Ube, Hofu Tenmangu Shrine, Shrimp Catching

Not too much has happened since I last updated.  Let's see... went to Ube Shogyo to help the 4 girls in the English club with the speeches they're going to give at a competition in October.  Oh!  and I got paid on the 21st!... in cash!... weird, but sweet!  Summer orientation for the new JETs wasn't all that fun.  It was informative, but it was a really long day.  The morning was spent in a Japanese lesson - a class for beginners and a class for intermediate.  It was long.  We mostly went over the different forms of how to use polite speech... yeah... not exactly exciting.  The afternoon was full of seminars giving us ideas for games and activities to do with our students - which was helpful, but long.  

It's been raining a lot here lately.  I don't mind the rain TOO much... it's more the riding my bike in the rain that bothers me.  I went to Daiso - which is basically a dollar store - and got some cheap rain pants.  They ripped.   I should've expected that.  I also bought a little frying pan... which pretty much melted when I put it on the stove.  Awesome.  I am never buying anything that may be of use from there again because it will either A) rip, or B) melt.  It is good for buying dishes, cups, chopsticks, and stationary though.

Random Update on the Cockroach:  I finally went to the store and purchased a can of cockroach killer spray, got home, lifted a corner of the bowl that was suctioned to the floor by this point, stuck the straw under the bowl and sprayed about half the can in there.  Now, in all reality, I’m sure the cockroach was already dead before I sprayed it – but it just made me feel better to be 100% sure that the cockroach was dead.  A few minutes later I looked under the bowl and what do you know - the cockroach was dead.  So I now have a dead cockroach under the bowl because I can’t get myself to touch it.  Maybe by the next time I update it will no longer be in my apartment.  At least I know it’s dead.

Ever since the Olympics ended I have had NOTHING to occupy my free time with.  I think I was addicted to watching the Olympics… perhaps because it was the only thing on t.v.  But now there is nothing on t.v. worth watching – unless you’re into Korean dramas or terrible game shows.  So.  Anybody who is reading this and decides they feel the need to send me something in the mail, but they don’t know what to send… send seasons of t.v. shows on DVD! : )  Just saying… in case you were thinking to yourself, “hmm, I want to send Barb something in Japan, but I just don’t know what to send.” – SEASON DVD’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have no idea why this paragraph is underlined... it's really bothering me... but I can't figure out how to change it, so it's just going to stay this way @#$%^

Anyway…

There was a little festival at Tokiwa Park - which is a really nice park here in Ube.  That was last Saturday.  I went with Patricia, Emma, and Meng.  We didn't get there until around 7pm though and then it was over by 8pm.  We headed back over towards Ube-Shinkawa (the center of Ube where everything is - also where Meng lives) and checked out this 2nd hand store.  It wasn't just any 2nd hand store though - it had some really cool stuff!  A lot of games, music, movies, cool clothes, random cool stuff.  We're not talking your local Good Will store - more of a 2nd hand shop that only accepts cool, funky things.  The picture of me next to a horse man manikin was taken at the 2nd hand store.  And check out this shirt we found there... ha, yep.  That's Japan for you. 

            

After the 2nd hand shop, Meng and I decided we'd check out Ube nightlife - after all, it was a Saturday.  We stopped at a Lawson, bought some alcohol, and got ready for our night out in Ube.  We discovered that unless you are a 40 year old business man... or just a man in general... there's not much to do.  There are plenty of hostess bars for the men.  We found 2 places that seemed decent for hanging out and meeting younger people... however, they weren't open that night for some reason.  So we continue to wander around and Meng makes me ask these 2 young looking Japanese girls where they were headed.  After a lot of talking, we ended up following them to a restaurant called Hot Spice.  They were meeting their family there.  So we went and had some drinks and some food.  So yeah, not too much to do in Ube.  Although there are a few smaller bars we didn't check out that I think would be decent.  That's for another night out in Ube though. 

Last Sunday I made Meng go to Hofu with me - which is a city in Yamaguchi about an hour away by local train.  There's a lot of shopping there along with a movie theater.  However, the reason I wanted to go was to check out Hofu Tenmangu Shrine.  It's one of the three most famous Tenjin (God of Learning) shrines in Japan.  The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane, deified as a god of learning.  There are many picture tablets called "ema" on which students preparing for entrance examinations have written their wishes.  (I totally just copied that description of Hofu Tenmangu Shrine from a brochure... but, hey, it works).  Here are some pictures from the Shrine:

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Last week at work was boring.  Beyond boring actually.  In fact, it was painfully boring.  I even brought my GMAT study book to work with me - I was THAT bored.  Luckily that was the last week of no classes.  The first day of school is Monday and I have to give a little speech in Japanese at the opening ceremony.  

Today was A LOT of fun.  There was an AJET event - National Shrimp Catching Championship in Aio - and it was TONS and TONS of fun!  Days like today just remind me why I like Japan so much.  Where else do you get to hang out with good food, good people, the cutest nicest little old Japanese woman, catch shrimp in your hands and then cook them on the grill and eat them!!!  Ok, so I didn't actually manage to catch any shrimp - but I tried!  This nice old man caught one right in front of me and gave it to me : ) it was really nice and really cute.  Other people managed to catch so many - I just had issues... because I don't like touching live creatures, ha.  Basically, they dumped about 2 thousand (maybe?) shrimp into the sea and all these people ran in and caught them.  We were interviewed by so many different camera people and had our picture taken by so many random people - it was kind of funny... perks of being an international I guess.  Anyway, the shrimp were so good!  mmmmmmmm : )  I don't have any pictures to post right now because I didn't take any with my camera.  BUT, I will get some pictures from someone else and post them here later - so look for them!  It really was an incredibly great day.

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Tomorrow I think I'll work on my speech for Monday and finish a handout I was working on for one of my schools (for when I give my self introduction).  I just need to add some pictures and I'll be done with it.  You're probably wondering why I didn't finish it AT WORK - but it's because I just need to add some pictures to it and those pictures are on my computer here at home.  I also need to figure out some trip details because I'm planning on going to Osaka for a festival in 2 weeks and I haven't done much for planning it.  I could go to Kokura tomorrow with Meng and Teresa... but I don't really feel like spending the money to get there and all they're doing is shopping - and getting a hair cut.  So I'll probably just sleep in and take it easy.  

That's all for now! 

Prefectural Orientation, Beach Party, and Fukuoka

Orientation in Yamaguchi City was a little over a week ago – and it was a lot of fun hanging out with the other JETs. The actual orientation part itself wasn’t exactly “fun,” but it was informative. Oh yeah, I finally read that speech at the contract signing ceremony. Thursday night AJET had a dinner planned and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards a lot of us went to Karaoke. I stayed the night with some people in one of the JETs apartments who lives in Yamaguchi City – so thanks to Eric, many of us didn’t have to pay 5,000 yen for a hotel which was super nice. Friday, after orientation, everyone headed back to whatever city they live in.

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Saturday there was a beach party over in Hikari which took me 2 hours by train to get to from Ube, but the beach is really nice and that evening there was a festival and fireworks on the beach. That night some of us stayed the night in a JET’s apartment that lives in Hikari – so once again, no need to pay for a hotel. The rest of that weekend I spent cleaning and doing laundry.

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Monday I was back at my base school which is pretty boring right now because there’s nothing to do since it’s still summer break. I pretty much just surf the web most of the day because I don’t have internet in my apartment yet. I also read the Japan Times because my school gets a copy in English for the ALT – that’d be me. It’s nice to keep up with what’s going on in the world. After work one day I went over to the internet place – which was a good 30 minute bike ride – and after about an hour I think I managed to sign up for Yahoo BB. The guy said I should have my modem delivered to my apartment between August 20th and 22nd. So fingers crossed, I should have internet by the end of this week. Also, they’re having some special where I don’t have to pay for it until October AND since I’ve moved since May then I get about 1,000 yen off each month for a year! That’s about $10 off a month. On my way home from the internet place it was dark and I totally ran my bike into a cement wall because the sidewalk was super narrow and I thought I could make it, but no. I hit the wall. It was either that or the telephone poll. Fun times.

I didn’t have to go to work Wed-Fri because I got “special leave” for the obon holiday. It’s called “special leave” because government employees like myself and the other teachers don’t officially get time off for obon for some strange reason that nobody knows, so they all take “special leave” and don’t use their vacation days for it. Wednesday night I headed to Shimonoseki which is the largest city in Yamaguchi. They had a famous fireworks festival where they claim to be competing with Kyushu as to who has better fireworks displays. Oh, and for those who don’t know, Shimonoseki is a city on the edge of Honshu (the main island of Japan) and there is a bridge from Shimonoseki that connects Honshu with Kyushu (the southern island of Japan). It was really cool – the fireworks were amazing, but there were SO MANY people. It was crazy. Afterwards a lot of us headed over to a JET’s apartment to hang out since the bars are small and most likely full anyway because of the festival. It was fun hanging out. There are 3 JETs who live in that apartment building, including my friend Charlotte, so it was awesome to just crash at her place instead of trying to catch a crowded train back to Ube. The next day we went shopping at Sea Mall. I love Japanese t-shirts with crazy English… I need to stop spending money on them though, haha.




Friday I took a day trip to Fukuoka with this Portuguese girl who lives in Onoda, the town next to Ube and also with Meng – the other JET in Ube. It was a waste though because it rained the ENTIRE time and all we did was shop. But, I made them go to the IMS Motor Show which was pretty cool. Saturday night Meng and I headed back to Fukuoka because this guy we met in Shimonoseki was going there to go out along with some other JETs. So we made our way back to Shimonoseki and met up with Daryl and his Japanese girl friend drove us to Fukuoka from there – which still took awhile, but it was nice to be in the car instead of the train this time. We had a lot of fun and I’m sure I’ll be back in Fukuoka again soon since it’s the closest BIG city. Fukuoka is HUGE and it’s known around the world for good shopping, good night life, and good ramen. I will definitely be back. Total, it takes about 2.5 hours from where I live in Ube, but it’s totally worth it.

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I’m looking forward to this week. Monday and Tuesday I’m going to Ube Shogyo, which is the commercial high school that I’ll go to every Wednesday once school starts in September. They asked me to come and help the English club prepare for an English competition that’s in October. Apparently, one of the girls actually won last year and this is her last year – so I feel like I have a little pressure, ha, but I think it will be fun. This is the only school I go to that actually has an English club and I’m really looking forward to it. Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be back at Ube Nishi – my base school. Then Friday I’ll head back to Yamaguchi City for the Yamaguchi Newcomer’s Orientation. Ok, that’s all for now! As soon as I have internet in my apartment I’ll start posting pictures somewhere!

The First Weekend in Ube

Nothing too exciting has happened since I last updated… well, that’s kind of a lie. Let’s see… I now have a cell phone and it’s really cool. I like it a lot. To be honest, I’m not completely sure about the package I have, but I do know that I only have 60 minutes of talking per month and that I can email people… and the email part is like texting… and it better not charge me extra whenever I send or receive an email because I’m pretty sure I added that on as an option… but I guess I’ll have to wait and see when I go to pay the bill on the 25th. It also comes standard with tv, a dictionary, and a way to look up train schedules.

Saturday morning I woke up around 8am only to open my eyes and see a BIG BLACK BUG scatter across the wall right in front of me. Now, I’m pretty blind without my glasses… that should tell you how big this freaking bug was. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped out of bed – in this case, jump off the floor and onto my feet – faster than I did at 8am on Saturday morning. When I put my glasses on I realized that this was not any big, nasty, black bug. It was a big, nasty, black, COCKROACH. SICK. After about a half an hour of staring at the nasty thing and contemplating what to do, I finally realized that I was on my own and I did not want to let this thing roam my apartment freely. There was nobody to call. I will admit that I knocked on BOTH my neighbors’ doors – who I have still yet to meet – but they were both not there. Anyway, I tried to cover this thing up with a cup, but realized the cup was not BIG ENOUGH. It then ran into the kitchen where I cornered it and put a bowl over it… and then a lot of heavy things over the bowl. That was early Saturday morning. It is now Sunday night and I have yet to do anything with it. I assume it is still under the bowl because it hasn’t moved… and like I said, I put heavy things over it. I think I will tell my supervisor tomorrow at school and hope to God that he offers to come over and take care of it for me. I’m sure there’s cockroach poo under the bowl by now too. Sick. But I HATE bugs… especially big, black, nasty, cockroaches. Sick. I really hope that is the last time I encounter one of those. Ew.

My weekend was pretty low key. As of right now I have no way of contacting other JETs in Yamaguchi because when we all met none of us had cell phones and I still don’t have internet in my apartment – which I assume they don’t either. I’m looking forward to summer orientation on Thursday and Friday because then we’ll all be able to exchange contact information which means I won’t have to entertain myself like this again.

Even though I had to hang out by myself all weekend it really wasn’t all that bad. After the cockroach incident on Saturday I took the train over to Ube-Shinkawa station which is the center of Ube City (I live near Ube Station – which is not the center of the city, but very close to 2 of the schools I teach at). I wandered around for awhile and then came back to my apartment. I then rode my bike to a huge shopping center called “You Me Town.” It only takes me 15 minutes by bike to get there, so that’s nice.

Sunday I slept in and woke up after having a dream where I had parked my bike and there were hundreds of bikes around it and I couldn’t remember which one was mine… I think that’s only a dream I would have in Japan, haha. I was happy that I didn’t see any kind of bugs scurry across the wall when I opened my eyes. Anyway, I took the train to Tokiwa Station and checked out Tokiwa Park. It took me about 45 minutes to get there – still part of Ube. It’s out by the airport. It’s a nice part. There’s even a little amusement park there with a roller coaster, a water coaster (like Snake River Falls), and then a few flat rides and kiddy rides. I then got back on the train and took it to the next stop because I thought there was a beach there and I just wanted to check it out. There was no beach and after about 5 minutes I got back on the train and headed back to Ube Station. I had ramen at a ramen shop and then stopped at the grocery store.

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So my first week in Ube hasn’t really been exciting. But I’m not really disappointed. I have a lot to look forward to and I’m kind of taking advantage of this down time because come September I think I’ll be pretty busy. Classes start September 1st and I think that’s when Japanese classes at the local university start too.

This week I have to go to work Mon, Tues, and Wed. Then I’m off to Yamaguchi City Thursday and Friday for orientation which as I mentioned above I’m really looking forward to. My supervisor told me that August 11-13 I could take off as “special leave” because it’s Obon Festival time and since government employees, like me and the other teachers, don’t officially get it off then they just take a few days off anyway. I assume this means I won’t have to use any of my paid vacation. That’s how he made it seem anyway. I guess I’ll find out and go from there. Not sure what I’d do with those days off, but maybe some other JETS will have them off too?... I don’t know. Ok, that’s all for now!