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Published: August 14th 2006
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Shibushi
The party street in my town. What you can't see is all the "snack bars" (hostess bars) that line the road. You guys are so inspiring!!!! I should probably stop gushing about all the postings, but they lift my spirits so high I actually laugh out loud...it's a good thing I'm alone at Andrew's place...no one will think I'm crazy! When I get my own internet connection I will try to reply to you individually and start planning for your visits (come on, you know you want to).
This is going to be a short entry because my Aussie friend is kindly letting me use his computer and should be back from his Japanese lesson soon. I don't want him to feel like I'm intruding on his life, even though he does know I'm here right now. My goal is to show you some pictures from the weekend as I'm sure they will be of interest.
The partying started Thursday with an outing in Shibushi (my town) to a traditional Japanese pub (known as an Izakaya) followed by some karaoke with a group of Japanese people we picked up at the Izakaya. After a painful Friday at the office we headed over to Iwagawa, the town we are currently working in, for a summer festival called Natsuri/Matsudi (I'm not 100%!(NOVERB)
Vending Machine
Look at this selection! That's what Japan is all about - having millions of everything to choose from. Something for everyone, really. sure of the spelling, pronunciation here is weird) where the family of one of the other JET's students invited us to share a full meal and several beers with them as we watched the fireworks. I am sure I will revisit the topic of how kind people are here, so I will leave it at that.
On Saturday a few of us travelled to Kagoshima City (a town compared to Tokyo, but a megalopolis if you live in any of the small towns in my area) for our prefectural welcome party. This included an evening at an all you can eat/drink rooftop restaurant (and boy did we take advantage of the open bar) followed by dancing in several of Kagoshima's night clubs. Although we payed a cover charge at the first club we went to, we soon realized that we could actually get in for free because we're white. A lot of the JETs here complain that they get treated differently because we aren't Japanese but after this weekend, I can't complain!
Sunday was spent recovering from our exploits and visiting the city. Since my carpool into the city left fairly early on Saturday night (the party was
Party!
This is the group of young people we picked up at the Izakaya. I thought the Japanese guy looked a bit like Howie (my Calgary roommate) so spent a bit of time talking to him (plus his English was good!). Homesickness makes you do strange things! just getting started at 12am) my friend Joe and I decided to take the bus back to our respective towns. After missing the first bus at 1:15pm due to a miscommunication at the Tourist Information centre, we decided to catch the second and last bus home that left at 4:40pm. Just to go back to how kind people are: after we missed our first bus, we received help from a woman and her deaf daughter, neither of whom spoke a word of English, but both of whom were willing to spend fifteen minutes trying to help us figure out where our bus had gone and what the best way to get home would be - now
that is tourist information.
With 3 hours to kill and no other friends around we hit up the shopping centre that stands over Kagoshima's central train station. We started with a ride on the ferris wheel that sticks out of the roof (see photos) and then shopped around the mall until it was time to stalk our bus - and stalk it we did. I think we stepped onto about 5 buses, asking each driver if it was the right bus before we
O-tearaii
Just thought I'd slip in a photo of one of the work toilets. Another good reason to wear skirts! finally hit the one we wanted. The locals must have thought we were crazy but at least we made it home.
I can already tell that being so close to the city will be a double-edged sword - it is a very lively and entertaining place to be, but the temptation to spend all your money there is immense! In one hour alone I allowed myself to splurge on new shoes and a new top from the "GAP". I think some more expenditures will be necessary in order to blend in a little better with the crowds, anyway. Notwithstanding the colour of my skin or eyes or the curliness of my hair, the women here dress beautifully and my lack of style was made apparent last weekend. After thinking that Montreal was fashionable, I have had to re-evaluate my admiration as Japanese women set the bar miles higher. Everyone looks like they have just walked off the catwalk. This is no doubt somewhat attributable to the vast selection of every type of clothing and accessory you could think of. I know a few of my Canadian friends and relatives would be in heaven here.
Well, so much for
Natsuri
One of the stalls at the festival it being a short entry. To be honest I haven't even written half of what I would like to tell you, but I'm sure it will all come out eventually. Rest assured, my spirits are high. Now that I have settled into my house and reassured myself that I have/am able to make friends here I feel like I belong. My Japanese is also improving exponentially every day. Since we don't actually have any work to do at the office, I get about 5 real hours of study time every day of the week. I am also working on learning by osmosis and have the radio on every day after work. I still can't read any kanji (the Chinese characters that make up most of this written language) but I am feeling much more confident in my ability to speak. Intelligible conversations are still elusive, but if my study habits continue the way their going, I should have gotten through all the lessons in my beginners' book before the semester starts.
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Robin
non-member comment
Keep 'em coming
Great photos Em! It's fantastice to see what you are getting up to. It looks like you are having a great time! All the best, Robin