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!