The first semester has officially come to a close and I've been in Japan for 4 1/2 months. I have finally gotten it together and am creating the blog that I had intentions to create about 3 1/2 months ago.
So, how is life in Japan thus far you ask? Well, I am still mostly illiterate, although my ability to speak is improving. I probably still sound like a bumbling fool, but I don't let this discourage me. In fact, it's more of a motivation to keep studying. I think I was beginning to feel more comfortable with my illiteracy and my ability to make accurate guesses at what things mean, that is until a few days ago.
Last night while at a restaurant with friends I decided to order pizza. Most Japanese restaurants have picture menus (thank god, otherwise eating out would be impossible) so I selected a pizza that looked like it had onions and tomatoes on it. When it came out I was surprised to find the pizza not covered in onions, but covered instead with hundreds of tiny white fish. They actually looked more like tiny little worms than fish. I just couldn't do it, I couldn't eat it! My friend helped explain that I was a complete idiot and didn't realize that I ordered a fish covered pizza. Oops.
That almost tops the story about the fish hot dogs. I am not a huge fan of hot dogs, but I think I was just excited to find something in the grocery store that was quintessentially American. I got buns and chopped onions-the works. When I opened the package I was surprised to see that the dogs were bright orange. When further inspected I realized that they were wrapped in orange plastic-after removing the plastic I found a very pale pink hot dog. An odd color for a hot dog, no? So I did the smell test-and it smelled strangely of fish. So I did the taste test-and it tasted overwhelmingly of fish. It took a minute to register, but I soon realized that these were fish hot dogs. It was soooo disappointing! I have learned that in Japan there are many foods from home available, but they all have a Japanese spin on them.
I recently decided that I wanted to sign up for a half marathon with a friend. After researching the upcoming races near me in Japan, I settled on the Kyoto City Half Marathon. How cool would it be to run through one of the most beautiful and historically rich cities in the world!? The web site I had to use to sign up was all in Japanese though-so again I had to break out my amazing inferring skills. On the web site's event list I found a race in Kyoto that's on the same day the Kyoto City Half Marathon was held last year. Obviously it had to be the Kyoto City Half Marathon-how many races could be held on the same day in Kyoto? I hastily signed up-knowing that a race in such a spectacular city would soon reach capacity. After signing up I kept thinking about how odd it was that the name of the race was listed as Keiji Trail Run, and not Kyoto City Half Marathon. Odd don't you think? So I did a little research and learned that the Kyoto HM is no longer in existence!! So what the heck did I sign up for!? Apparently it is some kind of orienteering race on a mountain trail just outside Kyoto. I should have known it wasn't a typical race from the compass, map, bell, and cellphone that were listed as required items for the race. I am still going to go through with it-I'll just need to learn how to orienteer with a map and compass-in Japanese. FUN!
A few of my favorite qualities that I have found most Japanese people posses are:
1.) The art of sleeping upright-I often find teachers in the teacher's room sleeping upright with absolutely perfect posture. Often I think they are using the computer they are sitting in front of, or reading the book they are holding in their hands, but no, they are sleeping. I haven't yet mastered this art. Usually when I try it I startle myself awake with a head bob only to realize that my mouth has been wide open catching flies.
3.) The use of the expression "Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh?" It must be pronounced it a slightly high pithed tone and must continue to increase in pitch until it tapers off. It is used as a response when Japanese people are confused, shocked, or in disbelief. My favorite thing is to use it myself in response to Japanese people when I don't understand what they are saying. I usually get a shocked, slightly amused facial expressin in response, but they always know what I mean.
Tomorrow I am going to register for my Japanese scooter license. YES! I am getting a scooter!! A used one is not too much more than a bicycle. I actually need a new bike, mine is a total piece. The back brakes just went out the other day and it needs new tires too but I'd rather put the money towards a scooter. The insurance is dirt cheap too. I figure if the obachans (grandmas) can ride these things than I can too. I live at least a 40 minute bicycle ride from the town center so it's been really inconvenient to get around and this will make life so much easier.
It has been super cold recently, we even had some snow this weekend! The houses aren't insulated here, so its always freezing inside too. Cold to the point where I can see my breath inside my house. The one thing that has been saving my life is a magic little table called a kotatsu. It is a low table-just like a coffee table but it has a heat lamp on the underside. You put a blanket over it, turn it on, and sit under the blanket which traps the heat. I was totally freaked out by it at first-thinking it must be a fire hazard and wonderng if anyone has ever suffered burns from their kotatsu. It has quickly become my favorite thing, but the only downside is that it induces terrible laziness. We call it kotatsu syndrome-you just don't want to leave its comforting warmth. I have been under it for hours-to the point where my bum is completely numb,(you have to sit on the floor to get your legs under it) and my bladder hurts I have to pee so bad. I have even contemplated sleeping under it a few times.
It is such a mystery to me why all the windows in the hallways at school are always open. Even when we were expecting snow-still the windows were open. I think the theory is that it keeps the air fresh so germs aren't spread and people don't get sick but I really think the students get sick because it is freezing cold all the time! The students use those little pouches that have some magic material inside so they heat up and you can put them in your pocket. My toes literally go numb at school so I wanted to try them out in my shoes. When I first put them in they weren't getting very hot so I decided to put them inside my socks-even though I think there is a picture on the package that advises against putting it on your bare skin. Just around lunch time they were perfect-my little toes were perfectly toasty. I had lunch plans with some of the young English teachers so we headed out. We went to a traditional place with tatami mats and low tables so we had to take our shoes off and sit on the floor. It was a bit chilly inside the restaurant so I was happy to have the pocket warmers in my socks. But about 10 minutes into lunch my feet started burning so bad-they felt like they were on fire!!! I wanted to rip my socks off but the teachers would have thought I was totally out of my mind. I though about getting up and casually walking to the bathroom where I could rip my socks off, but there was no way I could walk on the pockets warmers-it'd be like waking on hot coals!! So instead I had to disreetly slip my socks off under the table while carrying on casual conversation and then slip the pocket warmers in to my pocket where they rightly belonged.
My name has been changed to Riz or Rizu because there is no lone z in the japanese alphabet and they really struggle with the L so it mostly just sounds like an R. I only recently learned that Rizu also means squirrel in Japanese. That explains why for the first week after the school printed Rizu on my name tag all the students were making creepy squirrel faces at me!
I leave for Thailand in two days so I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and New Years!
Take Care-
Rizu
