Sayonara, Nick.....

My friend, Nick, from Minneapolis USA!, is leaving Japan on the 11th. I feel bad, 'cause in the short time that I knew him, I became good friends with him. Unfortunately, Paulzie was never able to meet him, since he's been studying. They would've liked each other, too.... Anyway, at the same time, it was four months--such a minute amount of a lifetime--and it wasn't like meeting ghandi, no offense to Nick, he was just a really kewl guy (no great influence on my life or anything in other words). At some point when you get invited to these Sayonara parties, you need to think to yourself, 'well hey, we hung out, shared a lot of conversations, but am I ever going to see this person again?'
Nick and Mel (another friend/co-worker)

I remember talking to one of my science colleagues, once, about how it's sorta difficult to work in these kinds of jobs where there's always people coming and leaving. Hmm....for me, anyway. I think that's around the time I decided how important it is to value my life over my career. Maybe it's not for you, but....I want to care about whether I'll see someone again, and I want them to care about me.

Anyhow, you may not find this totally relevant nor understand how my though process works arriving here, but because of all these thoughts (and others, probably), I live by principles. These include not wasting your time being rude or trying to make someone else's life difficult. There are not so many, but a few people that are hard to work with at my work, and I just think to myself, poor you, it must be exhuasting living your life like that. It's so much easier to wear the same face you have to wear for the students, and probably wear for your friends, for you co-workers....even if you may not agree with them.

A co-worker told me that the way he stays at Nova without going mad from these sort of senarios--friendships and enemies--is by "having a chat" with people. I have noticed since then, too, that that co-worker does just chat with everyone about nothing. Isn't one just small talking all the time, then? K....so maybe, I'm just ranting, but I guess I'm questioning how people don't get lonely never keeping relationships more than an average of 9 months and at that, keeping relationships at the level of small talking co-workers!

We all look alike...

Alright, you know you're guilty of it too.... You think all ethnically different people look alike...sometimes, but never this bad.

Japanese people always stare at foreigners. Well, let me correct that statement, they stare at my friends....the men do stare at me, the women laugh and point at me and sometimes even poke. It's really amusing!

I was talking to Lena on gmail-chat earlier, and before I left--since we just new phones--I promised to take a picture of something funny to send to her. Sure enough, I was amused for the entire 10 minute walk, but I picked just one thing: a giant sign with a pizza and an inscription reading, "TAKE OUT OK!" Maybe that's not that funny to you, but the pizza had leaves of some sort (not spinach) and a smear of jelly-looking sauce, and to boot, the inscription gives me deja vu to kids classes where we have to say a really clear and exclamatory, "ok!" with a thumb-to-index finger gesture to everything to make sure the kids understand (heehee adults sometimes do this to show they understand). A thousand Japanese stopped and stared at me along the way, it's a symbiotic relationship.

Anyhow, now the funny story. Paul is studying for the MCAT which he will take in August. In addition, he's the membership holder on our Costco card. We split a membership with a couple from Maryland in March, and have been happily using our half every month. We don't know about them. It's one of those friendships that you think you'll keep. You know the ones: you meet someone at an orientation, you think--maybe even suconsciously--that hey, I better start making friends, I'm the new kid. Hey, they're new kids, too, we can be friends even though we have nothing in common except that we both know what Costco is, we have no idea of the relative distance between our homes. Anyway, we stopped calling them, and them us, so we don't know if they use their half.

Paul couldn't go to Costco, but our friend Ian, and I needed to go, so Paul coerced us to go pretending Ian was him. It's a long way, and quite a gamble. We have to take a 15 minute train, switch trains for 5 more minutes, then a 15/20 minute bus ride, which, by the way, I've written both music and lyrics to the jingle for the bus. The bus is run by this French Walmart-type store. It buses people free to it's gigantic mall conveniently next door to Costco. "Carrefour, drivin' 'round the corner, Carrefour, coming to pick you up..." It's cheap, though, since it's just one stop from where Ian and Paul work and Nova reimburses us for travel, they just pay the difference (Oh, and I posed as Paul with his taiki for that little trick. Thanks Nova!)

Well, Ian and I got through the door ok....we just sweated enough to be cold in the heavenly a/c of Costco. We ate some American-sized food...ahhh.....then went for an hour-long shopping spree, filling up our basket, agreeing to split this and that. We didn't think about our next feat until we had the basket full, then we got a bit nervous. We "naturally" placed our groceries on the conveyer belt and Ian walked through to hand the woman his card. She started saying "blah blah blah address?" in Japanese.....(he knows some Japanese) and he responded, appropriately he thinks, "no". She was insistant, though about the "blah blah blah," which, I guess he didn't catch. She called the manager over.

She talked to him, we sweated, he looked at the computer, grabbed the member card, looked it over for a couple seconds and stared right at Ian. He handed us this card that they always hand us. It's this form for "international" members. We always have to explain how we started the account here. Then he grabbed the card again, and asked, "have you changed you address since you've been here?" Ian said, "no" trying to just move on, and I said, "yes." It was really funny. Anyway, he said to just change our address at the membership counter.

This is the real Paul, just in case you can't tell....
This is not Paul.....


Well, the rest of the story is that Ian and I each got a roasted chicken. It's horribly rude to eat in public in Japan, but we figured, most people must carry their groceries home on the train, right. The whole way home, people were staring at us. Usually, they look and stare, but quickly look away when you look. This time, they didn't stop--they actually looked offended! They weren't talking to each other about us--that's pretty normal, but they were staring. At one point, while Ian and I were sitting across from these two staring men, and we decided that it was possible that something was on the "wing" behind us (heehee, get it?), so we both looked behind us, nothing! Heehee.....it was amusing the whole way home.....the giggles the stares and the pokes.....

That is soooo Japanese....

Have I already titled a post this? If not, I should have. I can't say Paul and I had any culture shock, really. We weren't THAT surprised by anything, but I have to say that the longer I'm here, the more that shock hits me. Mostly, it's funny.....but sometimes it just bothers.... Many of you have asked for a quick generalization of 'how it is' from time to time, and I just usually say, "well, it's strange, stupid, and just what you'd imagine.....then there's somethings that you would never have imagined...."

I saw the funniest thing ever....the thing that I have to say was the most shocking, and sooooo Japanese.... I wished so much to have lost that little angel on my shoulder for a couple seconds just so I could've snapped a shot of it. Paul and I were walking down an arcade--a covered walkway that functions as a mall, stretching between stations--late at night when I saw a bum. Bums don't really stand out too too much here. I think it has a lot to do with the crazy propoganda these people are fed and then feed to us about not ever seeing bums, and how every man is for himself. Anyhow, this bum was truely Japanese--he had an MP3 player....heehee I had to look twice....

Now, for a less light-hearted "sooo Japanese" story. Today, Paul and I went to get cell phones. We held off for as long as we could, because we didn't and still don't see them incredibly necessary as we have about the same schedule, we live in walking distance of everything we need to get, and so on. We had to get them just now, because I'm about to apply for a job, and I need a phone number for the application. It's sort of a dumb reason, I know, but we saw no other way. Normally, we put our corporate office number on things, but obviously, that won't work here. Anyhow, I think I may have mentioned at some point my frustration with Nova for not using computers...for teacher's easy, but also just for their practical use in keeping records, for example. Well, banks don't use computers, either...they keep records completely on paper! Well, to add to that, you don't just carry around your ever so trusty signature, but you must carry your "honko" (a stamp with your name in katakana--the phonetic alphabet used to write foreign words) to every signature-necessitating event such as setting up as bank account. Did I mention it takes like fifty years because of these two sooo Japanese points? Our little day trip to get phones lasted...I me is lasting...way longer than it should take any visit to any business in which customer service is important. Well, at least they gave us juice. Soooo, Paul doesn't know where his honko is. Who cares?! You can get a new one made for just 5000 yen (ok, so maybe you can get a new one cheaper, but most people buy crazy expensive ones). Anyhow, we just learn not to carry around important-possible-identity-stealing-aides where I'm from....how often do you carry around your birth certificate?? We don't have phones, but someday, if we're lucky, we may get these. Until then, Paul and I will live inefficiently--waiting for each other, just missing each other, and so on.....

I do realize I am a bit nuts sometimes.....

Sorry it's been so long. I've been concentrating on getting those photos up, so go ahead and take a couple minutes looking at them. It takes sooooo long to upload them and I'm way behind. It's also not as fun as other things, so it's not like I've spent all the time I should've on them. Alright, enough about that...me crazy!!

It's my day off....Paul went to an interview, yesterday and a sort of trial run today for both him and the school. It pays a lot more and it seems right now, a better place to work. I knitted and watched Gilmore Girls in the morning....heehee, and then just came back from shopping. now here's the crazy part. I walked about 3 or 4 miles to the grocery store instead of walking a couple blocks to a grocery store.

Over the years, I've lived a lot of places, with and without roommates, with and without car or bike, with money and with pennies, going through times of cooking every night or ordering out every other night....eating cereal the others....heehee I learned an important thing in those times.....the grocery store you live close to matters a lot. I have to confess, that's not an original thought, but it's so true.

If you've seen the photos blog, you've seen HAT Kobe. One of our roommates works there, so for weeks he's been boasting about the low cost of this Kansai Super. We shop at the Daiei, 'cause it's much closer--right in the city where we live, but I finally went. As I mentioned in the photo captions, HAT Kobe is a planned community. I hate to say it, but there's something very appealing. It's quite sickening that it's appealing. It's perfect and clean and convenient and new and cookie-cutter, but somehow since there're apartment buildings not identical houses, it's ok(?). The walk into town is so pleasent. You leave the busy metro area--Sannomiya--where we live, walk along this brick foot path through a graffiti-free tunnel, past a bustling Japanese style park (NO GRASS??!!!) for kids, past apartment building with gardens in front free to anyone to pick flowers and vegetables, and enter an equally busy, slightly, more residential area. I have recently heard rumors about the quality of the apartment buildings, which, there are plenty of, in HAT, as far as safety is concerned, but I don't believe it, yet. The name is even disturbing--Happy Active Town.

The grocery store isn't cheaper. It's not even very different....just as crowded. The walk, though, makes the difference. I can't even explain it.....I'm nuts.

They are not strange....

So, we've been enlightened..... All the things we may have told you in the past few weeks about the oddity of the people of this country may have to be taken back. As a co-worker of mine was giving her last lesson of the day the other night, the conversation turned to Nova-bashing. Now, this isn't too too common, but it does happen from time to time, upon which, you must ask the student and they must ask of you, "why are you here?" Well, my co-worker came out of the classroom whispering, "I've got to tell you something." Now, you must understand why we have to whisper, shhh....there are spies and traitors everywhere in the business.... She told me after we'd clocked out and walked a significant distance away from our workplace that her student was new to Nova. She'd told her that she was hesistant to go to Nova for English lessons, but that her work paid for it (it's pretty pricey), so she did it. What she said next started wheels turning to everyone who knows the news, now. She said, "Nova students are weird." She went on to describe how they treat it as some sort of religion. Now, I believe I've told you about the lifers....those who come every weekend, all weekend, and when asked about their hobbies, simply state, "Nova"....well, what she said began to make sense. You should see the commercials for Nova. One line of a current commercial is something like, 'when Japan falls into the ocean, you'll still have your English from Nova'.... Another co-worker of mine was telling me there was one where the actor says 'I can stay all day!'..... Now, I'm not bashing the desire to be good at something, and to work hard on it, but the lifers come, stay all day, everyday or weekend, and don't improve, because 1)their brain is mush by the time they learn eight different sets of vocabulary in one day, 2)beacuse they've just stayed all day somewhere, it's not like they're going to rush home and do some more, 3)they don't actually want to learn, they're just lonely.

This all makes perfect sense to us now. We all have friends outside of Nova, and haven't felt that they're terribly strange... Some of my co-workers have significant others who're Japanese who've stated many comments on the same line as this, but none hit it right on.... Okay, so don't tell my students...I don't want to hurt their feelings....I do like many of them even though they're odd.....

A student complained about me.....

Well, we're not actually sure if it was a complaint, actually....

Nova students are known for their complaining. Now, I don't see anything wrong with it--they are paying a heck of a lot of money to have some strange white person speak their native language to them for 40 minutes--it's just amusing how it comes out on our end. It's often hard to drag yourself into the next lesson when the bell rings, so often you linger. It's such a hard issue....hmmm. We don't feel appreciated enough by Nova, so we don't run to the room. Sometimes we may have a difficult student, it may be our "monday", or it may be our last lesson of the day. I truely enjoy the company of several students, though, and want to spend time with them. They're paying so much, too, for you to waste any of their 40 minutes. This is their most frequent complaint, I'm told. However, it's probably just some anal-retentiveness of one of the managers coming out...as there are some who go to their lessons a full 8 minutes before the lesson begins.

Lots of students say nice things about us. The staff have come to me several times telling me that this or that student had such a nice thing to say about me. By the way, the students who do say these things often are sooo sweet and sincere....they're great people. Lots of times it's just about your voice, or smile, or appearance in general. Other times, they tell you that you're their favorite teacher. Oh, my favorite is, a student once told me, "I'm crazy about you!" I had to explain exactly what he had said to him....heehee it was funny. He had just read it somewhere just before the lesson.

We lowly non-managerial teachers don't usually share all these things students say personally, with our managers. They're so--well, I believe I've told you all about them--two of my three are just poo (yes, that's the best way to describe them). Also, the managers rarely find out if anyone said anything good about you, 'cause they treat the staff so poorly, the staff wants to spend as little time with them as possible--even if it would help a teacher. Whenever I do hear something from a student, I always try to pass it on to the teacher it was about--I also try to have a manager present when I say it.

Well, my manager sat me down today for the second time (time that is reserved to talk about my probation observation--an observation by him of me teaching! it's nice not to have to teach a lesson that period, but I hardly enjoyed my company) to talk about my observation, and told me--whoops, I forgot the observation form, so we'll have to reserve another period some other time. Whatever....anyway, the funny thing is, he began by telling me, "there's obviously going to be no problem with you getting off probabtion with high marks, students seem to really enjoy your lessons. I think they mostly enjoy your manner. There have been many students who have praised you. There was one comment, though, that we're not sure about.... It's sort of crypted--we weren't sure if it was a complaint, a compliment, comment, or just the staff's mistaken translation." Then after he'd prefaced it all with his mile long perception of the statement, he said, "a student said you were, 'scary'. Now, I don't know if they were just intimidated because you're tall or...blahblahblah." Heehee....so, later when I was relaying this story to one of my friends, she was like, "there is no student, the 'student' is him! he has a problem with your height, and made himself believe that it was the student that mentioned something."

Whatever the cause or meaning of this, it's still really funny. I totally cracked up when he told me that....I think maybe he expected a more professional or maybe even disheartened response....and laughed even more when my friend and I were discussing it later.

Well, that's it for now....talk to y'all kids later....

Nothing special...

So.....ask the students what they're doing this weekend ('cause somehow, that's when I seem to be in the best mood--playing with the student's minds and making fun of the non-American accents of the other teachers--and they'll say, "nothing special". That's so they don't have to elaborate, of course. If they're not doing anything, then, they don't have to tell the teacher about it and they may not say something wrong. Sheez... Hey, did you know that we don't pronounce our "t's", by the way? Our Aussie (pronounced "Auzzie", by the way) roommate informed me of this one day. He said that they don't pronounce their "r's". The name "Peter" is a perfect example. Heehee....."turtle"..... "matter" :)

The point of this posting, by the way is to update y'all on our current life. We moved into our new place April 1. It's a 2DKL, and we live in L. Of course, we didn't find this out until we were getting our internet hooked up. It's in a sort of odd place for a living room, to me, considering it's the first bedroom on your right, but hey--Japan is strange. We'll post pictures, soon.

At work, we're settling into the routine. We've both been trained to teach kids--something we'll both have to do soon. I will start going on Saturdays to a kids school in a place called Kitamachi. I wasn't able to google it on a map, but I got a map from work. I actually have to take three trains, then either a bus or walk less than a mile to the school! It's going to be quite a adventure.

We've been going to Costco from time to time, so we're stocking up on food to cook for the week. I make tortillas every week (sometimes twice a week) since the bread is pretty expensive and way too thick--they're like one inch in thickness. You can get your groceries delivered for 500 yen to your apartment, so it's really convenient.

We've gone to a couple restraunts which I'll try to show pictures on the photo blog later. The food is very strange--everything has mayonaise in it! My students laugh at me when I describe some of our foods. It's really funny.

Anyhow, I'll try to write soon again.....it's taken me a couple tries to get this blog out as we have many episodes of 24, Rome, and Sex and the City to watch.