It got CHILLY

Hi people,

Sorry I've been slack about updating this! 

On the temperature front (do you notice a theme to my updates??), yesterday we passed a sign that said it was 14 degrees.  Jeff pointed out this meant the temperature has dropped 10 degrees in a week!  No wonder we are feeling the difference!  While it is now a LOVELY temperature during the day - tshirts and long pants type weather - the nights are not so ideal. 

When it was really hot we bought 'summer sheets' - like a really light single duvet, so you have one each.  They provide a little more warmth than a couple of sheets and are easy to throw off or pull on as the temperature changes.  They are pretty small, so Jeff's feet hang out the end - not that this is an issue in 30 degree heat.  However, now that things have cooled down SUDDENLY we need something a little warmer.  We tried to cuddle to warm up, but that just mean one person's blanket would fall off them entirely, so you would wake to a slice of cold air down your shoulder...  But tomorrow we can go shopping, so we will pick up a 'normal' duvet (to go with our 'normal' bed!).  So only one more night and we will be PERFECT. 

In other news... on my way home to Jinseki on Wednesday night Jeff contacted me to warm me to drive carefully because of the bear warning!

I didn't pick this as ideal bear territory...

Apparently he was shown the Bear Poster by his supervisor at work.  The language gap was too great for them to explain much, but they were able to tell him that a bear had been seen in Jinseki (our little town) and another one in Yuki (where Jeff teaches at a couple of schools).  He wanted to know how careful we had to be - is it a bad idea to walk around our little village at night?  Are we safe to take the rubbish down to the shed? - but they didn't understand, and one bloke just started doing his best snarling bear imitation at Jeff.  Ok, helpful... 

Ah, this looks more like where we will find the bears...

Other than that, not too much going down over here.  We had a big weekend last weekend, as Monday was a public holiday, so we went North to Matsue.  A quick itinerary:

Saturday - Went to Izumo taika, to the second most important shrine in Japan, the shrine of marriage.  Wandered around, took some pics, were completely swamped by all the Japanese and didn't really know what anything was.  Highlight was the frogs in the pond. 

Looking for frogs

Jeff's wildlife photography

               - Headed out to a lighthouse, where we were able to go for a a walk on the rocks and look at the sea.  Made us miss home a little bit, especially after the chaos at the shrine.  I noticed my conversation was veering dangerously close to what was wrong with Japan and what was great about NZ.  So not our BEST day. 

Charly sitting on rocks by lighthouse.  Yes that bloke is taking my picture.  Odd...

               - Got out to Matuse that night.  We intended to have a quiet evening, but there was some kind of festival on at Matsue Castle (an ancient samurai castle), so the lovely people running our accommodation took us out there (actually, they TOLD us we were going and pretty much put us forcibly in the car lol.  Obviously they felt it would be unforgivable if we missed it!).  The castle and grounds were all lit by large paper lanterns, giving an other-worldly glow.  It was insanely beautiful, sitting up at the edge of the grounds looking down on the lower gardens lit by lanterns, the city lights beyond and all over, the moat and canals reflecting all these lights.  Totally the highlight of my trip.  Probably one of those experiences I will remember Japan for in ten or twenty years time.

Castle grounds lit by paper lanterns

View from the top of the castle

Sunday - We thought we would spend the morning wandering round the shops before going on the canal boat and hitting the other big tourist spots in the afternoon.  Unfortunately we thought we were going the right way, judging by the road signs, and didn't bother checking the map (ok, three maps!!) in my backpack.  Turns out we were wrong.  Several hours in the sun later, we finally found the shopping mall in time to grab some sushi, let the sweat dry and head back to our accomodation.
           - Back in our room Jeff fell asleep while I read a little.  I finally woke him, concerned we would miss the boat if we left any later, and we headed back out.  Refreshed after our downtime in the air con, we went on a supercute little canal boat, going under some bridges so low we all had to lie on the flat floor of the boat while the awning was lowered.  There were lots of giggle from the Japanese women watching Jeff try to squash down enough! 

Squashing down in the teeniest tunnel!!

           - After our boat ride, we had a look at a traditional samurai residence (I learnt the true reason Jeff learnt Japanese and came to Japan: he loooooves samurai stuff!).  Jeff was delighted to see that the room for the 'Master of the House' was much bigger than the room for his wife - and pointed out to me that he should therefore get a bigger room than me.  He loves that I can't argue this, because my Foreigners ID actually says 'Master of the House: Jeffrey Wigg' on it.  When we go to England and he can only stay because of MY passport I'll make him pay!! 
           - We then went back through the castle grounds because Jeff wanted to see them by day AND night (ok, I'll be honest, I wasn't complaining.  That castle was seriously cool!).  After taking onehundredmillion photos we headed off for dinner. 

Jeff with his castle

Sunday - We headed out of town, stopping at Cafe Rosso, recommended by a friend.  There Jeff had the most amazing coffee ever.  No idea what it tasted like, but I wouldn't let him drink it until he had taken photos of it!! 



Jeff's amazing coffee!

             - Next was Saioogobasogeuwr (yes, it has a real name, I just never remeember it!).  It is a manga-themed town, with a street lined with statues of manga (Japanese cartoon characters) and every store selling some type of manga product.  Unfortunately every other person in Japan also considered the public holiday a good time to visit, so we shot out of there fairly quickly (well, ok, not until I had time to eat an eyeball - one of the manga characters). 



Eating an eyeball... yeah :)

             - We had lunch and hit up the Body Shop (yay!  Products that I know what they are, and don't contain bleach!!!) in Yonago, then headed down to the Adachi Museum.  This place is famous for having been voted Japan's no. 1 garden for seven or eight years now.  We thought a beautiful garden would be just the antidote to all the crowds, people and heat of the last few days (yes, those of you who are knowledgeable about Japanese culture will be laughing at us know!).  Oh, how taken aback we were to discover the garden is kept so beautiful by only letting people view it from behind glass!!  We felt very very stupid! 

Photo taken through glass...

Fenced off from the garden...

After trying to decipher the Japanese signs, we managed to find one area where we could at least hop from stone to stone, admiring the pond and getting some fresh air.  For the three metres the path lasted.  They were right, it is a truly beautiful garden.  But I think in future we would trade a little beauty for the chance to wander round in it.  Although maybe we just have to wait for the next country for that!!

Hope you are all doing well...

Cheers Charly

P.S. Yeah, managed to add pictures!!  Will try to keep this blog interesting by adding pics when appropriate.

Excerpt from an email

This is just a wee excerpt from an email I am writing Mum, because it is VERY important and you should all know about it!

'Good news on the temperature front - it has finally cooled down!  Yay!!  Yesterday I was sitting on the couch in shorts and a sports bra, having done a few exercises before brekkie (I didn't bring any workout tops and only one pair of workout shorts so I try to exercise inside so I can do it in my underwear!  Next time I go into town guess what I'm buying!  Yes, men's workout tops!).  Anyway, I had been sitting there for a an hour or so answering emails when I felt this strange uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling.  I had to think about it for a while, then I remembered it...  yes, I was cold!  I would have danced a jig in happiness but that would have warmed me up, so I just went off to have a (warm!) shower and get dressed.'

 

I fully understand if you feel the need to crack open a bottle of bubbly right now at your work desk in celebration of this - we thought we would never make it, but the coolness was only a fortnight after they PROMISED us it would cool down!!! 

 

Jeff even said we need to go buy a proper blanket - we have been sleeping under 'summer sheets' (like really light duvets, a good size for kids or sweaty adults who just push them off).  But if Jeff pulls his up his toes stick out, so they are no good for when he actually wants to warm up.  Of course we could cuddle to warm up, but after a month and a half of waking with heat exhaustion if our limbs accidentally touch, it's hard to break the habit of sleeping as far away from each other as possible. 

 

When I talk about 'warming up', it's probably still mid 20's or something, but we have got used to it being SO hot that any drop in temperature seems extreme!

 

Now that you have heard this tremendous news, I will leave you to celebrate. 

Kim chi and rice with emotional blackmail for dessert...

Hey people,

Well, as you can tell by the title of this post, I just had kim chi (even though it's Korean!) with rice and tuna for lunch YUM. 
Shortly after eating, while sitting nursing my cup of tea, I got a call from Ken (my Japanese teacher).  As my phone is stupid and has the 'reject' button immediately below the name of who is calling and immediately above the call button I, as per usual, hit the wrong button and rejected his call (I do it almost every time.  It has actually become a habit now that I don't know how to break!). 
I called back straight away and was met by the confusion of the classroom and a little Japanese girl telling me, "No, not sensei.  I'm Aoi."  Aoi sits next to me in class and her English is some of the best in the class.  I'm not sure what's chicken and what is egg there, but the two are linked...  But her English is better than most of her classmates and her English teacher - my Japanese teacher - knows it.
I couldn't possibly explain the confusion of that message with me trying to work out whether they had just knicked his phone to play a prank or if it had been an accident that he called me or what, while she ummed and ahhed - or rather 'Ee toouuuu'ed. 
I had a sudden brainwave, remembering one of Jeff's class experiences (he had said 'hello' as he walked in the class, so five minutes later when he started his self-introduction he started off with 'how are you?'  The students all looked at him in silent confusion until one little boy tentatively answered, 'hello, how are you?').  I took the conversation back to stock standard phrases, asking 'hello, how are you?' to get us back on familiar ground.
From here the conversation was more what Aoi had been expecting and she hesitantly relayed her message; 'We need you.  Come back to school at any time.'
I was confused, wondering if it was because they had English class after lunch or needed help with their speeches.  I tried to ask if they needed me for English class but she didn't understand.  I tried asking her to repeat her message, both in English and in Japanese, but she just made confused noises again, said 'bye' then hung up. 
On one hand, I could go 'aww, the kids must have missed me and asked Ken if they could contact me to ask me back!' but the fact is that when I told the students I was leaving (I wrote it down because they understand written English much easier than spoken) I didn't get much reaction at all.  A smile and a nod of understanding was about it.  I don't expect them to cry and throw me a goodbye party after my eight days in school, but I thought they would be a little disappointed.  Little girls in NZ would make a big deal about being sad their pet foreign adult was leaving!  I kept asking if they understood, because I expected at least Aoi to look disappointed, but nothing. 
So I cannot regard that phone call with anything other than suspicion.  Call me a cynic, but I believe I can safely assume that Ken taught her that phrase then handed her his phone to make the call!  Emotional blackmail, much?

Ok, just spoke to Jeff and he, being far less judgemental or quick to jump to conclusions (I call it irrationally idealistic!), has pointed out that a lot gets lost in translation and that it was probably supposed to be a message to let me know that I am welcome back to the school at any time.  I guess it is true that while Ken's English is good, it is far from perfect and the strength and intimation of the word 'need' may have been lost on him. 

I don't know... I'm feeling bad enough about disappointing Ken by leaving school and disappointing Jeff by leaving him on his own in Jinseki during the week... the LAST thing I need is little kids putting the guilts on me!! 

Job, I think...

Hey people,

Things aren't totally confirmed, as in I haven't been given a contract to sign and Jeff hasn't crunched the numbers to make sure I will win financially on this one, but it looks like I have a JOB.  Yay!

It's in Onomichi, well, actually on an island out from Onomichi, so will take about 1 hr 45 to get to from our little place in Jinseki.  My plan is to drive down, work the day, stay the night in the staff accomodation, work the next day, then drive back to Jinseki.  I intend to work four days a week, so that way I would drive in one direction each working day, spending two nights a week down on my little island.  It's not ideal being that far from home so often, but it will stop me going certifiably insane at home (school isn't a lot better.  I understand so little and I'm not picking new stuff up fast.  Think I'm just too beginner to improve from just listening). 

Also it will mean we have our little city/island pad, so when we want to go drinking in the city with friends, we can bus home after.  Last time we went out 'drinking' with our friends I was sober driver, so when we left the city I had a 1.5 hr drive home on dark, windy roads (windy? windey?  I think windy but I mean they winds round, not that there it is windy as in blowing a gale... Sometimes English is sucky!).  In Japan you can't even have one alcoholic drink and drive, so it wasn't the awesomeness that it could have been...

So Jeff is going to number crunch tonight, to make sure that me working four days a week will get enough money to cover my Onomichi rent, my fuel and other car costs (the bridge to the island is a toll bridge) and still have me earning.  So watch this space!

I gave my Japanese teacher, Ken, the bad news today.  I was expecting to do this big speil explaining how Jeff and I wanted the extra money to travel with and how much I had appreciated the opportunity and everything, but it ended up being a 30 second conversation.  He kinda just went 'ok' and took off - always a bad sign! 

Further, I'm not sure if I've made things better or worse by telling him I would like to come in on some of my days off.  I wanted to say that because a) it is a good opportunity for me to practise my Japanese on the students, b) most importantly, I felt that it would show Ken and the other teachers that I appreciated what they had done for me and still wanted to hang out with them when I could, and c) I thought Ken would take it better if I weaned myself off the school slowly, rather than spurning it totally. 

However, later in class Ken told me, in front of the students, that they were doing a play and performing it in front of their parents.  I said, "Cool", which meant, "I hope you're only telling me this because you are intending to invite me to watch..."  He then said, "And you are part of it, you will be in it because you are one of us." 

So as well-meaning as my comment about coming in every now and then on my day off was, maybe I gave him false home about how much I would be round.  I told him I would be working four days a week, but maybe he thinks I will be working some weekends (which I won't be)...?  I'm now wondering if I should have shut up about coming in on my days off.  It just seemed easier, to only come in every now and then, rather than trying to tie up all my loose ends in one go - collecting my drawings from art class, paying for all my school lunches that I haven't been billed for yet, giving a thank-you speech to the teachers, etc.  To slowly fade from the school just seemed an easier option.  Even so I will have to get a small thankyou gift for the teachers and a larger one for Ken (they are really big on gift-giving in Japan). 

Oh - just heard lots of noise and rustling in the neighbour's garden.  Thought it was my neighbour.  It wasn't, it was a crow!  Those things are MASSIVE!

So that's where things are at atm in the life of Charly.

Off to cook dinner so it's on the table when Jeff gets home - what a good little wife!  Trying to make up for the fact I will soon be ditching Jeff to cook for himself four out of five weeknights!!  (The 'early' shift finishes at 8pm, so I wouldn't be back to Jinseki until around 10pm)

Hope you are all well,
Charly

To work or not to work, that is the question...

Hey people,

Just a quick note because I'm supposed to be working on my Mighty River Power editing that I took the day off school to do...

On Saturday I'm heading down to Onomichi, 1.5 hours away, to check out a job.  It's as an English conversation teacher, is well paid, is 1/2 to 3/4 time hours, includes a fairly cheap staff flat and is in what sounds a beautiful part of the world - on the waterfront where I have to cross two islands to get there from the mainland!  It is also close to supermarkets, martial arts classes and places where I can get a feed - those things my current location is not exactly littered with.

I'm trying not to jump the gun because there are any number of things that could stop me taking the job, from work hours to driving distance to disliking the place.  However, I have got really excited about the possibility of independence - working and bringing some money into our wee family.  Don't tell Jeff, but I FULLY intend to go buy stuff with my new money!  Jokes, I actually can't buy anything - I don't fit the clothes, can't wear makeup in this heat and it's stupid to buy books that I then have to pay to post home.  So there will not be much of the buying.  But if I'm earning it will still stop me feeling bad when I do have to buy a new top/moisturiser/notebook. 

Having said all this, being a student at the local school is still an awesome way to learn the lingo and if this job doesn't happen for whatever reason, I will continue to go to Jinseki school - although maybe only part time, to allow myself to try to write 'the novel' and get boring things like laundry and hoovering done (amazing how much more enjoyable they are when you have something to procrastinate though...). 

Speaking of procrastination, that is EXACTLY what I'm doing here, so I should get back to it...

Oh, pretend you all care about my shopping: I bought some sunscreen from strawberrynet.com today... LOVING that store!!  I heard from more than one source that all the sunscreen over here has bleach in it (which I totally believe because everything with English labels says 'whitening' - that's the last thing I need!!) and it is called 'milk' as opposed to 'cream' - meaning that trying to apply it involves getting more on your clothing than you exposed body parts.  So I bought normal sunscreen - free international shipping AND free lippie for being a new customer!  New favourite website!!!

Hope you are all doing good.... I will update you after my job-scope session on Saturday.

Charly

P.S. Wow, I use ... way too often.  Just had a look through this before I hit Publish Post and almost every paragraph ended with them.  Oops!!  Sorry if I'm over punctuating you all!

P.P.S. When I have a chance (read: when I've finished my MRP work and Jeff has the internet working) I will try to load some photos on here.  In the meantime, please check Jeff's facebook page as he has been pretty good about loading up pictures. 

Third grade at Junior High

Hey,

Just a super quick post to tell you I have started at Jinseki Chugakko (junior High).  Somehow I went from assistant teacher to student.  Third grade student, so I hang out with all the 13 year olds.  They love it, but it's very very odd.  The teachers are trying to be really good - the Maths teacher even marked my FAIL of a Maths test that I couldn't read the instructions on and just made up answers from the numbers I could read - but I fear Ken-sensei might have been a bit overenthusiastic throwing me in here.  I just hope that a) I'm not making life too difficult for the other teachers and b) I actually learn.  At the moment I feel like a piece of plastic floating on the tide of Japanese-speaking 13 year olds, but it's true I pick up a couple of key phrases or words every day. 

I figure I will give it a shot for a couple of weeks and see if I feel I am learning anything.  As I said, I'm concerned I'm making life difficult for the other teachers, even though it is great for the kids practising their English and getting experience hanging out with someone from a different culture.  And the lunches are great :D 

Anyway, Jeff is waiting on the laptop so we can watch an episode of Outrageous Fortune - get a taste of home!

Let me know what you're up to...

Charly