Golden Week Adventures (Pt 1)

So today is my first official day off (not part of the regular weekend) due to Golden Week, the magical time of year when I get a whole 9 days off of work to do whatever I want! :D Sounds pretty awesome, right? Well, it did until I realized that I had no plans for the week other than sit-at-home-and-play-video-games. You may ask "But Shawna, you live in an exotic foreign country full of history and culture, how can you sit around doing nothing?" It's a really good question actually. You see, the problem, as I have talked to some of you about at length, is that I am very nervous about traveling further than a bike's ride from home. I worry that with my limited (if improving) language abilities, if I were to get lost  or have an emergency I wouldn't be able to get help. It's easier when I'm traveling with someone, but everyone had plans this week, so that wasn't going to happen. It's doubly sad because this fear is what kept me around Shizuoka during winter vacation too, and the prospect of spending another vacation within the confines of my own home and neighborhood was rather bleak. So yesterday I decided to change that. I decided that this Golden Week, my goal is to travel at least 2 train stations away from home every day (if the weather permits), and to go exploring and sightseeing on my own. So, with a train/travel itinerary in hand, I set off from my house this morning at around 9:30 on my first trip. 

I took the Tokaido Main Line train toward Atami four stops to the town of Okitsu, right on the coastline. From there, with a helpful map drawn by the station ticket adjustment operator, I walked about 15 minutes to Seikenji (清見寺) a Buddhist temple where Ieyasu Tokugawa, a famous figure in Japanese history, spent some of his childhood and education. 

Reaching back to the year 679, Seikenji has a history of more than 1300 years. It was founded by emperor Tenmu as a guard post the north. Through its location close to the trading route "Tokaido" and its strategic post in the foothills of Mt. Fuji it has played an important role throughout history.

Originally occupied by the buddhist Tendai-sect, teachings changed to the more spartan Zen-Buddhism during the Kamakura period. In 1216 it changed again to the doctrines of the Rinzai-sect at which remains today.

In the Edo period Seikenji fell under the reign of the Imagawa clan who kept the young Tokugawa Ieyasu as a hostage in the close by Sunpu castle. He was sent to Seikenji for education. It was Ieyasu who planted plum trees on the temple ground and designed a beautiful Zen garden at the inner temple.

 About Seikenji

The temple was absolutely beautiful, both inside and in the garden next to it. There was one monk, Gaku-san, who spoke English and gave me the grand tour. One of my Amity students writes a journal every week about Japanese history, so I knew a little bit about Ieyasu Tokugawa, but it was wonderful to get to see the rooms where he lived as a child, and the garden that he played in so many years ago. He was one of the most powerful figures in Japanese history, so it was beautiful to see the gentler side of him that planted plum trees and gardened. 

Here are some pictures from the inside of the temple:

Gaku-san was so friendly and an excellent tour guide. I was really grateful to have him there, because otherwise I would have been unsure of which rooms were ok to go into, and where to take off my shoes. He did the whole tour with me, before sending me out to see the garden alone. Before we parted, though, I bought some absolutely wonderful incense and he gave me some post cards and a keitai (cell phone) charm as a souvenir present. Then, he told me about where I could get lunch, one train stop over in Shimizu, and sent me on my way.

The garden outside of the temple was amazing as well, and full of statues. Apparently there are 500 statues of Buddhist disciples in the garden. "The statues depict the students of the Buddha Syakamuni. Their facial expression are finely detailed and no two look alike."

 

 Afterward I headed off to find some lunch. Shimizu is right on the coast and has a famous fish market called Kashino-ichi where tons of fresh fish are sold every day. In addition, there are several sushi and other seafood restaurant inside. The lines for the restaurants were crazy! I waited almost half an hour at one restaurant, labeled suspiciously "Seafood Restaurant," but it turned out to be a branch of the place we eat lunch at every Saturday in Apita! I found this out when the guy who was making all the bowls, handed me one and said "Aeon Amity, desu ne?" which shocked me no end. Then I saw the emblem on the bowl, which is the same as the Saturday place! Lol, of all the restaurants I pick, I got one that was familiar! It was still yummy, though!  

I was so tired after eating that I finally headed back home, ending my trip around 4pm. My feet hurt sooo badly right now, but it serves me right for wearing heels. Tomorrow, flats or sandals only. In the morning I'm headed back to Shimizu to see the Tokai University Marine Science and Natural History Museums, and the Shimizu Marine Park. In fact, if I have enough energy (and if it's not too crowded, I might even see S-Dream Plaza (another famous spot, but I don't know if it's a theme park or what?)! Anyway, that's it for day one, hope you enjoy the pics! 

Ja ne!

Shawna

 

 

Update! 6 Month Mark!

Hello everyone! Guess what? I'm still alive and well in Japan despite my horrible neglect in posting on this blog. THIS is why I never attempted one in the past, since I knew that I would forget all the time, or be too busy. It's a hundred times easier to type out a line or two on Facebook than to try to compose something meaningful about my life here. But today I thought, "hey, I think I'll give it one more go"... well that and my Mom was all like "Shawna update your blog!" :P So, here I am. 

Since I'm at about the 6 month mark since I arrived here last November, I thought I'd post some of my thoughts and things that I've encountered so far. These are just little things that I have observed and experienced (and found rather amusing). So without further ado: Shawna's 6 Month Review!

Something I Love about Japan: I love so much about Japan that it's hard to choose only one thing. But I'd have to say that one thing I love here is the people. Almost every person I have encountered, be it on the street or in a store, is kind, helpful, and polite. I've had a whole supermarket turn out a troop of employees (well, 6 actually) to help me find pickle relish because the person I asked didn't know what I was asking for. Some people I've read online complain t that  the majority of Japanese do not exhibit actual kindness, but instead a mask of false politeness, but that really hasn't been true for me. Most of the people I've met give me real smiles and kind encouragement in response to my fumbling attempts to communicate. The people at Family Mart and 7-11 know my name and not only greet me warmly whenever I come in, but even encourage normalconversation.When I've been walking down the street with a map in hand, wandering around like a ship blown off course, often someone will ask me if I need help. This kind attitude, the gentle way that people seem to care for one another (even one who is not of their group), is something that I wish could be found at home more often. I love it! 

Something I Thought I'd Never Live Without: Pets. I miss having a cat around to snuggle and love and talk to when I come home, but believe it or not, I'm actually getting used to it. I'm learning to enjoy the quiet, and even my own company on occasion. I'm still thinking about getting a fish, but we'll see. 

Something I Expected to See, but Haven't: Ninjas. But that's the whole point, isn't it? ^_~

Something I Didn't Expect to See, but Have:  Crocs. EVERYONE wears crocs. Kids at work, their parents, people on the street. They are so popular!!! What is so cool about crocs? Seriously? Well, I guess they're easy to take off and on when you go indoors...But really, crocs?

Something That Surprised Me (In a Good Way): I am shocked at how quickly my Japanese is improving.Other people told me before I left that I shouldn't worry about not being able to speak a lot at first, since I would learn more quickly once I got here, but I didn't think that after just 6 months I would be able to generally make myself understood. A lot of it is thanks to the efforts of my　Japanese teacher, Hiroko-san, who studies with me weekly and always encourages me. She has been a wonderful teacher and friend since I've gotten here, and I think she has helped my confidence build a lot too. Sometimes I'm still a little scared to talk to a stranger, but for the most part it all turns out really well. At hanami last month with my coworkers, one told me that they were surprised at how much Japanese I knew, since I was able to use it and talk to people a little bit. I hope that by this time next year I'll have learned even more. I want to take the JLPT next year too, so I will definitely have to keep working hard.

Something I Miss Back Home: Of course, I miss my family like crazy. It's weird not to have them at least within a reasonable driving distance. Even when I was in Georgia, I knew that if I really wanted to, I could hop in my car and drive home. Here, it's at the very least highly inconvenient, if not downright impossible, to just up and fly off to America when I feel homesick.Thankfully, we have Skype and Facebook. :) Other than my family, I miss going to the movie theater (too expensive here), using a debit card (cash is not as convenient as it sounds), and being able to read the labels on different products (is it bleach? Is it laundry detergent? Shampoo? Let's use the SNIFF TEST!). 

Something I Don't Miss at All:I don't miss the annoying college "spring break" atmosphere that appears around this time of year. I got to experience it a little bit when Allison, Mary, and I went to the Kanagawa Fertility (Penis) Festival last month. The place was crawling with young American men and women, most of them drunk before noon, who leered and pushed and yelled and stomped all over the place. I never have been fond of that kind of atmosphere, and much preferred the second temple we found later that afternoon, which was full of Buddhist monks and quiet tourists. It was really beautiful, and a much nicer atmosphere. I'm happy that in Shizuoka we don't have a lot of obnoxious foreigners. All of the ones I've seen here are really polite and try to blend in rather than flaunting their foreign-ness. One more reason why I love Shizuoka!

The Weirdest Thing I've Eaten: So far, it's a tie between cod roe sushi (which tastes like spicy Pork Rinds), and these weird dried/baked (?) fish with their heads still on. They were about as long as my hand had big mouths and teeth and dead white eyes... You ate them by biting off their heads, which took a lot of courage, but I did it. Surprisingly, when they weren't looking at me, they were very yummy!

The Thing I Eat the Most of: Candy. I love Japanese candy and try  to eat a new kind every day :)

This list was even longer than this, but I'm cutting it short because this post is already super long and I still have to type up the Golden Week Adventure (Pt. 1). So for now suffice it to say that I love Japan a TON and can't wait to keep exploring. Oh, and for those of you who haven't heard already, I renewed my contract for another year. Hooray! Keep an eye out for more posts, I'll try to be more frequent in my future updates. :) 

Hugs and Kisses!

Shawna

Winter Break Wanderings

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A Winter Break Excerpt

Happy holidays friends and family!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are getting ready for a lovely New Year as well! The past weeks leading up to winter break were a blur of activity mainly due to winter seminars. These are like private lessons, but you have them all day, all week. It's nice in terms of classroom management (only having one child at a time to deal with is a lot less hectic), but also very busy since you have to plan lessons individually. I was really worried at first that I would be swamped with work, but as it turns out only a little planning and preparation was actually necessary.

Most of the kids wanted Christmas-themed lessons, with vocab words like "Christmas tree" and "gingerbread man." It was actually pretty fun. :) We even did crafts with the younger students, mine being a paper cube (like the ones you make in geometry class) that the kids got to color and decorate before folding them up into "Christmas presents" which we tied with a bow for good measure. :)

After work on Christmas Eve, we had a holiday party before heading home for the night. It was SO much fun! We had Christmas cake, sparkly wine, and a mixed secret santa/ white elephant gift exchange. Allison made latkes, adding a Hannukah flair to our festivities.  I love that our office is so friendly and fun. Even though I've only been in Japan for a month, I felt really close to everyone that night. All 7 of us were nestled together in one of the small classrooms, shoulder to shoulder, laughing and talking and sharing someof the purest "Christmas spirit" that I've seen in a long time. :)

My Christmas day was relaxing and uneventful. I spent it cleaning my apartment and watching movies. :) As it began to get into the early evening I started feeling really homesick. I guess that won't ever go away, will it? I miss you guys at home. I think about home all the time and sometimes I cry. But I also love Japan with all my heart and am so happy to be here. I think the biggest thing I wish is that I could have someone around to show all the wonderful things I'm seeing and doing on my exploration. You all definitely need to come visit me!

Ok, no more depressing stuff!

Yesterday marked the first day of winter break at school, and I have no idea how to go about spending my time. Everyone from training and from work are busy, so it looks like it's just me and myself with a whole week-or-so to explore! Yesterday I spent the entire day lazing around my house, so today I determined to run all over downtown exploring. Basically I spent the whole afternoon wandering around, popping in stores and getting lost. I found a small park (will post pics asap) which had the weirdest jungle-gym thing I've ever seen! It was a HUGE structure of interwoven rungs, and since it was in the middle of a playground it definitely was for climbing. I wanted to climb it so badly, but there were kids and stuff around so I didn't. Ugh, I'm so self-concious... I will climb to the top one day! ^_^

I saw so many cool things on my tromp across downtown. In front of the city building there was an illusionist performing on the street, which was awesome. I have no idea what he was saying (apart from when he asked the crowd to donate if they thought his act was good), but you don't really need to know Japanese to understand an illusionary show. He ahd those cool glass balls that look like they're floating when you hold them, and did a very intricate routine with a set of 4 flat plastic rings. I should have taken video but I wasn't sure if it was allowed. Nearby I found a lovely little craft store where I can indulge my artistic side with yarn, wool, and dangly jewels. :)

Ok, I'm going to end the writing part here and just post some photos from my winter break excursions. :) A picture says a thousand words, right? Please know that I love and miss all of you! <3 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from Japan! It’s been almost a month since I arrived, and I’ve been trying to write a new post for weeks but never found the time. My new life and job here in Shizuoka have been SO busy! I’ve never had a job before where I worked so hard, but even so I am extremely happy. I have so much to share with you all, so bear with me. :)

Shinkansen (www.japaneselifestyle.com)

After arriving at Shizuoka city by shinkansen (the super-fast bullet train!), I was met by my wonderful manager and Allison, my co-NET (native English teacher). I was super nervous on the train ride over, and as we pulled into my station I straightened my suit jacket and took a deep breath, ready to greet my new workmates with calm, friendly professionalism. I stepped off the platform and looked around, trying to spot anyone who seemed to be looking for me—and then I saw them. Manager and Allison scurried across the platform, big grins on their faces which made me smile in return. They were bouncy happy balls of welcoming joy and for a little while after handshakes, bows, hugs, and introductions we jumped up and down in a little excited circle like we were 10 year olds. :D Any worries I had had on the train ride over dissipated.

I saw a little bit of the station as we walked through to find a bus. Manager and Allison took me to see the apartment, and on the way we met Travis, the teacher I would be replacing at Ekinan Amity. Here was yet another smiling, friendly person! He brought me an umbrella and went with us to the apartment.

The apartment is HUGE in comparison to what the Amity recruiters told us to expect. Three rooms, probably 200-300 square feet total, which doesn’t seem that big, but some NETs at other schools only  have apartments that are 100 sqft so I was extremely lucky! Even better, Travis left me a couch, tv, bookshelves, desk, and (best of all) a kotatsu! This was the piece of furniture that I wanted more than anything else. It’s a low table that has a small heater built right under it and when it’s cold, you throw a blanket over it and turn on the heater and PRESTO, a snuggly warm tent for your legs and feet while you sit. :) I am super happy with the apartment, and have loved living in it since. I have a new futon (already provided), washing machine, TWO burners on my stove (believe it or not, this is another luxury item), and a balcony with a wonderful view. Here’s a video I made of the apartment for you guys! I sound really goofy so please don’t laugh too hard. :P

TL: Hiro-sensei, Mai-san, Manager, Me, BL: Allison, Travis, Marie-san

The week that followed my arrival was a blur of activity. I followed Travis to all of his classes, watched him teach, participated in the lessons, and eventually taught my own. It was a bit overwhelming, especially the lesson planning part, but Travis was full of good advice and gave feedback that really helped me to improve throughout the week. I also got to meet the kids gradually, in a way that was less threatening toward them, which I think helped the shy ones adjust better to the presence of a new teacher.  The kids are extremely cute!!! I especially love baby classes because they are absolutely adorable, but they don’t run around the classroom just yet. :P The parents were all very nice, and my coworkers are phenomenal. I have only had a few opportunities to work with such friendly, fun people (Panera was one of these—hey guys!), and the teachers at Shizuoka Ekinan are some of the best. I love each of them dearly even after just a few weeks.  

(From Left) Fumika-san, Allison, Marie-san, Mai-san and ME!

Having survived my in-school training week, it was time to say goodbye to Travis. All week he had taken photos with the kids, and given out cute souvenir pencils as goodbye gifts, but on Saturday the last class was over and that was it. They were my classes now, my kids, and the responsibility weighed heavily on me. But before I had a chance to get stressed out, we had a small office party with cake and coffee, and then on Sunday we all went out to dinner and karaoke to celebrate! It was SO MUCH FUN! I don’t know how anyone could hate karaoke, it was one of the best times I’ve ever had! I sang Britney Spears, lol. Plus, it was a great way to get to know my new coworkers in a relaxed environment. :) We all cried at the end because Travis was leaving, and even though I hadn’t known him for as long as everyone else I felt really sad and cried too. He had been my mentor for the whole week and I still miss him. After karaoke we went to this tiny hole-in-the-wall bar… but it was full of toys and games! There were darts, UNO, drinking games, and cards. I taught Fumika-san, Mai-san, and Marie-san how to play “Egyptian Rat Screw” and we all got really into it. :P We stayed up all night, playing games and talking, and then took a cab home. It was so much fun!

This is how tired I was... :(

After the awesome weekend, it was time for my first week on my own! And actually, it wasn’t too bad. :) The kids are a lot of fun, and even though some classes are harder to manage than others or are difficult to plan for, overall I really enjoy teaching. The hardest part is the late hours. Anyone who thinks that being an English teacher in Japan is easy work is either a liar or has a skewed sense of reality. The truth is that we work VERY hard! Most days this past week I came in to work between 9 and 11am and don’t go home until 10 or 11pm. Then, once I got home, I spent at least an hour or two working on my lesson plans for the next day. Then up in the morning to do it all over again.

I think time management is something that will be well worth my while to learn quickly. It’s tough because we use a loop calendar and the new loop starts on Thursday, so even though I have all my tues/weds classes planned and ready to go, I have a whole new set that need to be made up for Thurs-Wed, with new material to be taught, props to be made, etc. This past week I got trapped on Wednesday night needing to plan 8 lessons for the next day, and that was a killer. So, this weekend I’m going to try to get ahead on the planning for the upcoming loop in order to lighten my workload during the week. We’ll see how it goes. :)

Even with all of the work, I am still having a great time. I got my bank account, cell phone, internet access plan, and even my health insurance card! Manager, Allison, and Hiro-sensei (one of the other teachers at Ekinan) all helped me out tremendously. They went with me to the stores and bank and helped me fill out the paper work and talk to the employees. I have come to realize that my paltry understanding of Japanese is not adequate to conduct daily business affairs. I will definitely have to practice more if I want to be able to do anything on my own without a translator. Maybe I can take a class on the weekend or something…. My schedule during the week is so busy I don’t really have time to study, but Allison has promised to study with me when we can, so phew! :) I’m so lucky to have such great friends!

One of the things I love here in Shizuoka is the environment itself. It’s beautiful and the weather is phenomenal! During the day if I wear long sleeves I don’t have to wear a coat. It’s like Ohio’s September right now, and it’s December! At night it gets pretty chilly, which is awkward because I have to carry a coat around during the day even when it’s not cold just in case it gets dark. And it gets dark SO FAST here! The sun comes up around 4am, so at 2pm it already looks like late afternoon! But the nights are so pretty, especially with the Christmas lights up everywhere! I’ll have to take some photos for you guys. :) Oh, and I saw Orion the other night. It’s weird that I can see the same stars here that you can at home! If you look up into the sky at night and see Orion, think of me, ok?

All right, that’s all I have for right now. I’ll try to update more regularly, at least once a week on the weekend. But for now please know that I’m happy, healthy (if thinner; none of my clothes fit now!!!), and loving the Land of the Rising Sun!

• Survived my first week by myself! I’m officially a teacher!

• Green leaves on the trees, even though it’s December. :)

• Hot drinks out of vending machines to keep my hands warm on the walk home from work. 

• I'm on the Shizuoka Ekinan website! Check out here for 日本語!

• My heater doesn’t send heat into the kitchen, so in the morning even though my bedroom is toasty it’s freezing in there! Space heater!!!

• Forgot to bring in my laundry from the balcony, so it’s damp and I can’t wear my nightgown.  :/

• Having no idea what anyone is saying to me at stores. Time to break out the textbooks!

• Going to Tokyo next weekend with Allison and her friends! :D

• Winter break is coming up in 2 weeks!

The Castle, The Park, and the Creepy Things!

11/22/11

Today was our last “free” day before training, so we decided to see the other side of the train station that we hadn’t been able to explore yesterday. Plus, there was a castle and a famous park nearby too, which, though a little tourist-y, was supposed to be really famous and beautiful.

So, after getting hot tea at a vending machine (which is still the coolest thing ever), we headed off across the station and ended up walking through this covered street marketplace, like those outdoor malls in England where they have stores on either side, but there is a roof covering everything. We went to a hyaku-en (100 yen) store, which is like a dollar store here, and bought gloves and looked at all the other weird things. :) Then we found a yarn/knitting shop and Chelsea, Rosie and I went in to look at it. There was a really cute kid, a man, and I think his mother who owned the shop. We saw a beautiful scarf and the lady showed us the yarn it was made with. I decided to get some, because it was really reasonably priced and looked amazing! The best part was that the lady then proceeded to show me how to make the scarf we were looking at (which was surprisingly easy), and even gave me a free pattern! It just blew my mind how nice she was! Even though my Japanese wasn’t very good, she just smiled and was super helpful and friendly.  If I lived in this area I would buy yarn from her all the time!

The "Sky Mall" :)

Chelsea, Niki, Dane, Cat, Rosie, Ayumi, and Chris

It took a while to get to the castle, but we finally did. It was located in a gorgeous park with a river next to it. The castle is called Okayama-jō (here, “jō” means castle). It was built in 1597 and is called “crow castle” sometimes because the outside is black, and it had beautiful white and gold edging, which really made it stand out. In World War II it was destroyed in air raids, but then they made a perfect reconstructed it in the 1960s. There was an area before you actually got to the castle where there were outlines on the ground where there used to be buildings before they were destroyed, and they had reconstructed the foundation stones as well. The castle was beautiful from the outside, but we didn’t go in because it was a little bit expensive. Instead, we went to the Korakuen garden, which was located right next to Okayama-jo. (Shift+ Left Click the picture to bigger original size)

Me! At Okayama Castle

The park was absolutely stunning. Words can’t really describe it, so here are some photos, and I’ll try to put up a ton more soon (I took like 70 photos today!).

There was a wooded part of the park as well, and although it was beautiful as well, it was also a little creepy… The bamboo and trees everywhere made it very dark in comparison with the rest of the park. And then there were… the creepy things. So, we were walking through the woods and suddenly we come upon this:

Ok, so obviously it’s some kind of art sculpture. A little ominous but, ok cool. But then when you get close to it you see:

A Brain!!!!! :O

No, not a real brain, but that is a rather realistic depiction of one. It was really weird and a little creepy. But we kept going, and found a little building… with tall metal spikes on the ground outside. Again, obviously artistic but a bit un-nerving.

Rosie was the bravest among us, and went first. :)

But not as unnerving as what was inside of the building. There was a lattice on the front and a mirror behind it, but the mirror was angled so that if you stood on the left side of the building you saw your reflection only on the right hand side. Plus, when you looked at the floor:

WHAT ARE THESE???

They were really creepy, but also kind of cool. The woods started to give us the creeps so we headed back toward the sunny fielded area, and passed by another house exhibit. You could only go up to see it 3 at a time and there were, of all things, playing cards lodged in the wooden slats of the porch. We asked the staff lady who was there what the significance of the cards was, but actually she said they had no meaning originally but that for some reason, now, people come and put them there as a kind of good-luck thing. It was really interesting, but I was a little disappointed that there was no other explanation for it or a clue as to the other art exhibits we had seen.

Also, as we headed out of the woods, we found a small lake full of dead lilies… eek! Scary!

Everyone was super tired after our excursion, so we headed back toward the training center, and stopped for ramen on the way. Yay! My first Japanese restaurant! :) You had to order pay for the food at a machine, then give the ticket to a waitress inside. Unfortunately, everyone who knew Japanese ordered first and went to sit down, but I was one of the last ones and I was like, “Hey! Come back, I can’t read!” Sigh, I definitely need to improve on my Japanese. After eating we went to an electronics store and I bought a stylus for my tablet, then we headed home.

After all the walking yesterday and today I was SO tired when we got back. I fell asleep at 5pm and didn’t wake up until 11! Training starts tomorrow, though, so hopefully the extra sleep will help. :) I had an amazing time exploring Okayama today, and hopefully tomorrow will be an adventure too!

Until next time!