber party at my apartment this time. Hatake picked us up for karate at 7 p.m. and we drove to Kobe on Wakamatsu Island. Karate takes place every Friday night in an old school gym and only costs ¥1500 per month. This was our first time participating, but after warming-up (which includes 100 push-ups) we just watched from the sidelines to get a feel for how class is run. There are about 20 students ranging from age four to forty, white belts and black belts and everything in between. Hatake taught us some basic bowing and greeting and then the simplest punching technique.

I also met two teachers from Wakamatsu Junior High School, one of which is a JTE that I’ll be teaching with every Tuesday. She is young, recently graduated from college and moved out to the islands a few months ago. She just started karate too and so if I stick with it we’ll probably be learning together. I’m going out to Wakamatsu next Monday or Tuesday, depending on the severity of the typhoon, to meet them all officially. I think the junior high kids are going to be very enthusiastic and I’ll enjoy working with them.

I’ve got a video-chat appointment with Joelle early tomorrow morning so I’d better get to bed early. I’ve been so enthralled in Barefoot Gen it’s hard to stop reading it at night.

Love and dyslexia (it’s a disease!),
Sierra

Tonight’s dinner was a success! I had Hatakeyama-sensei, his wife, Naoko, and daughter, Hinako, over for dinner at my place—and I cooked! I had invited them over early in the week before having really thought about what I was going to make. Catherine also had invited a co-worker over for dinner this week, so together we struggled to find something to cook suitable for guests. I decided on spaghetti as the main course, but here’s the full menu:

Edamame (lightly salted soy beans in the pod)
Salad of lettace, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and eggplant
Miso soup with tofu
Spaghetti with hamburger, tomato and eggplant sauce
Sliced honeydew melon
Desserts from the “toki” down the street

The table as I set it.

They arrived at 6:30 p.m. with flowers and green tea cakes from Aokata. Improvising for a vase, I used a tomato sauce can from dinner and I got a good laugh. I decided to have dinner completely ready when they arrived so I wouldn’t have to be messing around in the kitchen while they were there. I must admit I was a bit nervous about having them over, but it all turned out lovely in the end. (I’m using “lovely” all the time now because of Catherine’s British influence on me. Apparently she also had adapted her speech in some ways too.)

I had dinner all ready to serve when they arrived.

The flowers in my spaghetti sauce can!

I think they were impressed with my meal—my attempt to make miso soup was heralded, but I think it was a bit weak for a Japanese person. Hinako, who will be three years old in a couple months, was pretty quiet at first, but her parents assured me she’d be running around screaming in a little while. And sure enough, once she warmed up to me ...or my apartment... she was dancing and singing and giggling at everything. She has so much energy and happiness to share with everyone, about everything. In fact, right now as I sit on my living room couch, I can hear her little pitter-patter of footsteps and I can imagine her running back and forth in the apartment above me. I’m looking forward to getting to know her better, perhaps babysitting occasionally, and helping expand her already sizeable English vocabulary.

Here I am with Naoko (my supervisor's wife) and Hinako, their daughter.

The Hatakeyama family. Kazuma, Naoko, and Hinako.

I had some knitting on the floor in my living room and after dinner Hatake asked me what I was knitting. I’m actually not knitting anything right now, I’m just practicing for someday when I might be able to knit something complicated like a scarf, but recently I did complete a fringe practice-project, which looked to me a lot like a squid. So I pulled out my gray squid to show them and Hinako just loved it. She made it swim through the air and giggled some more. I wondered what other animals I might be able to make for her, but I’m sure if I ever tried to make something recognizable it’d turn out just awful!

I know this is silly. My knitted squid! But you have to admit that it really looks like one!

Also last night, I received the paperwork from Asahi-Net, my internet provider and Hatake asked if he could set-up my internet! So he worked on that while Hinako and Naoko read Mr. Quiet (an children’s English book I found in the apartment), played with a feather, and rolled around on my couch. Hatake was able to get me connected (!!!!!!!) in just a few minutes and I was so overjoyed as you can imagine! They went home and I actually went to bed early considering it was the first time I had a high-speed internet connection since my arrival in Nagasaki.

Love and Dinner Parties,
Sierra

It’s really becoming obsessive, but I don’t think I’m the only one who spends an inhumane number of hours at their desk each day. I just got the first copy of the Nag Rag (the Nagasaki Prefecture monthly publication) delivered to my desk and the last page is spoof on Microsoft Explorer’s “This page cannot be displayed” webpage.

It says:
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. Your ISP has told us that you’re online several hours everyday and that just ain’t right.
Please for the love of god, try the follow:
• Don’t click the refresh button. Go outside now.
• If you are about to spend another $100 at Amazon, then please contact Amazon Anonymous.

Etc, etc. It’s pretty cute ...and pretty accurate.

The next typhoon is coming. There’s a printout of it on the office chalkboard to prove it. The little black circle is approaching western Japan and this one threatens to be worse than the last. Hatake just put a school notice on my desk. Today all the students have to close the windows, put towels at the sills, pull the curtains and move the computers away from the windows! Dance practice is canceled on Saturday and school is closed Sunday and Monday for students. Teachers still have to come to work on Monday, but it’s too dangerous for students. The ferries have been pre-canceled for the 10-foot swells. It doesn’t bother me, but Catherine wanted to go to Nagasaki this weekend. Wish me luck through this one, and if you want to call Sunday morning so I don’t have to be alone, please don’t resist the urge.

Here is the print-out hanging in the staff room. I've circled the Gotos Islands in red. The winds in the center of the typhoon are suppose to be 55 meters per second!

They've even taped down our mailboxes! They didn't go that far for the last one!

Okonomiyaki was really fun last night, and I met another neighbor/co-worker too. Yamaguchi-sensei teaches math and he lives next to Hatakeyama on the third floor. He is the youngest teacher I’ve seen so far, at age 22, and he also practices karate. He came with us for our adventure last night. I accomplished my one goal last night, which was learning how to order okonomiyaki without squid and those dried fish skins that squiggle around on top. And I got to know Hatake’s wife and daughter a little bit better too. Hatake invited me to my first enkai (welcome party) this Saturday night. It may be canceled if the typhoon is too bad, but Hatake said I could still come over to his apartment and spend the night if I’m scared. Isn’t that family wonderful??

Well, my bus comes in 10 minutes and I just may take it to get home a little early today. Tonight is the big night! I’m cooking spaghetti for four! I’m very excited to have guests over and do a bit of entertaining.

Love and typhoon warnings,
Sierra

Last night Catherine and I planned to meet up after work to go to the onsen (hot springs) and then out to dinner. I assumed we’d just go to the onsen and check it out, see how much it costs, decide to come back later, but when I rounded the corner for our meeting place and saw her with her backpack I knew we had miscommunicated somehow. It had occurred to me as I walked out my door that she might think we were going to bathe in the onsen, but I guess it was an unspoken agreement that you don’t go to hot springs in this kind of heat. We did end up going ...and bathing, and it was really relaxing. I think Catherine’s fallen in love with the place; she wants to go back everyday! It only costs ¥200 so it’s not a bad habit to pick up.

We’ve decided Tuesdays are for eating out; we need to discover the gourmet opportunities available in our town somehow. This week we went to dinner in a little restaurant near the port. (They’ll all be called “little restaurants near the–fill in the blank—” until I can read kanji.) Catherine had her trusty guidebook and we were able to order something between that and deciphering the menu. We even ventured out by ordering drinks too! I found kurimu soda on the menu and had a delicious, albeit bright green, ice cream soda with my meal.

Today I spent at school again ...wait, can you guess what I’ve done? Are you imagining me glued to my computer screen. Yep, then you’re right. Talking online to family for a good portion of the day. Getting really jealous when I hear DT is going over to Joelle’s to meet my family for dinner. But I think they are putting a care package together for me, so I feel loved. I really need to start studying Japanese at school now. You’d think in 8 hours every day I could find one hour to study Japanese, but it’s just so tempting to write emails and chat.

My desk: where I spend hours of my time on the internet!

This afternoon (instead of studying Japanese) I played volleyball in the gym. The team captain got “stuck” with me as a partner today so each drill we completed was extra slow. It takes extra time to explain to me what we’re doing and then extra time for me to be able to complete the drill. They are very understanding and I love watching them form English sentences. I took a shower and came back to the staff room and read my Barefoot Gen mange for the last hour.

Hatake and I are going out to an okonomiyaki restaurant with his wife and daughter tonight. I need to do some grocery shopping first because I’ve invited them over for dinner tomorrow night. I trust that I can handle cooking for four, but it may be a complete disaster. Tonight I will be madly cleaning my apartment, pre-cutting all my vegetables and taking care of as much as possible before their arrival at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow. I think this will be good for me!

Love and green cream soda
Sierra

I’m so hungry!!! I didn’t bring a lunch today because I was going to buy a lunch, but then I forgot to order a meal before it was called in. (The teachers have a restaurant they order from everyday because there are no school lunches and the food is delivered at lunchtime.) Luckily I had a very big breakfast this morning and did bring some honeydew melon in a Tupperware so I got something in my stomach after noon.

This morning I was on the internet for 6 hours straight. I only went to the bathroom twice, but I had people waiting for me on Instant Messenger. I was so happy though. I got to chat with DT, Joelle, Mama, David, Shoiab and even George for a little while. We tried to get the iSight—video conferencing—to work, but my school doesn’t have high speed internet. Just a few more days and I will get internet in my apartment and then I can video chat...

I thought I'd take advantage of this mentioning of the bathroom to show you what a toliet in Japan looks like. Of course, they have "western style" toliets also, but at my school there are only these "Japanese style" toliets. I think they're more hygenic!

Also, you need to leave your shoes at the door and wear special toliet slippers into the bathroom. And yes, those Adidas shoes are what I wear when I work everyday--even if I'm wearing a suit!

Now I am just waiting for the time to pass. At 3:48 p.m. I was mentioning how hungry I am, when Hatake said I could take the bus home if I wanted. I get off at 4 p.m., but usually I just wait for someone to take me home at 5 p.m. So he goes to check the bus schedule and the bus comes at 3:50 p.m. I know it’s too late, but he says I should hurry. I start to pack up my stuff when I hear the bus roar by. Hmmph.

“So, don’t just sit around thinking about the hunger,” I say to myself. So, I went downstairs to get a drink from the machine; I figured juice or chocolate milk would feel bigger in my stomach than water does. Unfortunately we are having an hour-long black out today because they need to do some repairs on the electricity. Well, I didn’t think about it, but the machines are turned off too. The black out ends in 25 minutes so I’m going to rush down and get something then.

Tonight Catherine and I are meeting to go to the town onsen (hot springs) and then go out for dinner together. I have to start thinking about what I am going to make for dinner Thursday night. I’ve got plenty of side dish ideas, but no main dish ideas. Can you wrap eggplant and bacon and fry it? It’s my only idea so far!

Ah...the electricity just came back on. I'm going to get yogurt, apple juice and chocolate milk! Yum!!

Love and thank god for electricity,
Sierra

Today has been the best day ever!!! I am so happy—things are really starting to fall into place now! Oh, where do I start? First of all, I was really disciplined and worked on my self-introduction lesson all day. It’s really starting to come along! Maybe one day I’ll explain, but not until after I know it’s a success! =) Blaine, the guy living up north, showed up at my desk as I was almost done with it and surprised me. Apparently he is here to practice bass with my school’s band. They are going to be in a show and they need a bass player. I think he just wants to play in whatever band he can, but he’ll be stopping by to practice occasionally.

So, Blaine is a former ALT and I decided to run my self-introduction lesson by him and now he’s my new best friend! Do you know what he called me? A SUPER-JET!! One of those ones that is really prepared and energetic! I’m so happy that I have chosen a good lesson because this is my first impression for most of the students and the other JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English). Then Tomonaga (who is also a band nut, remember?) was standing there and saw all my posters and pictures and notecards and he kept saying “Sugoi!” (cool!) So, I think I’m on the road to success!

#2 Reason Today Is a Good Day: At school I finally was able to connect my computer to the internet!! Yeah, this may sound crazy to make my day so excellent, but I have composed all these journal entries and taken all these pictures that I can’t share them with anyone back home until I can connect my own computer to the internet. So, today marks a very important day in the history of my arrival. Last night I was suppose to get internet in my apartment, but of course, I couldn’t sign up online, blah blah blah, and anyway I have to wait another week. This really makes it all better!

Because of the internet I was also able to get on iChat and I talked with everyone back home. I had Mama, Joe Joe, Daniel, Aunt Lynne, Rick and Leta and George—all at my disposal. I was holding an audience from thousands upon thousand of miles away! Ok, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away here, but let’s just say my cheeks were cramping from too much smiling!

#3 Reason: I got to play volleyball with the team again. I really enjoy playing with them. Hatakeyama is the boy’s volleyball coach and since he’s back today I also played with the boys a little. Mostly I just served, over and over and over again, until my back was twitching. So I switched to practicing with the girls for a while. Then Hatake apologized for interrupting and asked me if ...which brings me to the...

#4 Reason Today Is a Good Day: ...Hatake asked me if I wanted to have his car today! Apparently his parents are giving him a new car so he has no need for his old car and he wants to give it to me! Yesterday it broke down so he had to take it to the shop and get it repaired. So, basically I’m paying the ¥10,000 in repairs and then he’s giving it to me for free! We left school early to go get the papers and put them in my name. That only cost ¥3,000 so I’m getting a new car for ¥13,000! (US$130)! The only bummer is that the bi-annual inspection is due this January and that costs a ton of money. Maybe ¥60,000 for this car, but it’s required for all Japanese cars so I’d probably be paying for that on any other car anyway.

My new car is a greenish 2-door Madza Carol. (If you’ve never heard of it, it’s because we have nothing this small in America.) It’s about 10 years old, but the AC and heater still work!

My license plate number is 60-52.

A peak into the driver's seat... on the right-hand side!

I get to drive on September 1st, after my insurance goes though. I am already making mental plans to go up to Aokata’s gym after school a couple times a week. Knowing this is really happening in the next week has given me so much freedom already! I can’t believe how easy this is! Hatake is so great!

Love and transport,
Sierra