Week of August 23
Alright, I’m back... It has been several weeks since my last post and I have been busy experiencing the many things Japan has to offer. Since my last post I have been to Amagasaki (east of Nishinomiya), Osaka (even more east of Nishinomiya), and Himeiji (to the west of Nishinomiya), as well as many new places around Nishinomiya. I will try to give you a quick rundown of each place.
Amagasaki - In my opinion this city is very much like Nishinomiya, crowded, full of activity, and really clean. I am told that it is a much more industrial city, but it was not noticeable in the areas I visited. There is one major difference though, COSTCO... That’s right, COSTCO. Michelle and I had been hearing about this Costco since we were back in Washington, and two weeks in we were jonesing for some familiar products. I met a Jr. High P.E. teacher at my gym and he offered to take us in to Amagasaki to do some shopping (as well as take us to dinner twice, but that’s another story). I realize now that going to a place like Costco without a plan is not a great idea. When I was there I spent most of my time trying to figure out where things were and what I wanted, when I left I had spent a lot of money and not really purchased much of anything, I bought some “American style” (AKA thick) towels, some breakfast food, a bunch of snacks, and some cleaning supplies.
I did get a dose of reality while I was there though... I have met/seen many foreigners while I have been here and most of them have good, friendly people, but the one that has left the biggest impression on me was the American I saw at Costco.
This man was yelling at his Japanese wife and kids like I have never heard before (in America or otherwise). I couldn’t believe
the scene he was making in the middle of the crowded isle. I realized that people like this represent a very small percentage of Americans abroad but leave the most horrible and lasting impression of us. Just something to think about... Act like proper, decent, well behaved human beings when you are in other countries, save the little bit of respect others have for our country while it still lasts... Okay, I am getting off my soapbox, sorry.
Osaka - Wow, just wow. Osaka is the second largest city in Japan and it has the shopping, sightseeing and nightlife to prove it. I first went to Osaka as a time waster during a week I had off of work. I made almost no plans before I left and regretted it immediately upon my arrival. “What do you want to do?” I kept asking Michelle, but she knew just as little about our choices as I did. Eventually we found our way to the visitor’s center and got the “low down” on what there was to do in Osaka, unfortunately it was too much too late in the day to really get deep into sightseeing so we decided to
do the American thing and hit the mall, or malls I should say. The big difference
between this dense collection of shops, restaurants and department stores and an American mall is the fact that the 6 immense malls near the station were all connected and underground, that’s right, underground. We spent 3 hours exploring what seemed
to be a commerce based maze and despite our best efforts only skimmed 3 of the malls.
The following weekend we decided to attack the crazy district in Osaka known as Shinsaibashi. After navigating the trains needed to get to Shinsaibashi (flawlessly I might add) we exited the station eyes wide, mouths open... There were easily 12-18 blocks worth of restaurants and shops stacked 6 stories high with something different on each floor, not to mention another half a mile (or more) long strip full of clothing
stores. This trip I had made a plan though, so we left the shopping to another day (the next weekend) and headed straight to a restaurant that had plenty of English speaking foreigners and was packed full of people around my age. I met tons of people and had a great time all night.
Osaka still has plenty to offer so be sure you will hear more about the castles, observation deck, Universal Studios, and
the many other sights there.
Himeiji - I really didn’t see much of the actual city, though I hope to in the future. I went to Himeiji to go to the theme park called Central Park on the outskirts of town. The
theme park was much like Silverwood 5 years ago, except for the fact that it was set in the middle of a dense tropical forest that seemed to cover every inch of the terrain surrounding the park for miles. this was also the first time I had exposed my tattoo since being in Japan, and I was not sure what to expect. Sure enough, 5 minutes into my visit to the water park the lifeguard asked me to cover it up and lent me a wetsuit top to do so... oh well, I didn’t need a tan that bad anyway...
The rest of the day was full of roller coasters and haunted houses (they have them year round) and I had a blast. I finished the day back in town with a bowl of milk ramen, which is ramen in a hot milk broth. Sounds nasty, tastes delicious.
When not traveling throughout the area, I have worked as a volunteer for a junior high English seminar for the top English speaking students in the city. It was tons of fun and a real eye opener as to the levels of English to expect when I started at my first junior high. We had a wide variety of activities from ice breakers, which were needed badly, to students coming up with their own comic captions and advertisements in English.
The Second week we took a trip to many places around Nishinomiya. The students were our guides and had to describe each location and its history. It was an amazing look at the town and fantastic to hear the progress the students made in their confidence with English speaking.
We visited a Sake Museum/glass factory
and the Doll’s Drama Theater (I got in on the action)
and Mt. Kabutoyama
and a botanical garden called Kitayama where we got a special tea service complete with traditional Japanese sweets (made from beans) and green tea.
One student even danced a bit in front of the whole bus, it was hilarious.
Week of August 31st - Enough fun (not really), time for work!
This has been my first week of actually teaching, it came so fast! As I rode my bike to school the first day I had no idea what to
expect. I had “prepared” all that I could, but I still had no idea exactly what my job would entail. I also didn’t know what English levels the students/staff would have. One thing I didn’t plan for (and still haven’t adjusted to) is the amount of sweating I was going to do each morning while riding my bike to school... Oh if my Garfield students could see me now, dodging pedestrians and cars on my bike with a basket, working up a sweat and soon to be standing in front of 40 students that really don’t understand what I am saying... Classic. After a brief introduction to the staff followed by a staff meeting completely in Japanese it was time to get things started. I began my job with an assembly introducing me to the entire student body. I made a short speech, met some students and spent the rest of my day scoring English papers. The next day the real fun began as I started spending time in the classrooms and doing an introduction for each of the 20 classes
in the school and eating the delicious school lunches (thats right I used “delicious” and “school lunches” in the same sentence without the word “not”). The students were overwhelmingly friendly (as was the staff) and I felt like I belonged there right away. I am really dreading the day I have to leave, I really like Imazu Junior High!
The fun at Imazu didn’t end in the classroom. I was invited to just about every sports club the school had to offer; basketball, baseball, soccer, soft tennis, track and field, volleyball, and softball, and I plan to attend each club over the next few months if I can. So far I have been practicing frequently with the basketball and track and field clubs. I’ll tell you something, The junior highs in America better watch out, Japanese students train hard, are focused, and are very talented. I also joined the staff softball team and we have a game at the end of the month against another softball team from a rival junior high (wish me luck, I haven’t played softball for like 7 years...). Needless to say my free time is nonexistent when you throw in my 1.5 hours of gym time each night, but I love it.
My newest experience has been working in the Special Education School in
Nishinomiya. I did another round of introductions,
played some games, and taught the elementary students the “Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes” song. I could not have been more nervous/excited before my first day, but once again the staff and students‘ friendliness quelled all fears. I only attend this school once a month, but I am sure it will be an experience to remember (and probably one I will get a lot of satisfaction from). Here’s a fun fact, some schools require you to have shoes that are only worn inside the school and nowhere else, so I had to buy another pair of shoes for this school, bringing my total pairs of shoes I have purchased for this trip to 9 pairs (and you know how much I hate shopping...).
Okay, I did it, I finished... If you are still reading this you either are a glutton for longwinded stories or you actually like hearing about my adventures. Either way, thanks for keeping up with my day to day activities, even when I don’t post them day to day. Japan is a great country and Nishinomiya is a fantastic city. Hopefully you can make it to this part of the globe sometime. I promise to not wait so long between posts again, stay tuned for more posts and pictures. Sayounara!
Well, for some reason I didn’t post the previous post when I thought I would... So now I am adding to it (just when you thought it was over right?). Well a month has gone by since my last entry and much has happened. I will condense it into a couple of paragraphs this time (for your sanity and my fingers’ sake).
School has continued to be a pleasant and challenging experience. Each day I teach multiple lessons at different grade levels. Somehow I am able to balance the drastic changes in English ability and lesson plans (barely). The students have become more comfortable with me being in the school, as have I. The first month or so students reacted to my presence as though I was a celebrity, yelling and waving (sometimes screaming), or the complete opposite, becoming silent and staring. Now the students treat me more like a respected friend, which is much more conducive to teaching a successful lesson. the teachers and I are collaborating and creating some pretty fun lessons. Overall, school is good.
On a more personal note, I have been collecting friends like crazy over the last few weeks. I have been spending my evenings
(especially on the weekends) out and about in Nishinomiya and the surrounding cities socializing with people, which has
resulted in me making friends that are more than willing to take me out for a meal or a fun evening at a later date, which in turn allows me to meet even more people... I think they call that networking. From this I have befriended a deep sea fisherman/ski instructor/surfer, an owner of a make your own pottery business, the owner of an Italian restaurant, a glasses shop owner, as well as many teachers, gaijin (foreigners), and assorted other folks.
I also took another trip up to the mountain I mentioned before.
This trip took me not only around the park, but all the way to the top of the mountain. As you can see from the pictures, there were plenty of stairs to climb, as well as some good old fashioned hiking trails. I was feeling really proud of myself for taking on such an amazing task as climbing a mountain until this family with two older women and two seven-year-olds passed me on the stairs. When I finally reached the top of the mountain I realized that my expedition through this amazing forest and crazy mountainside was a little more common than I
thought. There were children and grandparents and joggers and entire families at the top picnicking and playing. Still, it was a fun adventure that I plan on doing again.
Unfortunately, when I got home I wasn’t feeling very good, and by bedtime I was feeling very sick. I spent the next few days bedridden and ill with what I think was the Swine Flu (or H1N1 as they refer to it here).
October 20, 2009
What is wrong with me? All of this typing and I still haven’t posted. Okay, sorry again, this post is really long...
Well since the last time I made an entry in what is becoming more of a journal than a blog I have been very busy.
School has continued to be really fun and I am really feeling like a part of the school’s community. The schools here put on this crazy event called “Sports Day” which the students practice for every day for months. I don’t really know how to describe the actual event other than to say it is like a track meet mixed with a band concert mixed with an enormous dance recital mixed with some sort of acrobatics display mixed with several ceremonies and relay races. Maybe some pictures will help you understand...
This was an amazing display of training, practice, planning, tradition, and in my opinion magic of some sort. We could NEVER do this sort of thing in the states because of the high frequency of student injuries during training, the human stacking 3 and 4 people high, and the fact the American junior high students would never be motivated/interested enough to put in this much work as a school. There was 100% participation from the students! It was unbelievable. I even got in on the fun running anchor for the teacher’s team in the 4x200 meter relay (it’s been a long time).
Yes, that's me in the back, the teacher's team was a little behind by the time I got the baton...
Other than school, I have been keeping myself busy with the gym (big surprise), a little shopping, Japanese classes (slowly but surely), socializing with some locals, experimenting with some restaurants, and doing some traveling. Most recently I went to Kyoto to see some shrines and to be a tourist for a weekend. I had a ton of fun with my friends Taka and Jun. As you can see we went to two shrines and one temple. I took tons of pictures, here are some of my favorites. Everything was incredibly beautiful and I only wished I had more time to stay and see more things. Oh well, I will have a bunch of time to return and see more.
The Monday following the Kyoto trip I got a chance to go golfing with some friends I made here. I had only golfed once since I was 14 so my score was nothing to brag (or talk) about, but I had a great time mingling, laughing, and playing with the guys in my group. Taka hit a great shot off the tee and he couldn’t help but celebrate a bit. I laughed, but then on the next hole I had a great drive and I had to copy him. I think my celebration jump needs work though...
This last weekend was my birthday weekend and it was great. My friend David and some other people that hang out around his restaurant met up with me every night and we had fun, food, and laughs every night. On my actual birthday David and some friends Sachi and Makiko bought me a slice of cake (they don’t have whole cakes for sale this time of year) and a gift. I’ll have to say that though I was away from my friends and loved ones, I had a great time and my birthday turned out to be really special. Thank you to all of the people that sent me birthday wishes and cards, it meant a lot to me.
As time goes on and I stay here longer, I like being here more and more. Nishinomiya continues to impress me with the people, communities, schools, and businesses that make up the city. I am excited for what the future will bring.
and finding the essential places around town. I now have a Japanese bank account, ATM card and cell phone (thanks Mayumi). I spent most of the week working on a presentation to give to the staff and games to accompany my English lessons. It was a great change having whole days to plan rather than trying to rush between classes. On Friday we changed it up a bit and went out of the center on a little field trip, to do what you ask? To make traditional Japanese candles! It was really a fantastic experience and I discovered two things about myself; 1-I am good at making candles 2-I am horrible at decorating them.
The weekend held even more excitement as we headed to the baseball stadium (at 7am), to watch the opening ceremonies of the National High School Baseball Championships . Talk about amazing! The players marched in like soldiers preparing for battle. The Prince of Japan spoke and we were given signs to to hold up to make giant Japanese characters you could see all the way across the stadium that said "do your best" and other motivating sayings... It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Despite the excitement of being at such an event, we left part way through the first of three games due to the extreme heat and humidity. 
