Settling In and New Experiences

We've now been in Japan for two weeks. The headaches are starting to lessen, and our stomaches are adjusting to Japanese food and water. In addition to meeting with the school principal and vice principal, we finished setting up our apartment, and got to know our city a little more. We're now ready for Japanese life.


It turns out that there are around 20 other ALTs in Ashikaga City. 3 more from our same company, and the rest from an assortment of other companies. We've met two others, one who has been living here since March, and it was very nice having an 'expert' in the city show us the ropes. All 20ish ALTs have a weekly get together which we might check out.


The big purchases of the week have been cell phones (required by the company), bicycles and a futon mattress (just a thicker futon). The bikes have been really cool to ride around the city with, and we look very stylish with our fancy phones. The futon mattress was fun to take home on the bike (see picture).


Luckily, we love the city. Compared to Tokyo, it is a 'small town' but it's got everything we need. Biking has allowed us to tour around and we've found two different shopping districts, two train stations, a large river going right through town (good for running along!), a gym (hallelujah!), a supermarket close to home (no more food from 7-Eleven, yea), a library, a shrine, and much more. It's been pretty hot and humid, which is great for us. Life is pretty peaceful, the people are nice and we already feel at home.


Once things were straightened out at home, it was time to tackle the next challenge: Mount Fuji. The pressure was on - the window of opportunity to climb Mount Fuji is very small. Climbing season is July and August, so we only had a couple days left, and really Saturday was our only option. So we left Ashikaga Friday night and took the train to Tokyo. It is amazing! We landed in Shinjuku Station which is right in Tokyo Times Square. I've never been to New York but I can imagine now how breathtaking it is standing in the middle of downtown, with buildings all around you reaching to the sky. It was awesome.

In the morning we woke up early to go to Mount Fuji. We're getting pretty good at riding trains now. Buses - not so much. Thanks to internet research we figured out the fastest route to Fuji - the express bus from Tokyo. But....we couldn't figure out how to make a reservation for bus tickets, (Nihongo skoshi wakare mas) so when we got there hoping to ride, no luck. Back to the trains.


We got to Mount Fuji around noon, bought hiking sticks and set off. It was rewarding...and exhausting. It took us about four hours to get to the Mount Fuji summit from Fuji-subaru 5th station (the most popular route), and we hardly rested at all. There were moments when thoughts of despair arose, but once you start climbing, you have few options. Either climb down (which after a couple hours is an impossible to think about), keep climbing (no matter how exhausted you may feel) or take a break. Taking a break for a little while is nice and you have to do it in order to acclimate to the atmosphere and less oxygen. Some people had brought oxygen tanks with them, and although we didn't use any, I can see how you might want it. After we got past the sixth station, it seemed harder and harder to keep the same energy level up.


There are eight stations along the climb and each one provides a stamp for your walking stick, a sleeping area if you want to rest for a few hours, a bathroom (100 Yen per person) and Ramen, candy bars, water, etc. We got our walking sticks stamped at the sixth station but then we decided to save our stamp money (the stamps get more expensive the higher you get) until the summit. This is a picture of one of the stations. They always looked a lot closer than they actually were!


We declined to use the sleeping areas. After a while, you don't want to rest because you just want to get the climb over with! We lucked out on the weather, it only rained a little, but it definitely got a lot colder. We started out in t-shirts, sweating and finished up wearing several layers and shivering. Once we made it to the top, after a (brief! We were exhausted!) celebration, we headed down. Thanks, Christi, for encouraging us to buy the hiking sticks. They were definitely necessary! Down was fun! The path is full of little pebbles and sand-type particles so you can shuffle / run down the path. The sticks helped lessen our falls (which didn't hurt since the ground was so soft) and slow us down when we got going too fast. About halfway down (one and a half hours in to the descent) the sun went down. Uh oh, no flashlight! Hm...luckily with the lights from the people on their way up (the most popular time to climb Mount Fuji is at night, in order to arrive at the summit for the sunrise) and our eyes adjusting to the night, we made it down. No bumps or bruises, but sore for sure. It will probably take a few days to recover completely, but WE CLIMBED MOUNT FUJI!

This week we start school. Eigo no kyoshi desu! We'll keep you posted. :)

Disequalibrium

Have you ever flushed the toilet and then washed your hands atop the toilet as the toilet tank recharges for the next flush? Me neither. It's a trip. Our apartment in Ashikaga City has all kinds of crazy gadgets straight out of some 007 flick. I think there's some interior design/architect dude somewhere in Japan with so much seniority that nobody dares tell him, "Sorry Tyko San, that idea bites, what else you got."

Seniority is a serious issue here in Japan. Take for example Veronica's school principal and my school principal. They've been in the school system for so many years that once they've attained their principal position, they basically earn the right to delegate most of the work to other people in the school, like the vice principal for example. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that, but it is interesting.

Veronica went to her school and met all of the staff on Monday. I went to my school today (Wed.) to do the "meet and greet" with the principal and others. After having some gold flaked dessert cakes and tea (I'm serious, there were actually gold shavings in the cakes. I was told by the principal that it helps one achieve optimal brain function. I smiled and nodded.) I introduced myself and recieved many smiles in return. Not smiles that say,"Oh, Hello." but smiles followed by a "Are you serious?" type of look. You see, when I say "Watashi wa Jonathan desu." it kind of sounds like "My name is Jon San." You see, people don't refer to Themselves as "something San" because that's someone elses job to call you that. Otherwise it sounds like you're full of yourself. After a minute or two of explaining by my company rep things were cleared up and we moved on. This only made me ponder what else I might have done or might do that was/will be taken the wrong way. I think that's what Veronica and I worry about the most. We don't plan to offend anybody, but there is a good chance that we will do it on accident more than we know.

This type of thing tends to put a person on edge just a bit. Speaking of which, Veronica and I have been getting some headaches from trying to understand the language day in and day out. I guess we could have studied Japanese a bit more seriously before we arrived. That's okay I guess. Perhaps we're just reaching our cognitive disequalibrium quicker than we had planned. What's that you ask? It's what teachers would call the phase in which the learner leaves their comfort zone, reaches a noticeable level of discomfort, and enters the optimal learning environment. River Heights students, if you're reading this right now (I hope you are) think about that for a second. Basically, it means that if you're always comfortable and relaxed when "learning" then you're probably learning at the slowest rate possible. A person forms their most vivid and exciting memories in life when this disequalibrium is in effect. Adults reading this, take note as well. If there is anything that you've been puting off doing because it would take you out of your normal, comfortable routine (a.k.a. Your baby blanket) make plans to make it a reality. Veronica and I have probably said, "I'm so glad we did this." to each other at least maybe...twenty times since we arrived here last week. Needless to say, the rewards outweigh the headaches. That's all for now. 'Til next time you little bloggaholics. Class dismissed. Jon San out!

Japanization

So, originally this blog was intended to be written next week, but there's so much to tell! For instance, did you know that Japan is a whole different country? Yeah. I know. Shocker.

Here are some ways that you can tell that you are in a different country:

1. If there is a parking garage in your hotel that cars are driven into and then stowed vertically, and when they are released to be driven away, they are turned toward the street by a wheel in the floor.

2. If your toilet is also a bidet.

3. If the faucet for the sink is also the faucet for the shower.

4. If the lights and air conditioning in your hotel room don't turn on until you place your room key in a slot in the wall.

5. If the graffiti on the bathroom stall is written in hiragana. (Japanese characters)

6. If cars are driven on the other side of the road, AND the other side of the car.

7. If the figure in the 'walk' sign is wearing a hat.

8. If beer and cigarettes are sold in vending machines on the sidewalk.

9. If you don't understand anything ANYONE is saying!

10. If you feel like you are indecently dressed in a tank top.

No matter how much you prepare for a different culture, there will still be big adjustments to make. It's no secret that we took a big risk coming here. Information was slow, and when we got it, not much of it came. It was at times frustrating. However, the company has more than made up for it in the two days that training was given. They prepared us for (it seems) every possible situation both at work and in our daily lives in Japan. Which is kind of overwhelming, but we should now be ready for anything! Neither one of us has ever had to think so much about everything we are doing while we're out in public. It seems very easy to offend someone accidentally, if you're a foreigner. It might take you a while, however, to figure out that you offended somebody, because in this culture, nothing is said directly (as not to offend the other person).

Some highlights of the things we've learned:

Greetings are very important in Japan. We learned the exact order (and phrase we should use) to greet teachers at the beginning of the day (in order of importance) and at the end of the day.

Recycling is very important. If you don't do it correctly, the old lady next door may go through your trash, properly recycle your items, find your name on a piece of your trash, and complain to the neighborhood bureau, who will complain to your company, who will then call and tell you to recycle your belongings the correct way.

Pointing is rude. We keep reminding each other not to do it - try it, it's hard, you do it all the time!

Unfortunately, America has come (somewhat) to Japan. Our hotel provides us free breakfast at the Denny's next door. Yes, it's not exactly the same, but come on! There's also McDonald's and Starbucks everywhere, and 7-Elevens and Holiday Inns are also frequently seen. Here's Jon trying out the Japanese cuisine.

Well, so far, everything is going well. Today we were busy being tourists of the Mito area and visited an outdoor sculpture garden. Of course, we took the train the wrong way for one stop, but we are learning more and more every day! We have one more day here in Mito, and then it's off to Ashikaga where we interview with the Board of Education and move into our apartment. Soon we will apply for our alien registration cards and get cell phones, yea! The word is that you can get a plan for $10 a month, niiice.

We hope that everyone is doing well. Kisses and hugs from the Far East!

Under the Same Moon

So, we've arrived in "The Land of the Rising Sun" and everything still feels new and exciting. We've already learned some new things about traveling not-so-light as Veronica and I have very little experience between us when it comes to checking bags at the airport (usually we pack so light we never have to check a bag). It all started before we left Minnesota. As busy as we were getting ready to depart last Sunday morning, we didn't bother to check the American Airlines website for checked baggage guidelines. Hence, I ended up paying an extra fifty dollars for my luggage because it was seven pounds overweight. However, if I had packed the extra seven pounds into an additional second checked bag, it would have been free. Go figure. By the way, don't let Veronica try to fool you into thinking that I packed more clothes than she did for this trip (she may make this declaration later). I'll just say that size 13 shoes take up way more room than a size....uh, I don't know...6. End of story. I win.

Jet lag is an interesting phenomenon. You see, the primitive parts of the human brain like the area that tells us, "Jon, you're getting very sleepy, you need to find a pillow quick!" haven't evolved a coping mechanism for this type of situation. Needless to say, Veronica has overcome her jet lag and I'm still struggling with it at the moment. How else can I explain the fact that I just can't sleep past 5am no matter how hard I try. For anyone who knows how much I just love my mornings, you'll find some humor in that one. So, on Wednesday morning (sometime between 3 and 4am) I found myself doing some stargazing. The slim crescent moon was performing a dance with Mars and they almost had me convinced that I was witnessing a newly choreographed play by a new cast of characters. They simply looked too brilliant and too light on their feet to be the old cast that I've come to know so well. Was it my brain playing tricks on me? Perhaps...but it was a most memorable sight indeed.

America is in denial. You know how difficult it is to see out of your windows at night when all of the inside lights are on? However, at the same time, anyone outside looking in can see you as plain as day? Okay, in this analogy Americans typify the people inside while the rest of the world identify with the passerby. "America, I can see you now very clearly and guess what, you are extremely overweight and unhealthy." Ponder the following. Veronica and I have been in Japan for four days now. Guess how many Japanese people we've seen that are obviously overweight (more than 5-10 pounds)? Anybody? Well the answer to that question is ONE. That's right, out of thousands of people we could only find ONE overweight Japanese person (at least he looked Japanese, we weren't able to talk to him to confirm his nationality). Just let that sink in for a minute. I know it makes you want to step outside of the "house" so you can get a clearer picture right?

The stereotype of Japanese being very nice is true. We were a bit lost...O.K. a lot lost when we were trying to make our way from our Hotel in Narita back to the bus station at the airport. While most Japanese were doing the "I'm not going to engage in dialogue unless it's a matter of life and death" thing, one college aged woman took notice of our situation and asked if she could help because we looked like we needed some help. She was more than helpful. It was like she felt an obligation to not only tell us but show us where we needed to go. She was awesome. We only wished that we had taken a picture of her to remember her by.

How many times have you seen a Mercedes Benz or a nice BMW parked in front of a farm house? Well, if you come to Japan then you'll see it a lot. America needs to start paying our farmers better for the important service that they provide for our nation. We've got our priorities backwards in many ways. How did this happen? Can we undo it?

(By the way, the farm houses were really nice too, amazingly so.)

We just finished our second and last day of our training with Heart. There were eight other ALTs in the training with us. I was perhaps the oldest. I definitely wasn't the tallest (see picture). All of the others were American except the one Canadian (the ethnically Japanese man who was born and raised in Canada) and the one chap Carl, I mean "Cahl" from Great Britain. Everyone was really nice. We hope to keep in touch with everyone else as we all head our separate directions to the cities that we'll be teaching in.

De-materializing and Prepping for Japan

Hello everyone!

Things are changing so fast, it's hard to keep up. We're engaged! :) We're moving! We have been so busy over the last couple weeks, but one thing's for sure: there's no turning back now! As of this moment, we find ourselves in a strange limbo. No jobs, no place to live, and one car between the two of us. With all this unburdening of material goods, we could float to Japan!

For those of you we don't see too often, here are the latest stats:

We will be living in Ashikaga City, Japan and working at two different junior high schools as ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers). Ashikaga City is about 50 miles north of Tokyo and has a population of 160,000. This means we will be working with a Japanese English teacher as her assistant - which means our primary purpose is to provide the correct pronunciation and accent to English words. Sounds easy, right? We'll see! Our contract goes from September 1, 2009 to July 20, 2010. Our official date of departure is August 16, 2009.

Jon's mom (Mary Ann) was kind enough to allow us to squat at her house for two weeks before the big departure. 14 days and counting! The only thing left in our way is the completion of the work visa. A trip to the Japanese Consulate in Chicago may be in the NEAR future.

Here are our expectations of Japan - we'll see how well these mirror the actual experiences:

1. Our apartment in Ashikaga will be tiny - Jon might have to sleep diagonally in the room in order to stretch out completely!
2. We will eat A LOT of sushi - at least a couple times a week.
3. Our jobs will be a breeze!
4. Our first month-ish will be overwhelming and exhausting.
5. We will be able to travel quite a bit around Japan (and outside of it) during our stay.
6. Jon will always be a head above the crowd!
7. We will be astonished by the average body weight of the Japanese people.
8. We will update our blog weekly.
9. Our trip will force us to step outside of our comfort zones and allow us to grow in ways we wouldn't have without going out of the country.
10. This will be one of the best experiences of our lives.

Please feel free to subscribe, post comments, feedback and share with us how you're doing. We hope to see as many of you in Japan as possible!

Sayonara (almost)!

Veronica and Jon