Well, I have yet to hear from the Japanese embassy in NZ re. my application. I'm trying to tell myself that it's because they are swamped by applications at the moment, but last time they were very prompt in letting me know my application had arrived... Ah well, until I get an email saying it was in too late, I will continue to hope. And then after I get that email I will send begging, pleading, crying emails :)
At least I have an AWESOME distraction from worrying about whether it made it - because Kate arrives on Saturday! Jeff and I are going to spend the day checking out Okayama, then Kate turns up at the bus stop at 11:10pm and we have a loooong drive back to Jinseki. Not sure how long, but we will be home in the wee hours. It's going to be so much fun having my little sis here - although perhaps I should have expected it, as when I lived in America she came to Kentucky, when I lived in London she visited me enroute to France and now I live in Japan, she is going to visit me here, too!
I'm trying to keep this brief as I want to go for a walk in the sunshine and get some vitamin D, but Jeff and I had a great time in Osaka over Sunday-Monday. We got picked up at 7:30am for the "4 hour" drive there. We got in at 11:15am after a long breakfast stop and dropping Jeff at the hotel, thanks to my boss driving at 130kph! Eek!
Jeff headed out to go shopping while the rest of us went to the teaching English conference. Matt (my boss) and the two Japanese teachers shot into a presentation while Tristan, Robert and I (those who teach because they want to live in Japan), stood around going 'hmm... what now then?' I had a bit of a look at the different textbook stands, so if my boss asked I could give him my opinion, then we went out to get food. We returned to attend a talk on using flashcards - and were lucky to have the others attend the same talk, so we didn't have the awkwardness of trying to persuade them we did attend some of the conference! After we took off to meet up with Jeff and have lunch.
Normally Jeff and I poo-pooh cities and thoroughly dislike crowds. However, I guess we've been rural too long, because we both felt invigorated by Osaka. I think the difference is a) the number of shops aimed at tourists and therefore applicable to us and b) the number of white faces (not many, but way more than on our home turf!). I bought a couple of Murakami books translated to English (I'm on a mission to read all his writing) and some Body Shop stuff (it's the only place in this country I can buy products and know what I'm buying, so I stock up when I find it. God bless English labelling). We tried fugu (blowfish) for lunch - we were told it is the THING to eat in Osaka.
At 6pm we headed back to the hotel to meet everyone, then headed out for dinner. We started with Subway, because Matt said the bar we were going to to eat had such small dishes that it cost him a fortune to fill himself up. Subway was as tasty as ever - not something I had been craving, but I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. I steered clear of the chicken options though, as chicken in Japan tends to be much fattier than in NZ. After our traditional Japanese meal of Subway, at the request of Rie, one of the Japanese teachers, we went to a... umm... an English pub! We all had Guinness and fish and chips (oh, how I missed you, battered fish!). My cute-as little half-pint Guinness glass may or may not have fallen into my handbag...
We then finally hit up the Japanese bar, where we had a few beers and I spent most of my time watching the fish tank at Jeff's back, where a small shark was swimming in circles eyeing him up. After we got bored of that place, we found a place where you ordered a small dish of food for 280 yen (just under $5) and for another 280 yen you could drink as much as you liked for half an hour. Admittedly they served us pretty slow, but I still managed four drinks in my half hour :D I liked half an hour as a 'drink fast' period, because half an hour's drinking doesn't do any serious damage to your tomorrow.
Well, I speak for myself there, actually. Poor Narumi, one of the Japanese teachers, had been trying to match us big foreigners with the drinking and she felt TERRIBLE the next day. She threw up every time she drank water, so was still looking haggard when teaching that evening! Tristan and Robert had gone back out when the rest of us got home that evening so they were also not looking great. Jeff swore he was fine, but I kept reminding him that was AFTER he had taken painkillers for his head! I think Matt and Rie were ok, but it was telling that Jeff and I were the only ones who made it down for the free breakfast (rice and green tea toast... yum!).
So it was a fleeting visit, but we had a great time and are now really keen to go back when we can afford. Which won't be any time soon, what with all the other travel we have coming up, but Osaka won't go anywhere in the meantime, so we can go explore sometime next year.
Hope you are all well,
Charly
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Fingers crossed!!
Well, I got my JET application away. It's cutting it fine because I posted it on Monday, it takes 'about a week' to get to NZ and applications close on the 30th. So if it takes any longer than a week, I'm quite likely screwed. Which would be gutting because I've spent a lot of money getting this application together, paying for academic records, certificates of graduation and a whopping $50 just to get an NZ JP to do a signed photocopy of my passport! Also I've had a number of people running round trying to get my stuff together in time - big ups to Holly, Rod @ Waikato and David @ Massey. But in the end everything only came together on Saturday - when the post office is closed - so Monday was it. If there is a God, can you please remember that I always go to Camp Quality and help out the kiddies, so I deserve to have my letter turn up on time...
Other than that, on Saturday we went to Taishaku Gorge with Jeff's workmates and another local Japanese woman, to go leaf viewing. We were a bit late - most of the leaves have fallen already - but it was a beautiful sunny day and it was great to socialise with some Japanese!! After we had gone for a wander in the sunshine and had a look at the caves where early Japanese lived 10,000 years ago, we went back to Nishikawa-san's place (also known as J-mom). Since her own daughters moved out - one to Osaka and one to Paris, then London - Nishikawa has been on a mission to adopt as many internationals as she can. She likes to have them over for a feed and beer in her kitchen. We christened her kitchen the Nishikawa International Centre. I promised that when both Kate and my parents visit, we would bring them round so she can feed them and chat to them. It was altogether a lovely evening, except for my sore tummy from eating WAY too much!!
Monday was a day of work and yesterday was a holiday. Jeff and I went to Fukuyama to a) look for second-hand snowboards and b) buy Vegemite. I have been craving Indian since we got here, as Japanese food has no spice (if you want a laugh, ask a Japanese person if they like spicy food and watch their facial expression!). In the three days between Jeff leaving NZ and me following I had two excellent Indian meals, so to hit Japan and have no spiciness at all was hard going. So yesterday Jeff remembered we were passing not too far from a good Indian restaurant, so he took me as a treat (mainly a treat because we had almost no cash left and ATMs aren't open on the weekend! Japan is an entirely cash society so our cards wouldn't get us anywhere). I had a yummy yummy chicken and vegetable curry with the largest garlic naan in the whole wide world. They have a spice scale and, knowing how Japanese don't like spice, Jeff and I went for 8. The woman was a little concerned after that it might have been too spicey, but it was BEAUTIFUL. So good... For hours later I didn't eat or drink anything, just savouring the spicy tingle in my mouth. Such a wonderful feeling...
Then, as if that wasn't enough good food for a day, we went to dinner with the group of adults Jeff helps out with English. They were having dinner at the Yamamoto's place (the husband is a Hiroshima bomb survivor!). We were running seven minutes late (anyone who knows me will be impressed I was only that late!) when I receieved a phone call from Yamamoto-san asking where we were, because they were waiting for us! Yikes!! When we turned up they were all sitting round the dinner table, ready to eat skiyaki - a dish that involves chucking in all kinds of meat, tofu, mushrooms and greens while you eat, so you have a continual supply of freshly cooked foods, done in some special skiyaki sauce. Very nutritious and very very tasty!! So, once again, we ate WAY too much. My poor little car struggled to get us home over the hills! I swear we must have been 10kg heavier than on the way in!
Ok, all this talking about food is making me feel hungry (even though I should probably have a three day famine after the amount I ate yesterday!), so I'm off to make lunch.
Hope you are all doing well. This weekend Jeff and I are going to Osaka with my work for a conferencey thing (I don't really know, I just heard 'free trip to Osaka'), so I'll be away from the net for another full week. Apologies for the infrequency of these updates... Btw, check Jeff's facebook page for a video of our house. Pretty cute, huh??
Miss you guys, take care!!
Charly
Other than that, on Saturday we went to Taishaku Gorge with Jeff's workmates and another local Japanese woman, to go leaf viewing. We were a bit late - most of the leaves have fallen already - but it was a beautiful sunny day and it was great to socialise with some Japanese!! After we had gone for a wander in the sunshine and had a look at the caves where early Japanese lived 10,000 years ago, we went back to Nishikawa-san's place (also known as J-mom). Since her own daughters moved out - one to Osaka and one to Paris, then London - Nishikawa has been on a mission to adopt as many internationals as she can. She likes to have them over for a feed and beer in her kitchen. We christened her kitchen the Nishikawa International Centre. I promised that when both Kate and my parents visit, we would bring them round so she can feed them and chat to them. It was altogether a lovely evening, except for my sore tummy from eating WAY too much!!
Monday was a day of work and yesterday was a holiday. Jeff and I went to Fukuyama to a) look for second-hand snowboards and b) buy Vegemite. I have been craving Indian since we got here, as Japanese food has no spice (if you want a laugh, ask a Japanese person if they like spicy food and watch their facial expression!). In the three days between Jeff leaving NZ and me following I had two excellent Indian meals, so to hit Japan and have no spiciness at all was hard going. So yesterday Jeff remembered we were passing not too far from a good Indian restaurant, so he took me as a treat (mainly a treat because we had almost no cash left and ATMs aren't open on the weekend! Japan is an entirely cash society so our cards wouldn't get us anywhere). I had a yummy yummy chicken and vegetable curry with the largest garlic naan in the whole wide world. They have a spice scale and, knowing how Japanese don't like spice, Jeff and I went for 8. The woman was a little concerned after that it might have been too spicey, but it was BEAUTIFUL. So good... For hours later I didn't eat or drink anything, just savouring the spicy tingle in my mouth. Such a wonderful feeling...
Then, as if that wasn't enough good food for a day, we went to dinner with the group of adults Jeff helps out with English. They were having dinner at the Yamamoto's place (the husband is a Hiroshima bomb survivor!). We were running seven minutes late (anyone who knows me will be impressed I was only that late!) when I receieved a phone call from Yamamoto-san asking where we were, because they were waiting for us! Yikes!! When we turned up they were all sitting round the dinner table, ready to eat skiyaki - a dish that involves chucking in all kinds of meat, tofu, mushrooms and greens while you eat, so you have a continual supply of freshly cooked foods, done in some special skiyaki sauce. Very nutritious and very very tasty!! So, once again, we ate WAY too much. My poor little car struggled to get us home over the hills! I swear we must have been 10kg heavier than on the way in!
Ok, all this talking about food is making me feel hungry (even though I should probably have a three day famine after the amount I ate yesterday!), so I'm off to make lunch.
Hope you are all doing well. This weekend Jeff and I are going to Osaka with my work for a conferencey thing (I don't really know, I just heard 'free trip to Osaka'), so I'll be away from the net for another full week. Apologies for the infrequency of these updates... Btw, check Jeff's facebook page for a video of our house. Pretty cute, huh??
Miss you guys, take care!!
Charly
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Okinawa? Oops, no, Taiwan!
Ok, last one for a week, I promise!
Just wanted to mention last night, because it was crazy. Jeff and I had been planning a trip to Okinawa over Christmas, but had been unable to book our flights at the time of the research. We then kept not getting around to booking the flights (as you do) and weren't too worried, as it was still a month and a half out. However, when we went to book last night, the dates we wanted were taken and the dates we could manage were suddenly very expensive!
We had a little bit of indecision, with Jeff trying to research other places and finding everything was almost as expensive as flying from NZ (which was why we had decided to go to Okinawa). Finally I had a brainwave and just checked where Jet Star flew from Osaka. The answer was Singapore and Taiwan, so we are off to Taiwan! After what happened with Okinawa, I didn't want to miss out again, so I booked Taiwan right then, about half an hour after I had suggested it. Now we just have to find out what it's like and what we will do there, lol. Research schmesearch!
Charly
Just wanted to mention last night, because it was crazy. Jeff and I had been planning a trip to Okinawa over Christmas, but had been unable to book our flights at the time of the research. We then kept not getting around to booking the flights (as you do) and weren't too worried, as it was still a month and a half out. However, when we went to book last night, the dates we wanted were taken and the dates we could manage were suddenly very expensive!
We had a little bit of indecision, with Jeff trying to research other places and finding everything was almost as expensive as flying from NZ (which was why we had decided to go to Okinawa). Finally I had a brainwave and just checked where Jet Star flew from Osaka. The answer was Singapore and Taiwan, so we are off to Taiwan! After what happened with Okinawa, I didn't want to miss out again, so I booked Taiwan right then, about half an hour after I had suggested it. Now we just have to find out what it's like and what we will do there, lol. Research schmesearch!
Charly
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Yay for med forms!!
Three cheers for Dr. Shine! I have my med forms and am now just waiting on a reference and my uni paperwork...
Heated table = awesome
When I first got here they explained to me the heated table in winter concept. I thought it seemed odd. But now I understand the joy of toasty warm legs, even if the rest of the house is an ice box. The problem is, it's like a warm bath that is really hard to get out of. Except at least if you wait long enough the bath will stop being warm and you will want to get out. The heated table doesn't have that! Still toasty, with a lovely big blanket over it to keep your lap warm and trap the heat underneath.
At the moment things are just ticking along with work while I look forward to Kate's visit and try not to stress unduly about whether I will get my application together on time (and yes, you will all be aware that telling me not to stress is like telling a fish not to swim... it's not gonna happen!). So far I have received one reference, so I'm still waiting on one reference, a medical form and two bits of paper from uni. Plus I just found out I have to post my passport to Tokyo to get a JP signed copy. I spent an hour walking and driving round yesterday looking for a post office on Mukaishima, to no avail. So I need to go post it today. It has to be 'registered post', which is great... if the Japanese-speaking post office workers know the meaning of 'registered'! Because I sure don't know 'registered' in Japanese!!
Ok, I really really should get up and do something. The longer I sit here the colder my fingers get and I have stuff like laundry and supermarket shopping to get done. Jeff is coming down to Onomichi over the weekend so I won't be home, so I have to pack my bags and try to be on top of the laundry today. Otherwise I'll come home after a week away and have NO clean clothes. And for once, I don't think I would be exadgerating. Sure, I would have some summer tshirts clean, but that's not really beneficial when the temperature is nudging zero...
So you won't hear from me for at least a week. Hopefully over the weekend Jeff and I will do some exploring and will give me something interesting to report back on. But we might just chill out appreciating the relative warmth :)
Charly
At the moment things are just ticking along with work while I look forward to Kate's visit and try not to stress unduly about whether I will get my application together on time (and yes, you will all be aware that telling me not to stress is like telling a fish not to swim... it's not gonna happen!). So far I have received one reference, so I'm still waiting on one reference, a medical form and two bits of paper from uni. Plus I just found out I have to post my passport to Tokyo to get a JP signed copy. I spent an hour walking and driving round yesterday looking for a post office on Mukaishima, to no avail. So I need to go post it today. It has to be 'registered post', which is great... if the Japanese-speaking post office workers know the meaning of 'registered'! Because I sure don't know 'registered' in Japanese!!
Ok, I really really should get up and do something. The longer I sit here the colder my fingers get and I have stuff like laundry and supermarket shopping to get done. Jeff is coming down to Onomichi over the weekend so I won't be home, so I have to pack my bags and try to be on top of the laundry today. Otherwise I'll come home after a week away and have NO clean clothes. And for once, I don't think I would be exadgerating. Sure, I would have some summer tshirts clean, but that's not really beneficial when the temperature is nudging zero...
So you won't hear from me for at least a week. Hopefully over the weekend Jeff and I will do some exploring and will give me something interesting to report back on. But we might just chill out appreciating the relative warmth :)
Charly
Friday, November 5, 2010
Your weekly weather update
Hellohowareyou?Finethankshowareyou. Oops, sorry, got carried away there - standard Japanese child's phrase... Hello. Stop there...
Hmm... Jeff took a look at my blog and commented that I always seem to be telling you about the weather. Well, I could tell you it's because I'm trying to fit in here - the weather is the first thing any Japanese talks about. But I guess it's mainly because it really shows the passing of time here. I mean, in Hamilton you had a fluctuation of maybe 25 degrees over the year. Here we have had more fluctuation than that in the space of a month! Yes, on Wednesday I went for a run and there was FROST. I know winter will be really cold, but I was enjoying autumn and don't want it to race away and get cold too fast! (I say this sitting under a blanket, wearing a longsleeved merino and big sweatshirt while contemplating getting gloves...) Last night on the drive home is was 2 degrees at about 11pm, so I'm sure it would have his zero again last night. At least the sun is out now and it's a beautiful day, so I should go sit outside and soak up some vitamin D (that's the right one, isn't it?).
Umm... in other news... Oh yes, Kate is coming to visit me! My boss is going to take a holiday so Kate is going to come and cover for him! I'm so excited to show her round my little patch of Japan! I only wish Jeff and I could afford to travel with her, but we are going to Okinawa for Christmas and have my parents visiting in March, so we can't afford to do EVERYTHING. Not when we are effectively running on one salary. I feel a little... not worried for her, but maybe anxious for her, trying to travel without us or even a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese or how Japan works. But I keep reminding myself that her experience will be very different from ours. We live in an area where a Japanese woman came up to us at the supermarket, asking if we were 'Diane's friends' - she assumed that as we were white we must be friends with her neighbour Diane. And of course, although not 'friends', we knew of this Diane. So when English-speaking people are so few in our area, it's no wonder there is not much English spoken. Whereas we will be sending Kate off to big tourist mecca's, where there will be English signage and English-speakers in information centres. She will probably leave Japan wondering what we've been complaining about!
Other than that, things are looking good for getting my JET application together. My referees have been awesomely fast and have my references in the mail as I write. The only big thing is I need a JP signed copy of my passport - and of course they don't have 'JP's as such in Japan. So I asked about who I could get to sign it instead - thinking a principal or someone at Jeff's Board of Education might be able to do it. And apparently the NZ Embassy in Tokyo can do it. Holy damn, that's not convenient!!! I just hope I can post it, because Tokyo is not exactly local - taking a plane trip just to get some paperwork signed is fairly extreme!! The other option is finding an NZ lawyer in Japan, but as discussed in the previous paragraph, English-speakers are pretty thin on the ground in our parts, so I don't like my chances of finding an NZ lawyer in the local vege store or rice paddy!
So all please keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get this paperwork done WITHOUT flying to Tokyo!! Hope you are all doing well and getting some sun.
Charly
Hmm... Jeff took a look at my blog and commented that I always seem to be telling you about the weather. Well, I could tell you it's because I'm trying to fit in here - the weather is the first thing any Japanese talks about. But I guess it's mainly because it really shows the passing of time here. I mean, in Hamilton you had a fluctuation of maybe 25 degrees over the year. Here we have had more fluctuation than that in the space of a month! Yes, on Wednesday I went for a run and there was FROST. I know winter will be really cold, but I was enjoying autumn and don't want it to race away and get cold too fast! (I say this sitting under a blanket, wearing a longsleeved merino and big sweatshirt while contemplating getting gloves...) Last night on the drive home is was 2 degrees at about 11pm, so I'm sure it would have his zero again last night. At least the sun is out now and it's a beautiful day, so I should go sit outside and soak up some vitamin D (that's the right one, isn't it?).
Umm... in other news... Oh yes, Kate is coming to visit me! My boss is going to take a holiday so Kate is going to come and cover for him! I'm so excited to show her round my little patch of Japan! I only wish Jeff and I could afford to travel with her, but we are going to Okinawa for Christmas and have my parents visiting in March, so we can't afford to do EVERYTHING. Not when we are effectively running on one salary. I feel a little... not worried for her, but maybe anxious for her, trying to travel without us or even a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese or how Japan works. But I keep reminding myself that her experience will be very different from ours. We live in an area where a Japanese woman came up to us at the supermarket, asking if we were 'Diane's friends' - she assumed that as we were white we must be friends with her neighbour Diane. And of course, although not 'friends', we knew of this Diane. So when English-speaking people are so few in our area, it's no wonder there is not much English spoken. Whereas we will be sending Kate off to big tourist mecca's, where there will be English signage and English-speakers in information centres. She will probably leave Japan wondering what we've been complaining about!
Other than that, things are looking good for getting my JET application together. My referees have been awesomely fast and have my references in the mail as I write. The only big thing is I need a JP signed copy of my passport - and of course they don't have 'JP's as such in Japan. So I asked about who I could get to sign it instead - thinking a principal or someone at Jeff's Board of Education might be able to do it. And apparently the NZ Embassy in Tokyo can do it. Holy damn, that's not convenient!!! I just hope I can post it, because Tokyo is not exactly local - taking a plane trip just to get some paperwork signed is fairly extreme!! The other option is finding an NZ lawyer in Japan, but as discussed in the previous paragraph, English-speakers are pretty thin on the ground in our parts, so I don't like my chances of finding an NZ lawyer in the local vege store or rice paddy!
So all please keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get this paperwork done WITHOUT flying to Tokyo!! Hope you are all doing well and getting some sun.
Charly
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