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Published: December 26th 2006
I'm a pro!
Not really, but I could still skate a bit after not having been for 10 years! Yes, it's Mt Fuji in the background!Farewell to my home for 2006
After completing my early childhood degree in Adelaide, Australia at the end of 2005, I stumbled across an advertisement for kindergarten teachers in Japan...and I thought, why not? I became even more excited when my friend from university, Amy, decided to take the job also. The whole situation sounded too good to be true and had (some of) our friends thinking we would be home in a month! I did have a rough first couple of weeks settling in to an unfamiliar place and not being able to speak the language, but that phase didn't last long and everything worked out perfectly!
So here I am in my last week, having completed my one year contract at MEK English Kindergarten and spent an amazing year in Japan. Amy arrived later, so will finish in March. It will be very sad to leave her and our much loved 'mansion'. There are many other things I will and also won't miss about Japan - read about them below!
This last month has been a little crazy! I can officially say that I hate packing and am so over it! I have just sent
home my third 12kg box and am beginning to pack another one. Yes, mum, I do need all those clothes! I have also spent this last month going to my favourite places one last time;
Denny's to eat my favourite dessert, Mos Burger, Starbucks, Willie Winkie and the ice cream shop next door, Saizeriya and Our Boozer.
I have also gone back to two places that I visited in my first month here, Gotemba Christmas Lights and Fuji-Q Highland Roller Coaster Park!!! The Christmas lights were beautiful but it was soooo cold!
Fuji-Q definitely was unreal...again! We arrived early, after a one and a half hour early morning drive, so we could line up for the newest ride, eejanaika! It only opened in July and made it in the World Records for having the most number of inversions - it goes up side down a thrilling, scary, hair altering, 14 times! It is 4 dimensional meaning your chair spins separately from the actual roller coaster going around and up side down! The favourites were also thrilling, Dodonpa which goes from 0-175km/h in 1.7 seconds and Fujiyama, one of the highest, longest coasters in the world!
When I come
home, i am looking forward to enjoying summer (I really don't do winter and the cold - unless it snows, but highly doubt that will happen in the next couple days) and eating some decent meat! A good steak on the barbie - lamb on the spit will be even better, dad?
Miss about Japan
*Mt Fuji
*My kindy kids 😞
*Living across the road from The Shizu
*Weekends feeling like holidays
*Watching downloaded Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives and OC episodes with Amy
*Gyoza and the Gyoza Man
*The Lemon Shop
*Not getting out of the car at the petrol station
*Haagen Dazs Macadamia nut and Hazelnut icecream
*Festivals and festival food
*Living amongst beautiful nature
*Never thought I’d say it, but ocha - green tea
*GPS
*Summer lasting for 5 months
*Getting away with doing stupid things because no one knows us
*Reading hilarious bad English signs
*Having 3 vending machines across the road
*Being a part of and learning about many Japanese traditions
*The politeness of everyone
*Getting in the car on weekends and always finding somewhere new and exciting to go
*Admiring and being bemused by Japanese fashion, girls
and guys
*PING PONG -
the bell on tables at some restaurants that you ring for service. Equivalent to this is also to yell at the top of your voice "Sumimasen"! (staff really come running!)
*All my new friends, especially Mario, Simon and Matt
And last but not least…
*Amy - the best room mate and friend in Japan anyone could ask for! I will miss her so much! Lately, we seem to be finishing each others sentences and saying the exact same thing at the same time!! Maybe this is a sign we have been living with each other for long enough now!
Won’t miss about Japan
*Squat toilets
*"Irrashaimasse" - the annoying, over the top, whiney welcome when entering (or approaching) any customer service shop/restaurants
*Radio Taiso (the morning exercise we have to do every day that all of Japan is obsessed with - even saw a dressed up monkey doing it on TV one day!!!)
*The sounds of gunshots being fired to scare away birds at 6am on a Sunday!
*The ridiculous amount of ‘mushi’ (bugs) and gigantic spiders!
*The roller shutters underneath us going up every morning, just before it is time to wake up.
*Seeing Japanese men
pissing in public!
*Saying ”Enough already!” after someone bows one too many times to the point of it feeling embarrassing, whether it be in a restaurant, carpark, clothes shop, supermarket or because I gave way to them while driving (yes, they even bow whilst driving)!
*Wondering if our turtle Fuji is dead yet...it has been hanging on by a thread for over 3 months
*Being afraid of earthquakes everyday and sleeping with a torch at my bedside (I'm serious!)
*Busses turning off their engines at traffic lights and any other time they stop for more than 2 seconds!
*Vans driving by slowly with a speaker announcing community messages, mainly because I don't understand what they are saying...and if they were telling me about a typhoon or earthquake, it would be nice to know! Also this morning at 7:30am there were ambulances, fire trucks and police cars circling the neighbourhood with their sirens on...got no idea what for (maybe warning about an accident) but it scared me! It has also happened before in the middle of the night!
Highlights
*Climbing Mt Fuji!!! (of course)
*Holiday to Hokkaido
*Swimming at a blue water/white sand beach in Okinawa on my
birthday
*Word Cup - Australia v Japan
*Mum and dad visiting and trip to Kyoto
*Peter (aka Peter Piper)(brother) visiting and getting drunk with us!
*Tokyo Disneyland
*Fuji-Q Highland TWICE!!! "eejanaika, eejanaika"
*Driving around Fuji Five Lakes and having a perfect view of Mt Fuji from our window overnight
So a final goodbye to the crazy land of Japan where.....
- People get their exercise from bowing constantly and everyone is thin!
- Policemen wear helmets while driving cars
- There are carpark attendants
- People eat with sticks
- Children eat rice covered in seaweed
- It is polite to slurp your noodles loudly
- Postmen deliver mail around the clock
- Kanta (Kun-tuh) is a real name
- Strangely, dairy products never seem to go off
- You can buy hot coffee and tea from vending machines
and where...
- children ride around the streets on unicycles!
Goodbye Japan!
I have had such an amazing year and already look forward to returning one day!
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KTV
non-member comment
YEAH!
Marissamou it is so great to finally have you home!!! YEAH FOR IT!!! come on say it with my now... its great to be home... YES, YES IT IS!!!!!