Beached as

Hey there,

It has got so hot over here in the last couple of weeks, making that important (slightly painful) move from temperatures in the 20’s to in the low 30’s.  I’ve been struggling with that, but this morning I found the PERFECT antidote. 

First off, you should know that a) it’s horrible exercising in this heat, so I try to avoid it, and b) we are climbing Mt Fuji in less than two weeks, so I want to be fit for that.  So this morning I pushed myself into going for a run on the beach.  Usually I think about this and don’t do it, as although the beach is less than five minutes’ drive away, getting there involves walking from my flat to my car (a few hundred metres), opening the two gates (one locked, the other a hooked up chain) to get into the work carpark, driving my car out and closing the two gates behind me again.  It always seems such a hassle that I talk myself out of driving anywhere and just end up going to the expensive supermarket that is within easy walking distance.  But today I was determined to go for my beach run, so I made the effort of getting the car out and doing it.  I was all prepared, with hat and sunscreen for my face, ipod to keep me entertained and bikini underneath so I was ready for the end of my run!  I ran to the end of the beach (I’m telling myself it was a km but I could be totally overestimating it!), along the rock wall extending into the water and halfway back, just walking the last half a beach length.  I was pleased I had that much stamina considering I haven’t run in months and I was on sand in over 30 degree heat!  Finally, back near my car, I stripped off – aware I was the only adult going deeper than knees (with the notable exception of a bloke in his rash vest, bathing cap, flippers and some odd paddles on his hands, who still only seemed to go waist deep).  I would like to say I plunged into the icy water, but it was more that I eased in to the cool shallows, anxiously avoiding all the floating seaweed.  But submerging myself in that saltiness was divine.  It was like being barefoot after a night in heels, like chocolate after a detox, like a home-cooked meal after six months of flatting… 

Of course, all this is great news as the swim was such a blissful experience that it made it worth doing the run.  I have hope this will help motivate me to fit in a few more runs, particularly over the next couple of weeks before climbing Mt. Fuji.  I realise it sounds stupid, a last-ditch effort to get fit in two weeks, but I have been doing ok at my weights workouts at home, so it’s just a matter of trying to use these two weeks to focus on the muscles I will need most for the climb. 

Now it’s getting late, so I should retire to bed (after a cold shower), in the hopes of getting to the beach a little earlier tomorrow.  Early = cool.  I dream of being cool.  I fantasise about those winter snows.  I never truly appreciated them – actually, that’s not true.  The memory of last summer’s heat has stayed with me all year, meaning even in the coldest part of winter, I could easily quell my complaints with a mental reminder that at least it wasn’t summer. 

Night,

Charly

Shopping weekend

It’s a grey and rainy Monday, the start of another week here in Kurashiki.  I’m sulking because I have a sore throat and a buzzing head, but I know Jeff has been dealing with constant headaches the last month, so I can’t complain and expect too much sympathy.  As much as I’m enjoying my job down here, there is a lot to be said for having someone at home to look after you when you’re not feeling 100%. 

Last night Mum booked her flights to Japan, so that’s really exciting!  She will be here for slightly over a month.  NZ passports can only stay for a month without a visa, but on her UK passport she can stay six months – nice.  Although it sounds like Kate may possibly be the most excited person – I think she is really looking forward to having someone to discuss her time in Japan with. 

This past weekend Jeff came down to visit me in Kurashiki.  Friday night started brilliantly (for me, anyway), because when I got off work I found Jeff had prepared me a big dinner of fresh salad (vegies provided by a sharing neighbour) with tempura prawn and a piece of salmon cooked in foil with basil pesto.  It was so great having someone cook dinner for me.  Even better to come home from work to find someone has cooked dinner for me; there is something about finishing an eight hour day and NOT having to prepare your own food.  As I pointed out to Jeff, this is almost the first time I’ve been able to come home from work to someone else’s cooking all year (with the exception of when Kate was visiting – a couple of times she finished teaching before I did and would prepare something for when I got in).  Dessert was the famous Japanese ‘pudding’, another gift from our generous neighbours.

On Saturday we had a lazy morning then drove into the Tamashima train station.  There we caught a train into Okayama.  This was a revelation, as last time we went into Okayama we spent hours on wet roads, fighting hundreds of cars.  The train was much faster and stress  free – well, the trip in anyway.  On the homeward journey we jumped on a train that turned out to turn inland two stops before ours.  We then had to spend at least half an hour waiting at a tiny little train station in a tiny, mist-covered mountain town, waiting for a train back in to Kurashiki.  Back in Kurashiki we were able to change to a train that got us back to Tamashima no more than, oh, an hour and a half after we should have been there! 

Other than this, Saturday was a very successful day.  I found the hairdresser I had been recommended (they are used to Western hair – very important for me!) and got a cute cut.  I just hope I can style it on my own…  I particularly impressed myself because the hairdresser spoke about the same amount of English as I spoke Japanese, so we ended up communicating in, say, 80% Japanese and 20% English.  I was there for over an hour and we chatted almost constantly.  We couldn’t talk about anything in-depth, but we were able to ask and answer questions and generally understand each other.  Usually I let Jeff deal with the Japanese conversation, so it was great for me, both as practice and as a confidence-booster.  While I was doing this Jeff did a bit of shopping, buying beer and snacks at the import store and getting me a book at the store that has an English section (it is a book called 24 Eyes.  They made a movie of it and when we were in Shikoku we visited the village that was built as the movie set).  When I was done we wandered round a few more shops, weaving our way round the underground mall, before heading home early.  You know what happened then!

On Sunday we headed into the big mall in Kurashiki, with the main objective of buying Jeff socks.  He keeps trying to buy socks that turn out to be too small, so my sock collection is growing quickly!  However, we managed to find him stretchy socks and a new work bag, while I bought a couple of blokes singlets – the only way I can find a singlet that is sure to fit me and isn’t unflatteringly clingy.  Lunch was Subway – ah, Subway, how I had missed you!

Back in Tamashima we went for a walk on the beach before Jeff went home.  As it was a warm weekend, the beach was very popular with a number of groups on the sand.  However, the only people in the water was one woman wading ankle deep and a toddler.  As we pulled into the carpark we watched a woman in jean shorts and stiletto gladiator sandals gingerly step onto the sand and walk down towards the water.  No wonder when we took the Chinese students from the hall of residence to the beach, they didn’t know to bring swimsuits! 

Work starts in just over an hour, so I should get dressed and have something to eat.  I might take a bottle of juice to work to make my throat feel better.  I only have to teach three classes this evening, but I only have ten minutes break between each one, so I’m not looking forward to it.  I guess I’m being a drama queen about this, but it’s just there is no-one/nothing happening to distract me from feeling urcky today (yes, that is a word, ok!). 

Bye,

Charly

Halfway to a placement!

The big news atm is that we are partway to hearing a placement.  We have been told I will be in Hiroshima-ken, (Hiroshima prefecture) but no more, so we expect I will probably be in a high school (elementary and junior high school JETs tend to get told a more specific placement).  We expect to hear exactly where I'm going in July, but it's fingers crossed for it being close enough to Jinseki that I can live at home. 

A couple of minutes ago an odd thing happened.  The apartment shook, just a little and just for a couple of seconds.  The building also shakes when my neighbour starts his incredibly noisy car, so this doesn't mean much, but - not being used to earthquakes - I wondered briefly if it was a truck driving past or something that had done it, although I hadn't heard anything...  Thirty seconds later I got a text from Jeff (in Jinseki, two hours away) saying 'Earthquake!'  I know for people used to earthquakes this will seem stupid, particularly because it was so tiny (I'm thinking of Christchurch as I write this!), but I find it bizarre, overwhelming and a little frightening that Jeff and I, so far away from each other, are both being shook around by the same movement of the earth.  There is no escaping the power of Mother Nature here.  Considering we were told Jinseki doesn't get earthquakes, that makes the fourth one in the less-than-a-year we have lived there!  I know Jeff thinks nothing of them, having grown up in earthquake-prone parts of NZ, but it's a big deal for Aucklander Charly!

Now, for the grand finale of this update: my Mum is coming to visit me in Japan!!  My boss had her new employee pull out pretty last minute, so I offered to work the first three weeks of July - taking the last week off to have a few days away with Jeff, make the transition from living in Kurashiki to living in Jinseki (or a new town/flat) and to pack my bags for the training in Tokyo.  I get a little anxious when I think about everything I have to do in those five days, actually...  Anyway, I have organised for Mum to come and help out for that last week of July when I'm away.  Yay!  As you would expect, I'm really really excited about showing Mum around.  It's a pity it will be in the middle of the summer heat, but I'm still hoping that she will come back for the autumn leaves or cherry blossoms :)

I had a very cringeworthy moment with my students tonight.  It is the most advanced group of youngsters, ranging in age from nine to about twelve.  Their reader is set in America and shows a range of nationalities, with the lead character being a boy in a wheelchair - all very PC stuff.  Until one of the girls pointed at the worried-looking black man, the teacher Mr. Williams, and said "Obama!"  I knew I should just drop it - there was noone there to be offended - but one of the things I find hard about Japan is the complete lack of cultural diversity.  In all reality these kids have probably never seen a black person, and maybe never will.  But, all the same, I felt obliged to try to explain that I understood it was hard in Japan, because most people here are Japanese, but that saying he looked like Obama just because he was black was rude, and that it was like me saying they all looked the same because they were Japanese (there was no irony in this; the class consisted of a younger girl all grins, two older girls - one more hesitant, the other with a shrewd twinkle in her eye and a serious older boy.  All very different looks and personalities).  Of course, I was still doing a double cringe listening to myself, remembering some of the racist anti-Asian sentiments I have heard in NZ, but it just fueled my anti-racist fire!  I think the girl understood what I was trying to explain... 

Of course, with my boss and I both being natural blondes with that pale/pinky skin tone specific to blondes, the students have probably already concluded that all Europeans look alike!  At least when Mum visits they will see that Europeans come in more than one colour, lol.  It's stupid, but I wish I could bring Beth here and substitute her for me for a day, to see the reactions.  People who know us never get us mixed up (we are very different - hair style, hair colour, skin colour, weight, face, body, etc.  Actually I'm not sure what's so alike...), but people who have only just met us often get us mixed up and when we go out together we occasionally get asked if we are twins.  So I would be very curious to see how many of the students and parents at the school would assume she was me (with dyed hair, perhaps?) and how many 'see' me clearly enough as an individual to see Beth as a different individual. 

Ok, time for me to clean the bathroom and get to bed!  Jeff is coming down tomorrow so I have to make the house look spick and span and pretend it's always like that! :D

Night,
Charly

Waiting...

Hi people,

Well, this is really only a courtesy update, because NOTHING'S HAPPENING!!  Jeff and I are still waiting on hearing about my JET placement.  I was told I would hear in May, but that didn't happen...  Now I live for the moment I check my emails every morning.  And I am disappointed every morning.
 
At my temporary job, I originally thought that if the JET placement wasn't in a good location, I could just keep this job instead.  But the JET placement took way too long so they well and truly had someone lined up.  But on Monday their new employee pulled out, saying she had received a better job offer at home. 

All signs had pointed to this week being when we found out about JET ('all signs' meaning the opinions/rumours circulating on JET forums Jeff was checking out), which meant again I was in a position where if the JET offer wasn't good, I could have taken this job.  However, three out of five days into the week there has been nothing and Jeff's forums are suggesting there have been delays of another couple of weeks.  So again, it looks like I will miss out on this job even if I need it because JET doesn't come through!  Jeff is reminding me to be optimistic, that JET will probably give me something closer than this, but I like having a Plan B. 

The good news (for me) is that, with the new employee pulling out last minute, Cindy suddenly needed July covered.  I straight away said I could cover the first three weeks, so she only needed someone for the last week.  While on one hand it would have been nice to have some time to get myself organised before I start my new JET placement in August, and to spend some time with Jeff (especially if my new job will also involve living away from home), I am very very nervous about the summer heat, clearly remembering how miserable I was last summer, so I think being down here in an air-conditioned building with small impatient children keeping my mind off the heat is a good distraction technique.  Plus, of course, the extra money is always appreciated. 

However, there was still the final week in July when Cindy needs a teacher.  I told her that Matt had paid Kate's air fare in return for her covering for a couple of weeks and suggested one of my sisters might be interested in that, if she had no-one suitable over here (I knew she didn't).  So now I'm encouraging Beth to come see me in Japan; working for a week then travelling and hanging out at my place for a week.  Would be awesome to have a second sister come visit!! 

Other than that, things aren't so peachy on the Draper homefront, so if you see one, hug a Draper today :(

Charly, Jeff & Kuma

P.S. A big shoutout to Jason and Shelley who have a new addition to the family - well done you two!!