week 5

Hello again. Week 5 over and done with….

On Tuesday I had my welcome party with the 4 English teachers from my school and with my predecessor. We went to a very yummy restaurant in the town next to mine called Harue. It was a traditional Japanese style place with each table in its own individual room. The tables are low down on the floor but this one had a hole underneath the table for legs- usually I end up fidgeting about whilst trying to kneel. The food was absolutely amazing and all completely new to me. The grilled fish and the Japanese style omelete were especially good. The food just kept coming too! There would be a knock at the door to our room and the waitress would kneel down in the doorway and pass us trays of beautifully arranged food. The evening was a real success because the teachers appeared informal and relaxed and there were some pretty funny conversations about strippers and peep shows…! The deserts which followed the meal were really good, and Tanaka-sensei and myself got a special desert for being female- wohoo I knew there was a bonus to being a girlie.

The following day I met Becca and Megean on the train for a trip to Kanazawa in the prefecture above us called Ishigawa. Luckily the morning rain resided as we arrived which made our trek around the city A LOT better. Firstly we walked up to the Geisha area of the city (Higashi district) and took a look inside one of the original houses where geisha worked. This house has remained pretty much untouched and was really interesting with artifacts such as the ceramics and musical instruments that were tools of the geisha’s trade. The slight problem we had was being unable to read the Japanese that accompanied such relics. Next we walked over to the city’s Omicho market. It is a huge fish and fresh produce market and the size and quantity of dead sea creatures was immense! Surprisingly however there was not the accompanying smell of dead fish as there were large blocks of ice placed around the market to keep everything cool and fresh. We had lunch in the market which I had been really looking forward to as apparently it was a fantastic place to have sushi- obviously. Our first problem was locating a restaurant that had a good picture menu so that we didn’t have to struggle with Japanese. But eventually we took the plunge and went into a place and sat down. After being given the mandatory wet hand and face towel and a glass of water we sat watching other people eat and watch the sullen looking Japanese chef prefer the food. Meagan and I both had a big bowl of raw fish with rice. It looked stunning, but I had real difficulty stomaching that much uncooked fish. I felt bad as I couldn’t eat it and I really did want to. Becca ended up ordering eel in some sauce, which she too wasn’t keen on! So we made a dash for the exit before they had cleared our plates- with paying of course! With a few strange sounds and feelings from the stomach we took a walk past Kanazawa-jo (castle) and went into the accompanying gardens, Kenroku gardens. It was once again a stunning example of well thought out Japanese presentation. Every stone, body of water, tree, bush and pagoda had been carefully positioned for maximum effect and visionary splendor. Apart from the green of the trees and the grey of the rocks, the Koi Carp were the only glimpses of colour. But this was insignificant. The garden was still beautiful, and extremely peaceful. After a waltz around the gardens, we marched down to the Nagamachi district of the city which is where the samurai used to live. Unfortunately most of the residences of the samurai have been broken up and destroyed over the course of history, but we did manage to go inside one small samurai house and try to imagine what life had been like for these soldiers.
















On Friday I had my first proper day at school. Well I say proper, but I didn’t actually teach or do much at all because all of the students are preparing for the sports festival next week which I was informed is the most exciting and important day for all the students. We had a long assembly in the morning where I stood on my feet for nearly an hour in horrible heat, listening to a language I didn’t understand- which is always fun. The main problems I encountered in school are that:
a) no-one tells me what I should be doing or what the school schedule is
b) everyone is so shy of speaking English (which I can completely understand)
c) I have been given no advice or plans for teaching
d) I cannot speak damn Japanese to any level yet So the day was quite frustrating. I felt bored and quite isolated. I did meet some of the students when I decided to bite the bullet and get out of the staff room to see where everyone had mysteriously disappeared to without telling me! But when I did meet the students, most giggled and avoided any eye contact! This could be an interesting challenge….

On Sunday I met my new host family- the Tokioka family. Emiko (the mother) is an English teacher, her husband Hiroshi is an elementary school teacher and they have 3 children. Natsumi is 16yrs old and amazing at gymnastics. Naoya is 12yrs old and very quiet and shy. His brother Hikaru is a very cute looking 10yr old, but again was very shy and neither spoke English. Our meeting on Sunday morning was only brief as they had other plans. The other JETs and their new families went out for lunch and I tagged along with John and Kim and their family. They had the cutest family. All really beautiful and the 2 little girls were sooooo gorgeous! I had fun playing with them at the restaurant. In the evening I met Emiko and went to their house for dinner. They live in a 2 bedroom house which is quite small because all of the first floor has been converted into an English school for Emiko to work in. When I arrived, the boys were playing a game and Natsumi was still at school (on a Sunday!). The evening was a lot better than I imagined, as I thought that it may be difficult because only Emiko speaks English. But Hiroshi made a really big effort to speak to me at the dinner table, and I played a board game with the boys which was fun- although I had no idea what was going on!! Natsumi came home later and she was very sweet. I did find it odd however that her mother reiterated a few times that Natsumi wouldn’t eat much dinner as she has to be thin to be a gymnast- the girl was tiny!!!