Uptown Girl

I just realized that entitling this entry "Uptown Girl" will probably lead people to believe I have a story about some trendy Japanese girl...sorry to say, I don't. While we training in Okayama, the crew and I went looking for a 100 Yen store. After the mile long journey, we finally stumbled upon one and it was playing William Joel's "Uptown Girl". I happily sang along...until it ended and I heard it again. It was funny to hear the same song repeat, until it repeated for the third and then the fourth time. The song interrupted in the middle with a shrill Japanese voice exclaiming something about a sale. My first thought dealt with how the employees of this place must be slowly going insane. Either they have a much-needed and helpful ability to tune out the background music or they're experiencing a strange version of Chinese water torture. The first few times you hear it, it's harmless. And if you heard the song every now and again, it would have no effect but since it's continuous, each playing would hurt more and more until it becomes unbearable and you take a samurai sword to your abdomen because you can't take it anymore.

Then I moved to Himeji and I live within spitting distance from a big department store and they're having a July 1-28 Bargain Sale. And this bargain sale is accompanied by the same customized song which has played on a loop during the workday for almost four weeks. I am not sure whether to feel sorry for or admire the Japanese workers that have to deal with this.

Another weekly tradition I've recently adopted is going to the foreigner bar on Tuesday nights. Now I end up at this place 3-4 times per week but Tuesdays are special. For on Tuesdays, a Japanese man named Takahashi plays his acoustic guitar in the bar. The best part is that Takahashi knows every Beatles song and a whole slew of other random selections which will inevitably get everyone in the bar involved in a sing-along. If you've ever heard a middle-aged Japanese man lead a bar-full of drunken gaijins in a consecutive set of "Hey Jude" and "Manic Monday", you'll know the magic that his guitar creates.

Tomorrow night, I am taking the shinkansen to visit one of the girls from training in a city called Tokuyama - which I guess is a pretty country-ish Japanese town kinda close to Hiroshima. We'll stay there tomorrow night and then we're off to the southern island of Kyushu on Sunday. On Kyushu, we're going to a city called Fukuoka and I have zero idea what we're doing there. I was told today that I need to try a food called Mentaiko - which is a roll of caviar, red pepper and something else. It may sound gross now but I've never been steered wrong by any other Japanese food.

And two weeks from now is Obon. Obon is a Buddhist event where people pray for the spirits of their ancestors to return and reunite with the family. I guess this is met with huge family parties and giant festivals and then after the celebrations, families bring the spirits of their ancestors back to the grave and they hang a painted sign with the family crest and light incense in their homes - and the smell of the incense is called senko. This sounds like an absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring time for the Japanese. Unfortunately, I am not Japanese and I don't know any Japanese well enough to be invited, so it's just a week of for me. So, over Obon, some of my friends and I are heading up to Tokyo to see what kind of fun awaits us there. My next few weeks promise to be entertaining so please keep reading; here are some pictures.


Look, it's Yao Ming!!!!
Our karaoke room where Brenna was being attacked by a T-Rex
My Tuesday night tradition also involves new hairstyles. Week One was mohawks. Week two (this picture) was 50's greaser with a duck tail in the back. I might've abandoned it at this point.
Saw an Illini shirt in a store near my apartment. If there are any small girls reading this that would like it, it's only about $5
My friend, Luci, and Takahashi the Beatles Expert

IAABP Night 1

I am so excited to write this entry...so excited that I can't even come up with a sensible beginning. The inaugural meeting of the IAABP (International Association for the Advancement of Beer Pong) was beyond successful; it was triumphant. At 530, the Forus beer garden opened - it's under $30 for all you can eat and drink with a beautiful garden-like setting on top of a department store and within spitting distance of my apartment. The United States sent delegates from Illinois, Tennessee, California, New York and South Carolina. But, in addition, first time beer pongers from Birmingham, England and Hirohata, Japan joined the cause at its inception. My friend Brenna and I played against another friend, Mike. Mike's teammate was called Saki - the boyfriend of one of the Japanese teachers at his school. Saki flashed either beginner's luck or the perfect storm of precise arc measurements and wind calculations. One way or another, I'm glad he did because his enthusiasm was contagious - even if it was expressed completely in Japanese.

Just like everything else we do, our antics were met with quizzical but intrigued stares of onlookers. I'd told people before that night that one of my goals in Japan was to get old people to play beer pong with us. It just so happened that the people sitting at a table near us were both interested/humored enough to take up our invitation to come play with us. Two older men lent us their wives for gaming enjoyment while they flanked the table and cheered. The lady on my team's name is Naomi (nah-oh-me). Mike's teammate was another lady who will remain nameless - only because Mike did not learn her name...a bad start because champions always have chemistry. True to pattern, Naomi and I beat Mike and other lady. But, of course, there are no losers in beer pong because the team that loses the actual game drinks more. Mike's teammate - probably in her mid-60's chugged like she was born for it. Amazing! Soon after the game, I had a store-bought fu-manchu mustache over my top lip and a headband with the rising sun on my head...this was hilarious enough to Naomi to take a picture on her phone and make me the wallpaper! I live in infamy!!

I don't know where the next group came from but I was recruited to play another game against three very pretty Japanese men who looked like wannabe rock stars. Their leader earned the name Concentrator - for his predictably focused approach to the game. His cohorts were Feathered Head and Whorepants. I thought Feathered Head looked like late 2000's version of 1980's Bon Jovi. Whorepants wore these outrageous pants that looked like a Warshak Test. I've been kicking myself every day since because I did not catch them on my camera. After our defeat at the hands of the J-Pop reject trio, I saw a bunch of guys arm wrestling. Confidently recalling my arm wrestling dominations two weeks earlier, I was up for the challenge once again. Bad move. A man identified himself as #5 - I assumed this to mean his arm wrestling ranking amongst his friends. #5 beat me within two seconds. To be fair to myself, I didn't know when we were supposed to start. Even if I had known, I wouldn't have even topped three seconds but still. Since #5 killed me, I just needed to see #1. Number 1 looked like a tough dude but no more than 5'6". We started the match with my arm holding his about one inch from the table. I was ready for this one to start...didn't matter, I was obliterated in a quicker time than I was against #5. I did what any loser would do, I saluted them with a Kampei and took my leave and returned to my dominant sport. We played against a women's basketball player (don't know what level or for whom she plays) and some other random lady with her daughter in her arms. The basketball player learned quickly that the way to get guys to miss is to flash skin. Unfortunately, the random lady also learned this but just kept pulling her two year old daughter's pants down, showing her butt. I put that up on the list of one of the most awkward occurrences I've ever been a part....but it was effective because I was distracted. We did beat them but not without some trouble. They invited me back to their table to talk with their family - you can imagine the conversation: lots of gestures and broken English/Japanese. Just after receiving an invitation to the family's pizza restaurant, I noticed the arm wrestling ass kickers were now beer ponging and my services were requested. I could never beat them in arm wresting but this was beer pong and I could kill them..so I told them - loudly and then did it! But, again, there are no losers in beer pong. One part I found funny about this game was that they brought a designated drinker. He didn't play - just drank the beers when necessary. Amidst all of the chaos, I did manage to tell the beer girl Aisheru ("I love you") about six times...she must've wanted me to die.

Forus beer garden closed at 930 and management had to herd the drunk gaijins and the drunk arm wrestlers out of the garden. So, out to the streets we went - I am not sure how this all developed but we all ended up in a circle and one of the arm wrestlers was shouting out karate instructions and demonstrating movements. They weren't just arm wrestlers, they're a karate group! I guess we got a free lesson. Each of us gaijins took our turn in the middle of the circle and led the karate demonstration. I kid you not, the sensei of the karate group (a solid wall of a man) stood just beyond the perimeter of the circle expressionless with his arms folded and just nodded. It felt like a movie. Once the circle disbanded...it was on to the only natural destination- karaoke. Everyone was very drunk at this point but beer kept coming...wisely, I'd cut myself off after the beer garden so that I could remember everything. The lasting image of the night was seeing all of the drunken karate members and drunken gaijins arm in arm singing Mr. Big's "To Be With You" - all the while, the karate sensei sat alone at the end of the bench fanning himself...expressionless but nodding his approval.


Saki sporting the awesome fu manchu and his girlfriend, Ai, who is the best because she translated the ridiculous things we would say.

Lauren and I with the two beer pong competitors- Naomi and other lady


Naomi lines up a shot and I contemplate where my life is going.


Mike and other lady drinking the loser cups!


The competitors - and who looks the most Japanese here....me!


From the left: Saki, Mike, Concentrator, Me, Feathered Head, Lauren, Brenna and Whorepants


Against #5


Beginning of the match vs #1


Two seconds later.


Mike, Beer Girl and me


Huge group shot of gaijins and the karate group...notice the tall Japanese guy in the back - that's the only picture of the sensei.


#1 leads the circle


Lauren leads the circle


Brenna leads the circle


Karaoke's a sweaty business.

Hold on little girl, show me what he's done to you. Stand up, little girl, a broken heart can't be that bad. When it's through, it's through. Fate will twist the both of you. So come baby, come on over...let me be the one to show you. I'm the one who wants to be with you. Deep inside, I hope you feel it too. Waited on a line of greens and blues. Just to be the next to be with you.

Gym Dandy

Wandering around gyms in America is pretty foreign to me - what could I call wandering aimlessly around gyms in Japan? That was the main highlight of my evening. On Monday, I signed up for a gym package that allows me to go to the gym on weekdays between 9pm-12am...this is actually best because the gym opens at 10am each morning and there's no way I could go and then get to work. I am not sure about more populated cities but Himeji just doesn't really wake up until about 9am and most places don't open until 10. Starbucks is open from 10am-8pm...read that again and think of the amazingness! McDonald's, however, is open 24 hours - which tells me that McDonald's transcends all norms and operates as their own universe.

Anyhow, the gym has four floors and the locker rooms are on the third floor...that was the first confusing bit because there are lockers right when you walk in. So I give my membership card to one of the staff and they give me a locker card. I have to take off my shoes to walk through the faux locker room en route to the elevator. Shoes back on. I arrive on the third floor and follow the signs in Kanji to what I imagine to be the locker room. Shoes off. Yep, locker room....yep, women's locker room. After the most insincere display of surprise, I made a 180 back to the entrance of the locker rooms. Shoes back on. Ah ha!! There is another entrance; I notice at this point that the new sign in Kanji is blue and the one I'd read first was in pink. It's starting to make more sense. Shoes off. At this point, I spend three minutes trying to figure out how the card goes into the locker to take out the key - thankfully I'm assisted by a naked Mr. Miyagi. Now I'm set to find the treadmill - where, at least, I can read numbers. Shoes on. I manage to wind between the people taking classes or using other equipment with my eyes focused on the treadmill. Man, the treadmills here are pretty slow...oh no, Matt's mind is slow...Japanese treadmills, like everything else here, operates in kilometers. About ten minutes into the treadmill session, one of the staff interrupts me and asks me to stop. From there, I'm lead to a board - after three staff consultations for an English translation- I learn that the treadmills are reserved for appointments. It makes sense but not something I'm used to, so I sign up for a different treadmill - I don't know why; my mind was spinning with cultural misunderstanding. My new treadmill has a giant touch screen and motion censors everywhere. After the feeling that I was being monitored and laughed at by the Japanese Imperial Army passed, I focused on the fact that I could not get the treadmill to move because I couldn't read anything. So I defaulted to my general mode of 'hit buttons until something happens' (note: this mode proved successful on the first few days of recording absences and time worked at school). I am still not sure how it happened but I had a little avatar running on the screen and telling me how fast I was going. After finishing, I returned to locker room at.....just the wrong time. Oh, first...shoes off. One of the classes had just gotten out and I had to wade through a sea of naked Japanese men to get to my locker. Shoes back on. Elevator. Shoes off for faux locker room. Shoes on to leave.

Finally, I weighed myself. This time I was prepared for the weight to be in kilograms but still, it was pretty reassuring to see a much, much lower number. Granted it was still twice the number of the guy before but who cares. After doing the math, I realized that I've lost about 13 lbs since being here. As I told Gobel tonight, that is both surprising and unsurprising. Understandably, Gobel was confused as how something could simultaneously be surprising and unsurprising. Since my arrival 26 days ago, I think that I've ended my nights drunk nine times. One of every three days!! At home, I don't think I ended nights drunk one out of 30 days so it's quite the step up for me. Nine drunken nights - all on beer. That's a lot of heavy Japanese beer. Some of those nights came complete with a drunken McDonald's trip. I always thought Japanese food was all uber-healthy. I mean, it's just fish, rice and miso soup, right? No! I mean there are those things...and a lot of them but a ton of stuff here is fried and the quality of the meat isn't that great. Ashamedly I haven't really concentrated hard on eating healthily. So, for all of that, I am surprised that I've lost weight. On the flipside, I walk absolutely everywhere and this is the most humid place in the entire stratosphere. Couple those things with the fact that I have to wear a suit everyday and I think I sweat a small body of water each day. Some other contributing factors are that I don't really eat that much (too expensive) or often and my work is fairly active so not being sedentary helps. For those reasons, I'm not surprised that I've lost some weight.

Damn Bats

Damn Bats

Falling asleep to a DVD is absolutely terrible because once the content has finished, the disc goes to the menu and that plays on a loop. On Season 3, Disc 4 of "The Office", there is a 30 second cycle of everyone yelling about a bat that was let loose in the office. After battling through about ten minutes of half dream/half real audio, I woke up discombobulated...gathered myself and found that I need some awake time to restore some sanity. I've turned on the TV (it's about 4am); this generally is the only time I'll even watch tv because there is a slight chance of American sports. Last week I randomly woke up around 5am and watched the Wimbledon men's final but it was about 7 at its conclusion and couldn't sleep.

I feel severely disconnected from the world because Japanese television is...well, in Japanese. Not only that, it's not your standard American format. I have 12 base channels and one of them never works. The others, at all times, include 4 home shopping networks, one that plays mostly game shows and anime, and one nature/travel channel - which doesn't seem to have anything but a panning camera with elevator music. Right now, we're taking a boat tour of some eastern European city...maybe in Greece - if it had narration or even subtitles, I could attempt to figure out but nope. The nature show right now is profiling this Japanese animal (I don't remember what it's called) that looks like a hybrid of a squirrel, rabbit and rat. Another of my staple channels is a 16 square grid showing channels that I cannot access. I wonder if this is an advertising tool. If so, it's great because there is some version of a Fox channel and, right now, one program is making abrupt cuts between a few people eating sushi and a topless woman pouring water on herself at an onsen (hot bath which is similar to a day at the spa). I suppose it's better that I don't have compelling television because I'll go out and do more. But on Tuesday, I'll have the internet set up in the apartment so I can bridge some gap back to my reality. I really thought I could pilfer someone's wireless connection but everyone in my building (including me Tuesday) has a high-speed connection by cord. Oh, and my apartment building is on the same block as Onion Soup (which has 'Classy Clothes' - or prom dress disasters as I'd describe it. It would be popular for a fashion movement here called Yanki...which looks girls going to prom at an insane asylum), a reggae apparel and souvenir store and a cabaret club. No such internet options. So I've likely been kicked out of the international center for the last time (only 2!!).

Someone must've been playing a huge prank on me because when I received my schedule during training, I had 25 teaching hours for the week. That is supposed to be the standard amount of hours and the rest would be used for planning, marketing initiatives and cleaning. I've just finished my first solo week with 29 hours and there are randomly two more hours added for next week. Our schedules vary because students have three options - private lesson (1 on 1), semi-private (2 students) or group (3-8 students) - but the private lessons can also be purchased a la carte and we're encouraged to upsell those. Along with those, we have seminar lessons and trial lessons for prospective students to mix in. Compared to the horror stories I've heard from my fellow teachers in training, I've had it really easy. I've not been hit, kicked or spit on by any children. One little girl cried through class last week but only shed a tear or two this week and became really interested. Another of my new favorite children is named Hikaru; she's three years old and has the most adult judgmental glares. The first time I taught her in class, I was running around the room with bubbles or acting like an animal, and she fixed her eyes on me - and they were a little squinted...conveying to me that she thought I was a jackass and had no idea how to teach children. Amazingly my perception of her stares is totally accurate...I'm not self-conscious or anything. But this week, she gave me the eye for about five minutes and then it was time to gallop like a horse and that brought her back to what a three year old should be. Nothing in this entire week beat my class this afternoon with a bilingual girl named Seina. She's six years old and just moved to Japan from Ohio. Since I was clueless (even more than usual) how to teach a bilingual class, I decided to create a story. We drew penguins, houses, penguin parents (dolphin and tiger), a school house and some things the penguins would learn in school. Other than that, we played freeze tag and a weird game of fetch. I feel strange every time I do this in class but it's fairly effective. Basically we'll put props or cards around the room and the kids will have to find the appropriate prop/card and bring it back. It's teaching, technically, but the activity could be interchanged with a dog and a park and work exactly the same. Anyhow, Seina smiled the entire time...she knew English...and was whole-heartedly into everything. I contemplated keeping her but there were too many obstacles. This week I've received a really nice picture of me, the teacher I replaced (Sarah) and two of the children we teach, an origami crane and an anime action figure that my student actually constructed from a kit. I couldn't make this thing at 26 but he's 13 and probably finished it in ten minutes while eating and taking a cat nap. My feet kill after each day but it's worth it...just like every other population of children...some are really smart and energetic, some are smart and apathetic, some are not so smart but energetic and some are not so smart and apathetic but, overall, a wonderfully positive experience so far.

Tomorrow afternoon, Lauren and I are going to Softbank to get her cell phone. I got my phone last week so, apparently, I can be of some assistance. That's absurd because I understand nothing in Japanese and was accompanied by one of our Japanese teachers. Thankfully the store we went to has a girl that speaks really good English and made everything easier. Also, the Softbank worker is gorgeous so I volunteered my support/assistance to Lauren. Maybe she'll come to beer garden! Beer gardens are magical - I don't remember if I've written this already but Himeji has a few rooftops which are converted to little gardens with unlimited beer and food - four hours for like $29. Tomorrow's beer garden visit marks the inaugural gathering of the previously mentioned IAABP (International Association for the Advancement of Beer Pong) - last week didn't work out but we're all set for tomorrow! My last trip to the beer garden resulted in running down a line of 50-something year old people with my friend, Mike, giving Kampeis (Cheers!) to everyone, arm wrestling random people, being recruited to a tiger drumming troupe and talking to a few Japanese hippies whose main philosophy centered around something like 'we may have different eyes but we're all the same people'. The best part of this was I did not have that much to drink...it's just kinda what happens when you're the crazy foreigner and people want to talk to you. We're a little worried about the reception we get once we start beer ponging; if we make it past 30 minutes without being asked to leave, we'll consider the night a success. For this reason, we're bringing a few teachers that speak Japanese who can explain, in effect, that we're just idiots. Our Japanese teachers are more than happy to translate when they can freely tell people that the Americans are just being stupid.

My time in this country is going to fly by. Next weekend, there is a giant party called Suma Beach Party near Himeji - it's a big festival with different musical and dancing acts which is going to be so fun! The weekend after that, I am going to visit a training teacher friend in a city called Tokuyama and we're going to Kyushu - which is the southernmost of the five main Japanese islands (we're on Honshu). And my birthday is the weekend after and I've been promised beer pong by the river and party. I couldn't ask for anymore - except for the karaoke afterwards. I cannot wait for people to come out and visit - even if it's only for karaoke! Why doesn't it get old to me!? It's drinking and singing..I'm not really good at either but I enjoy both. Well, I've spent an hour of what should've been sleep time writing and produced a mini-novel so it's time to get to bed. I'll leave you with some random pictures I've taken this week and please keep leaving comments so I know you're reading!! I'm shameless.

Japanese war helmet I found in Chum Cafe last night. My gigantic cranium would not be protected in times of violence.
A little different definition from America..
They've confused pigeons with doves
Me as Bruce Lee at an entire shop dedicated to Bruce Lee in Kobe's Chinatown

Shrine to Home

Along the same wall as my kitchen, I have a four foot high set of three shelves that I've dedicated to home. Unfortunately I was only able to bring a few non-clothing items so it's kinda scarce but the space has been allocated. Standing atop the shelf are a framed picture of Snoops in the Welcome to the Spermy Whale amusement park cutout, my 2008 Rose Bowl presented by Citi game ticket in over-priced souvenir plastic lanyard, the "Oh, the Places You'll Go" that Becky got for me and the Brophy. For my friends unfamiliar with the Brophy, my high school friends and I got together a few weeks before I left and booked a photo studio at Sears. During the weeks before the shoot, we'd collectively decided our theme wardrobe (color wheel - brightly colored polos of assorted colors and khakis). In one of the shots, Andy and I stood with arms crossed and back to back with Jeff and Dave book-ending us and Scott flexing in front. After the shoot that day, we decided to hold a pentathlon of random events and the winner would hold the 11x13 copy of the picture. First place finishes in three-point contest, trivial pursuit and poker afforded me the opportunity to hoist the Brophy and make this accomplishment international. So currently those four items are displayed on the Shrine to Home and I've aligned my toy ninjas in front to serve and protect.

The highlight of my Sunday was semi-related to the last paragraph. Our Brophy came nicely framed and, although wrapped, was shattered somewhere in my three leg journey to Japan. Yesterday I put the glass remains into a bag and placed it on the floor so that I'd take it out when I left. Of course, without paying attention, about five minutes later I stepped on the corner of the bag. Well, that happened to be directly onto a piece of glass...and blood followed...and followed....and followed. One of the lovely customs of Japan is to remove shoes upon entry into the home and certain public places. So, as it is, I've never walked in my own apartment with shoes on but I have bled all over the floor on my ill-fated trip to find band aids, then tissues, then to try and clean up before heading to the drug store to get bandages.

It's now Monday morning, almost 7am and I've been awake for almost two hours because the men's Wimbledon final was televised here. Where did Nadal's man-pris go!??! Anyways, I'm meeting Lauren at 9 to visit the park near the Himeji Castle, have lunch at the Sakura Cafe (most wonderful vegetables ever), go to Kobe for the afternoon to see the city and my training week roommate, TJ and then back to the beer garden tonight for the inaugural meeting of the IAABP - International Association for the Advancement of Beer Pong (inspired by the UI two man group NAAVD - National Association for the Advancement of Vontez Duff). Last night, the other gaijins and I wrote official rules and drew up a logo - we're well represented with members from America and England playing in Japan. Tonight's goal is to get a 50+ year old Japanese woman to throw at least one ball in a beer pong game. Please wish us luck on the journey and, of course, we'll be documenting with pictures.


I've yet to visit but the Prick Room is right next door to my school.
Shrine to Home

Calm Before the Storm

Calm Before the Storm

I'm making my first attempt to do laundry. I have a washing machine in the apartment and then I'll hang the clothes out to dry. Well, the washing machine is making some strange noises - which means I'm just not used to it or I've trapped a ninja inside and he is direly trying to escape. Since my apartment will likely be flooded in a few minutes, I figured I should write this - like the band playing on the Titanic as it sunk. That's how dedicated I am!

So I don't have too much with me in Japan but I've managed to get my apartment to look like a clothes tsunami just hit (hence the laundry). Cleaning will take the remainder of my Sunday afternoon and hopefully that's all. Last night after work, the whole staff of my school went to a local Isakaya (don't know how that's supposed to spelled) called Doma Doma. Isakaya is basically a tapas style restaurant. The party was dual-purposed - to say thank you and goodbye to Sarah, the teacher I am replacing, and welcome me. This particular Isakaya had the normal Japanese staples but also included "Mexican Nachos". Even though it took forever to actually get them, they weren't that terrible. I'll include a picture if I remember. As every non-work night seems to end up, we headed to karaoke after dinner. Three hours and some drinks later, we stumbled home. At home, I did not drink much at all. I've been in Japan 15 days and have gone to bed drunk 6 times. Part of the reason for this is that once I arrived into town and proved I wasn't a total douche, I was welcomed into the group of foreigners that all hang out - specifically hang out at the gaijin bar, Tiger Pub. So, socially...flying right along. Professionally...having a blast!

This week, I was shadowing the outgoing teacher and taking more of the class load as the week went on. By the end of the week, I'd taught more than half of the classes of the day in preparation for my release into the wild on Tuesday. Mainly we have a method of teaching we use most of the time and if we stick to that, our classes are pretty successful. Trouble comes during transitions between different exercises or activities. You'd be amazed how simplified your language has to be - and not that just that, I've never gestured so much in my entire life. Explaining new activities to kids without a firm grasp of language needs to be done by showing because your directions mean nothing. It means about as much as someone telling me what to do in Japanese...blank stares and embarrassed smiles. Oh, only two kids cried - one was a two year old girl who takes the class with her mom so that was manageable. The other was a four year old girl whose tears subsided at the sight of bubbles. Japanese kid currency is as follows - bubbles, monkey puppet and stickers. Everyone here loves stickers...infants to high school kids....boys and girls and everything in between.

Things are settling into form pretty nicely; I have a phone and the number starts with my birthday. Apparently 080 is Osaka's area code...so my number in case you want to call is 08038247148. My manager (still don't her name) called the internet company and it should take about a week to get hooked up so I can stay connected with the world. In the meantime, I have been going to the international center. The building is bustling during the day so I can get away with pilfering wireless. But one night this week, the security guard yelled at me for eating at the table I was at (didn't know the rule) and then he came back later and said something about 'no intero' and then kicked me out - I think. Funny thing about Japan is they take every job seriously but have some really worthless jobs. Playing security guard in an empty building isn't totally meaningless but it is unnecessary. Now, having crossing guards at every 'major road' in the city each weekend - useless.

Lastly, I'm planning to see Kobe tomorrow - if I can find Kobe beef, I'll have some. In upcoming weeks, I want to get to Kyoto, Hamamatsu and maybe Hiroshima, depending on my friends' availabilities because I need people to stay with. By the way, I am a little pissed that I can't change the name of this blog to "Wide-Eyed Foreigner" - I find the name hilarious but too much involved to change everything...just know that it's what I would want if I had to do it all over again.

This was probably when Andrew and I collaborated for the high score of the night - 98 on "The Other Side" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bad picture of Sarah but more importantly - this is British Matt...or David Brent from "The Office" minus the facial hair.
Probably during that damn Queen song I've heard like 203 times so far in Japan.
Mexican Nachos

Touch Each Other

Touch Each Other

Six days. I'd known these people, really, for six days. Our training group in Okayama consisted of twelve people, of which I've made lasting friendships with more than half of them...in six days! I suppose it's like the connection formed when you experience something life changing...well, it's not LIKE that...it IS that. Twelve people gather together in a totally new country with only each other to rely on to adjust to a new life. Aside from sleeping time, we were together all of the time. We all went through the intense training and depended on each other for ideas and support throughout the week. Even apart from the work end of the week, living life in Japan isn't easy right away. Granted, you can feed yourself and take care of necessities but when I took a few minutes to examine the situation, I realized how grateful I am for these people. I'm reminded of a shot in "Garden State" where the camera focuses on Zach Braff and the world is a giant blur around him. Although in America, you wouldn't really chat up a stranger but you could if you wanted. Or you could, at least, hear your own language...read your own language. Everything being so different gives me an unfamiliar form of loneliness. I know what I signed up for and I haven't regretted it for a second but I'm trying to describe the way I feel. Our training group has a follow-up training scheduled for November but there's no way some of us will wait that long to see each other.

I'm luckier than some in my group because one girl, Lauren (in the picture of a table of food with three girls on one side - she's the one nearest to the wall), is living a short train ride away in my town so we've spent this weekend hanging out. Also, three other guys are close and two more girls near Hiroshima (the other two in the aforementioned picture) - which isn't a big big bitch to get to...I don't think! Plus, I found a half-sized, more neurotic version of me - his name is Jeff...who bought an awesome t-shirt that just says "Describe Preparations"...as you can see in one picture. Along with us in that picture is one of our trainers, Javaria. Javaria, Kurt (red shirt and tie) and Randal (white shirt, blue tie) are regional trainers and taught us way more than we could ever retain. Not only were they great trainers, they were so helpful with all of our adjustments and they were so much fun to see everyday, any negative parts of training week were minimized. Ok, maybe I wouldn't be so positive about anything if all of these people didn't think I am hilarious. Thankfully I'm hilarious.

I'll move on from the kinda sappy stuff. Five of us boarded the first train out on Sunday morning; Lauren and I were the first two to reach our destination city. As we exited the train, four people basically ran at us. Three of them worked with Lauren's branch school and the last was my manager. I refer to her as manager and, truthfully, I don't know her actual name right now. Well, Manager brought me to my apartment where I met the outgoing teacher. Good thing - the apartment is not nearly as small as I thought. The 'bedroom' I guess is 9x12 but I have a 'living room', mini kitchen, toilet room and shower room. I haven't taken pictures of yet but I will soon. Bad thing - I don't have any tatami mats! Tatami mats is the unit of measure for living space and it's that straw looking matting that you've probably seen in traditional Japanese eating rooms, tea rooms or bedrooms. Lauren has tatami mats; I got screwed. Oh well. My "bed" is ultra-thin - I may get sick of it and find another futon set to pad it some more.

So yesterday, after I sweated half of my body weight with being professionally dressed and carrying things a few blocks through town, I got a chance to change and meet the outgoing teacher, Sarah, and the other teacher at my school, Brenna. We went to lunch at a place around the corner for okonomiyaki. Holy shit...it's remarkable. Oh, we saw a building down the block from me that shows the Himeji slogan "Touch Each Other". After a nice three hour nap, we all met back up and went to a beer garden - which was a nice little setup on the roof of a building...comes all you can eat and drink for $29, four hours. Once the alcohol took over a little, I arm-wrestled some locals and then led a wave of Kampai to the bunch of old folks in the garden. Kampei is cheers - but not just that, it's the cure to awkward silence or lack of communication based on language issues. We visited the Himeji castle again - this place has a huge moat. I'm convinced there are ninjas guarding the castlbe - stay tuned for confirmation and then capped our night with two more hours of karaoke.

Today I met Lauren, her co-teacher Mike and another teacher from a neighboring town, Jennifer, for lunch at this place near me called Vegetable Cafe. They have daily lunch specials. For lunch today it was miso soup (surprise!), rice (surprise!), potato dumplings, asparagus, tomatoes and green/red pepper. I know I'm a big fan of superfluous language but these are the greatest vegetables I've ever tasted...ever. Ok, although we did more today, the most notable part again occurred at the castle. As we walked the perimeter, I noticed a white girl reading in this little gazebo thing and I waved. She said she was surprised to hear so much English. We began talking and found out that she's from Nebraska and went to Saint Mary's College in South Bend. Not only that, but she knows my friend, Rachael!! For anyone that would have a clue, her name is Megan McCandliss (no idea how to spell it but it's close to that). I've got her phone number so hopefully you'll all here more from her. Of course, I do not yet have a phone so that might have to wait. Well that my friends exemplifies the statement - 'it's a small world'.

Bye bye for now - pictures of the apartment...like you'll have a clue how big/small it actually is...









Brenna rocks
Mike, Brenna, Lauren, Sarah, Emily
Touch Each Other

Fasci-Nation Part 2

Fasci-Nation Part 2

16 minutes and done! Yesterday afternoon, we conducted lessons with actual students and they lasted 16 minutes. As soon as the kids entered the room, three other teachers and I started playing with them and the provided balloons. After the ten minutes kid play, I was warmed up - for teaching and body temperature. My custom over the week when presenting lessons is to go first, so first I went. The basics of the lesson was to teach the kids some vocabulary and then "I can see (vocab word)" and "So can I". I'll spare you the rest of the details but the lesson went pretty well, even if I was met with blank stares a bunch of the time. What was amazing was that these kids sat through four 16 minute classes and there was not one disruption or distraction. Granted their parents were in the room but I've never seen kids so well behaved for that long! Someone must've sedated them before entering the room. That's the only logical explanation.

So after 16 minutes, I was sweating pretty fiercely but, at least, I was done and just got sit back for the other lessons. It's only been one week of training and only 16 minutes in front of actual children but this is already amazing. What I've yet to understand about teachers is how they can keep a straight face through class. A few of us observed a lesson earlier in the week and the little boy was working on his workbook and put his pencil in his mouth. The teacher noticed and, in stride, said "eww gross" but looked away to prepare something. The boy still had the pencil in his mouth and was looking at another teacher and me. He bit the tip off of the pencil and kinda raised his eyebrows at us. Neither one of us could contain ourselves and we spent the next few minutes retching with notebooks over our faces to suppress our reactions. Aside from Becky's idea to teach kids only Jamba Juice terms in an effort to gain trained labor for my new store in Himeji, I am probably going to really have to figure out how to creatively teach a lot of stuff. We have basic lesson plan skeletons and certain methods to use but activities are pretty much up to us - we have plenty of resources and a list of good activities to use but that can only last so long.

It's Sunday morning now and in about an hour, we're leaving for the train station to commute to our towns. Sadly, I've grown pretty attached to the people here and we have to separate after only a week. Last night, our trainers took us out to a traditional Japanese dinner. I am not sure what it's called but it came in about 8 courses and one was more delicious and beautifully presented than the last. And true to form, we ended the evening with karaoke. We'd learned earlier in the week Nomikaido effectively means 'all you can drink' - so four hours of awesome rocking plus nomikaido for about $50...perfect. We received a deposit back that we paid a few months ago, so factoring that in, I had spent about $10 this week; I had no qualms with throwing down 5000 Yen. Three hours sleep seems to be the more taxing price of the night but I'll get a nap in somewhere. Actually, I'll go grab some iced coffee from one of the roughly 23093849028 vending machines lining the street. Time for showering, cleaning the room and heading to Himeji...here are pictures from dinner and karaoke last night. All of the food was delicious - even if I didn't know what it was....delicious to everyone but Gino because he's ridiculous.


Mariah with the provided tambourines. Five tambourines, eleven drunk gaijins = not a good idea
Rice pudding type thing with raspberry sauce and a mint leaf
Kurt trainer
Blue shirt clockwise - Adam, Lauren, Susan, Mariah, a head I don't recognize, TJ
Matt-Sensei, Jeff-Sensai, Javaria-Trainer
Mussels - wow
Eggplant, kimchee, corn, pork cuts
Randal-trainer
Beer plus spread
Something with squid
Pesto fish and potato things
Assorted stuff