Saturday, October 24, 2009

Leaky Faucet

If you were lucky enough to catch this post about 24 hours ago, you would have read a long personal rant. For sake of realizing that that probably isn't that enjoyable for many people to read, I decided to delete it and make my rant shorter.

Basically what it boils down is that I am dissatisfied with some of my decisions in life, or more accurately my lack of action upon ideas and goals. Basically I am not attaining my goals except a few superficial ones that I set for myself. I feel like I am wasting, or at least not using my time wisely. It seems like ever since I graduated high school and could actually start making choices and living my life I have been at a constant struggle between who I am in the moment and who I want to be. Surprisingly these two people, although myself, are different.


Hey do you like yourself?

After pondering over some things, I felt like I am wasting the little time I have here in Japan. But then stepping back I realize that I am not wasting my time since I usually do pretty cool things like ride a bike around Japan's largest lake. But I feel I am not utilizing my time to the fullest to achieve my goals. Many times I just feel lazy and worn out, but I realize this is not from doing nothing it is just from spinning my wheels most of the time, especially when it comes to social aspects in my life.

Living out in the countryside of Japan makes it even that much more difficult for me to find a social circle. Which I already feel I have issues meeting and becoming good friends with people in an easy environment. I just don't know how to meet locals, specifically my own age, in a relaxed and social environment. I met a 22 year old girl who is doing an internship at one of the elementary schools I teach at in my town and she grew up here, but is currently going to school in Tokyo. So I asked for some advice. I figured someone my own age who grew up in this town could offer me some insight on something fun to do. Unfortunately her answer was the same as everyone else's, in that there is nothing to do. I also found out that I am probably more out in the sticks than I previously thought since apparently my town has monkey sightings once and a while! WhooHoo!


The country does offer good sunsets, although through a cell phone lens.

Ah then there is the story of the leaky faucet. My kitchen faucet squirts out water, but I have fixed it with duct tape (Red Neck?). So far for about 3 weeks. This method seems easier at the moment since communicating with my supervisor in Japanese about a cracked faucet seems more difficult than the current solution. Plus since I haven't been utilizing my time productively after work, mainly napping and relaxing, my apartment is a mess and don't really want my supervisor to stop by to look at it.

I guess I am just feeling isolated, lonely and bummed. It doesn't help that the sun sets at about 5PM now, making my evenings even less exciting since solo adventures seem to be inhibited, or rather unmotivated, when it is cold and dark. Makes me really want to find a group of friends in or close to my town, or even a better option: single sexy female.

Nonetheless today I took a train ride to Hikone and bought a $40 used Timberland jacket shell. Don't know if the price was really worth it, but it fit me (no easy task in Japan) and with some waterproofing spay it may even be good for a light rain shower or snowboarding.

I also saw a weasel scamper across the mall's floor. Seriously! Highlight of my day. Haha.

So at least I went somewhere over this weekend. Can hardly believe I arrived in Japan 3 months ago. Teaching for 2 months already. But at the same time ONLY two months. Somehow I am in a paradox, it feels like I should be doing more and having more experiences somehow, but I have only been here for a short amount of time and looking back have experienced so much already.

I guess it is just that the experiences I want to experience the most are not being experienced. If that makes any sense. The battle continues between who I am, and who I want to be...letting opportunities and time slip between my fingers like the water slips between the crack in my leaky faucet.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Tale of a Large Lake and a Tiny Bicycle.

This past weekend I rode 165km (110mi) on a bicycle around Japan's largest lake, Lake Biwa. It was an organized event with other JETs who live in Shiga, and overall a great experience. Along the way we saw many beautiful things and had a few interesting conversations.

We started out in Nagahama (a city north of me) around 9AM. Here I rented my bicycle, but not just any bicycle mind you. I rented a mamachari which are generally close distance bicycles with baskets mounted on the front for picking up groceries. If I was 5'4" it may have been a good size for me, but basically it was like riding a BMX bike for 110 miles. You can kind of see these 'speed demons' in the picture below.


Southeast Shiga represent the mamachari


We rode many miles and through a few tunnels and mountains. I was even lucky enough to see a huge monkey while riding through a mountain pass. AWESOME! Then we ran into some rain, which sucked since all I had was a 100 yen ($1) raincoat which was slightly small and just allowed my jeans to get soaked completely.


Heading to the mountains


Japan is not all neon.

Anyway, after enduring the elements and seeing a few more sights we arrived at our Bed and Breakfast called B.B. Dylan. Apparently the owner is a Bob Dylan fan, so the place had a weird atmosphere of Bob Dylan apparel, Disney toys and random Japanese stuff. Then it was off to an onsen (hot spring) to rest our tired bodies. Usually I don't like going to onsen with a lot of other people, there were about 8 in our group, but I knew it would help me through the next day of riding.


To infinity and beyond!

So after returning to B.B. Dylan and playing a card game resembling "Mafia" but with werewolves for 3 hours, I slept like the dead. Only to wake up 7 hours later at about 7AM. Thankfully my body was generous to me, and wasn't sore. We had breakfast, coffee and then hit the road. It was a great day with no rain and more beautiful scenery and even a few weird places like a Holland Theme Park.


Like inter dimensional travel to Holland. What?


Wind surfers loading up

Towards the end of the day, especially the last hour was very tiring. If I had to go any farther, I am almost positive I couldn't make it. My leg muscles were about ready to give up due to both biking nonstop for hours and also being cramped on my bicycle. But we were rewarded with an amazing view, as if it could only happen in a dream.


My favorite picture. A sacred rock, pierces the heavens.

Overall, it was a victory and a weekend well spent. Unfortunately I am extremely tired today and have to go to work, plus I feel like I might have a sore throat. Thankfully I only have to teach one class, which usually I find boring but today am very satisfied sitting in the office.

On another note, my Thailand plans are coming together. I purchased my tickets to Thailand for about $650 and have been accepted into the volunteer program. So I will be in Thailand from December 19 - January 1st. Currently my plans are volunteering in the jungle and then heading down to the south islands to sit in paradise for a couple days. SWEET!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Onward to Osaka

Osaka! A city of big lights and great eats! A bustling metropolis who is only dwarfed in size by Yokohama and Tokyo. In a way, I think it is the gem (as far as metropolises) of Japan.

Osaka is in Kansai, which is the most historically rich part of Japan. It is next to the old capital Kyoto or only a half hour or so out into the country side and it is known as one of the best places to eat in Japan. Many times Osaka is considered Japan's culinary capital. While Tokyo may be bigger it is also more expensive. Also Tokyo seems to be covered mainly with black ties and suit coats where although Osaka has it's fair share of salary men, at night the colors come alive and Osaka becomes a whole new animal. People say that the people of Osaka know how to work hard, but they also know how to play harder. From my experience, this is probably not far from the truth.

Saturday morning I headed out to Osaka to tour a beer factory. It was pretty interesting to see, and the tour was in English so I could actually understand it. Plus we got 3 free glasses of beer. SCORE! After this I was trying to find a group that I would have the most fun with. It takes me about $20 to get to Osaka, so if I spend that much to get there, I want to make the most of my time.

I decided I would go with a group to eat Mexican food, which is a rarity in Japan. So after a pretty pricey and small portion of enchiladas (nothing like the price/produce ratio in the U.S. when it comes to Mexican) it was off to a bar to relax for a while a couple hours since the night was young and we were deciding what we were gonna do.

After a bit more wandering me and two fellas decided to find a club. Which I was pretty stoked about since I really don't like clubbing in the U.S. (at all) but have never been to a Japanese club. Lucky for us, what we had in store was something to write in the record books.

We actually didn't enter the club which I think was called "Soundroom" until about 1AM. We found it at about midnight but there was a $25 cover charge. So since we all burned a lot of cash, we decided to think about it. The place looked awesome though, on the outside it was somewhat Reggae and the inside sounded like they were pumping some good House music. Plus, it wasn't a foreigner club, which I heard pretty much suck and are left for the tourists and the ex-pats that are afraid of cultural integration, or are just looking for a chick that likes English speakers.

Anyway, so we entered. The first room had a semi-decent live DJ mixing tracks on LP. It was a bit more laid back resembling a lounge instead of a dance floor with the bar to order drinks and a place for people to cool out.

Through another door was the dance room. Which had some amazing awesome music that definitely had a taste of the 70s disco inspiration. These DJs knew how to play it, and were skilled because they also mixed everything live. Now I am no dancer, but the base was pumping and I just decided to let it go. Since most Japanese guys don't dance anyway, Japan is the best place to go clubbing because even if you do a little, you will get complements on how well you dance. The club was a good place (would definitely go back) with pretty awesome people, from those we could hear, but around 5AM it started to get a little sleazy and that night we decided we weren't for it. So after 5 hours of 'dancing' we left the club and headed to our capsule hotel to get 3 hours of sleep.


The capsules


Inside the capsule

Surprisingly I could fit in these capsules, they were relatively comfortable. Normally I heard if you were over 190cm you couldn't fit, but these definitely were 2m long. So awesome. Not bad for $35 a night.

The next morning was spent finding an English book store and then off to Otsu to watch a festival. Overall 2 packed full days, the first where I starting drinking at noon at the beer factory and didn't end until 5AM at the club, running on 3 hours of sleep, to the next day watching a pretty sweet festival and finally crashing at about 11PM in the comfort of my own bed.


Traditional in the city.



Large carts to be pulled throughout the streets.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Coffee, Thailand, Typhoons OH MY!

As you may have guessed, I will be talking about coffee (sorta), Thailand, and Typhoons!!! AWESOME!

First, Coffee.

Yesterday I traveled 1 hour for coffee at a Starbucks, for a "date." Since it is hard for me to network in the sticks I have turned to the worlds largest network, the internet. After many fruitless efforts I got a reply from a 28 year old woman who lives in Kyoto! YAY! Although 28 is closer to the end of my datable age spectrum, I haven't been on a date for...a long time and if anything coffee is awesome! We both basically agreed that we were just looking for friends at the moment though. Which is fine by me because I like to get to know my women before I decide to begin anything serious.

Anyway, I was ready to meet this woman, who actually I didn't know her name, occupation, appearance (yes I never saw a picture of her), or anything really except we would meet at Starbucks at 6PM. At first sight, I would say she probably wasn't my type although I am sure having her charms. In other words it wasn't love at first sight.

Anyway, talking to her was fun. We both knew enough English and Japanese to basically carry on some conversations from about 6PM to 10PM. The good thing about 28 year old Japanese women is generally they are more mature than the early 20 year olds that almost seem like they are 16 (as far as mentality goes anyway).

Overall a good experience, and possibly a good friend. Which is great because everyone I meet builds to my ability to meet more people. Granted in the end this is probably not who I am looking for as far as a girlfriend.

Second, Thailand.

So I have been meaning to go to Thailand for some time now. Seriously for about 2 years since I made an amazing friend that lives there. I was planning to go in May during Golden Week, but I just caught wind of a volunteer opportunity in Thailand for abandoned children. Basically I would go to a remote part of Thailand and teach English and do other stuff (hopefully) while there. The place is called Baan Unrak and it is in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand. You can read more about the organization here http://www.baanunrak.org/

Overall it seems amazing. Yoga in the mornings, vegetarian food (although I myself am not a vegetarian) and best of all, it doesn't seem to be indoctrinated with a religion. Just people learning to be good without relying on the fear of eternal damnation if they are not! AWESOME!

If I end up doing this, I will volunteer there from December 20 - 27th. Christmas in Thailand with a bunch of cute little kids, sounds like a pretty sweet deal. The only problem is, I will probably have to take off quite a few days of work especially since I will probably want to stay there during New Years to travel a bit more on my own, visit my friend, and see a Thai New Year firework display!

There seems to be some things that I need figure out first though. Before I go I have to sell 300 Christmas cards (made by the children) for 100 yen ($1.10ish) a piece, which seems like a lot since I don't know many people in Japan. Even if I convince all my Japanese teachers (who don't even celebrate Christmas) to buy one, that is only like 30 cards... So I might have to employ my family and friends overseas to buy these handmade cards and deposit money in my U.S. bank account while I send a stack of cards to them. So with this said, if you you are reading this (especially if you plan on sending out Christmas cards this year) you should contact me and let me know if you would be willing to buy a handful of cards. All the money goes directly to supporting the kids within this organization, as far as I know anyway.

Third, Typhoon!!

So today I actually asked if I could take a personal holiday. I think I get 20 days a year, and in a way looking back I wish I didn't take it. But when I woke up today I was REALLY tired (maybe almost feeling sick) and didn't have any actual classes to teach this day (I was told yesterday they were cancelled). So most of my day would have probably consisted of sitting at my desk staring at my computer and trying to look busy when in all reality DOING NOTHING! Instead sleeping till noon and playing my Nintendo DS seemed like a better plan. Hopefully my supervisor wasn't too mad, or it didn't cause too much trouble calling him at such short notice. He said in a text message, "OK you can take nenkyu (holiday) today, but next time I would like you to tell me earlier. Have a good day!" After thinking how precious my personal holidays really are, I decided this will probably be the last time I will use it in this way. Since if I go to Thailand I will probably need to use about 10-days and then will want to use as many as I can when family visits.

Oh right typhoons...

Japan is going to get pummeled by a typhoon for the next few days. I probably actually missed some important info at work (if I would understand it) about typhoons and what to expect. But for those who don't know a typhoon is basically a hurricane, but in the Wastern Pacific Ocean and are generally stronger due to the warmer waters of the Western Pacific. Or so I am told. Since I am in central Japan and surrounded by mountains, hopefully the damage will be pretty minimal, but we are still islands and although the main part of the typhoon hasn't hit us (and won't for 2 more days) it is pretty rainy now.

That's all for my rather uneventful adventures for the beginning of October.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

English Hike

So the weekend has come and gone once again, and I decided I should share a bit of my activities since it wasn't an event-less couple days.

I kicked off my weekend early by inviting another assistant English teacher to my place to make okonomiyaki. Fortunately my cooking abilities passed the test. I thought it was pretty delicious anyway.

Saturday was a volunteer day for me. Since I am still trying to meet locals I decided to volunteer for an "English Hike" around Omihachiman City, a city about an hour away by train from where I live, Hino. I actually went there not knowing much except that we were going to walk around the city and go to some places like museums, shrines, etc., and then we would have a short quiz in English afterwards.

I woke up at 7AM and made my way to Omihachiman by 9:00. I signed in and joined with a few nice people from Shiga Bank. Unfortunately it looked like my group wouldn't really lend me to my peer group age since the average age seemed to be hovering around 40 with maybe the youngest being two girls in their late 20s or early 30s (I find the age of Japanese women hard to gauge sometimes). Either way, they were really cool and after a while I realized I lucked out.

The first place we went was up a ropeway to a mountain top where an old castle use to stand and saw a great view of the city. Before volunteering I was told I would have to pay for all my entrance fees and whatnot, but my group was paying for mine. I guess it pays to volunteer to speak in English to bankers...


It isn't the ocean, but a huge lake. Lake Biwa

After a few more wanderings at about 50% English capacity we stopped for lunch. To my surprise we were going to eat Omi-beef. Now outside of Japan Omi-beef isn't really well known, but I am sure most have heard fo Kobe-beef. Omi-beef is basically the same grade of beef in Japan which also translates as EXPENSIVE! For about 10 small thin slices of beef to throw on your individual grill along with a few other things like a salad and miso soup the cost was about $40. So besides getting a free tour of the town I scored a lunch that I otherwise may have never eaten in my life! I was also given the advice by the 55 year old-ish banker (far right in the picture below), "I would recommend Japanese women." Which I found to be a bit of awkward advice, but nonetheless good to know I guess...


My group, minus one guy who had to leave early.

All in all, although I was hoping to find a few people to hang out with on the weekends during this hike, it was pretty interesting. Better than my Sunday which consisted of laundry, sleeping, watching the movie "7 years in Tibet," cooking dinner and watching confusing Japanese television

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Speedanki

*This is a post for those interested in learning Kanji for studying Japanese, if you have no interest in such things, this post may be boring*

Recently I have had a lot of downtime, both at work and in my 'free' time. In order to curb my boredom and try to make use of the free time I am given, besides drinking coffee, watching movies, TV, video games and long naps (which are all great btw) I decided to tackle the 2000 some required Kanji (Chinese characters) used in the Japanese Alphabet.

Since I am pretty lazy, as reflected in my day to day hobbies mentioned above, my previous efforts to make my own 2000 some kanji cards have been pretty...bad.

While bored at work one day (happens a lot) I decided to search for a web based kanji flash card site. While stumbling across a few, I came across http://www.speedanki.com/ which seems to serve its purpose.

Now it seems no system is perfect, especially a free one, but this one seems pretty good. It separates the required 2000-ish kanji into four levels that correspond to the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test).

The site gives it's own recommendation on how to study but I found that it doesn't incorporate a very good way to learn how to write the kanji. So I will share how I have been using the site for those interested. (You must have already mastered the Japanese kana alphabets to use this site to full potential)

Within each of the 4 levels that the kanji are separated in, you can sub-categorize the kanji into "Unread," "Read," "Familiar," "Mastered," and "Review."

The "Unread" folder is for Kanji that I have no idea what it is. I can't even read it.

The "Read" folder is for Kanji that I can read and can somewhat grasp the meaning.

The "Familiar" folder is for Kanji that I know the meaning, reading, and somewhat how to write.

*I practice writing by just reading the hiragana and simply writing the kanji in a notebook*

Once I can write the kanji, know its meaning and read it somewhat confidently I put it in the "Mastered" folder.

I then practice some other kanji, sorting them through these folders. After a few days I look at the "Mastered" folder and move what I know to the "Review" folder. When all kanji from one of the four levels is in the "Mastered" and/or "Review" folder I move to the next level (for example 3-kyu). I repeat this process, and then will try to test myself after some time with the previous levels, moving the kanji I don't know back to appropriate folders.

Like I said this system isn't perfect though. It doesn't actually teach you how to write the kanji (stroke order) or the kanji "on" and "kun" readings. But what it does do is let you learn kanji compounds and vocabulary while learning kanji, which in my opinion might even be better than learning the abstract sounds that each kanji make since you will be able to learn and recognize new words.

I think this is a good alternative or support to flash cards such as those made by White Rabbit Press, especially since you don't actually have to keep track of real cards.