lobstah dinnah

to be completely honest, i don't remember anything from tuesday (the second day of orientation), other than the fact that that night i stayed in and hit the hay very early. the next morning (yesterday), the other miyazaki prefecturalites and i left the hotel at 7am to catch our flight to miyazaki city.

the flight started off fine; i was chatting with a great australian JET named lachlan, periodically looking out the window at the rainclouds below, and digesting a "tokyo banana" and "wasabi kitkat" that other JETs had shared. the tokyo banana was like a very squishy, gooey, delicately banana-flavored twinkie. the wasabi kitkat was just that - a light green kitkat bar, with wasabi paste in the waffle cookie. both were surprisingly oishii (delicious).

towards the end of the flight, however, things got dicey. REALLY DICEY. the plane was bobbing up and down with turbulence as we descended through rain clouds. people were going, "whoaaa ohhhhh!!!" i looked out the window as we jerked along, and noticed that we were only about 20 feet above the ocean. this was not comforting. there was no land in sight.

then, miraculously, on the airplane tvs, a camera view from the bottom of the plane showed that we were approaching lights and land. a runway! we barely made it over a thin rocky coast, then bumpily landed on the runway; no joke, we first touched down about 10 feet from the ocean.

but we were in miyazaki, safe and sound, so who cared! it was raining like nobody's business, but that didn't dampen our spirits! after landing, we had a small miyazaki orientation at the airport, which included lunch (i got awesome bibimbap...which is korean), and then our supervisors came to meet us. lester, my predecessor, came with my supervisor yuka to pick me up, and i was so happy to meet them.

yuka drove us all back to nobeoka, which took about two and a half hours. i didn't mind the length at all! the three of us chatted the whole way, but i was mesmerized by the astonishing natural beauty we passed along the way. there were mountains, glimpses of the ocean, and so much green i thought my eyeballs were going to explode. and i counted over THREE waterfalls that were just chilling on the side of the freeway!

incidentally, we also had to slow down a few times to drive through pools of disinfectant. miyazaki has been suffering from a foot-and-mouth disease epidemic for the past few months, so there's disinfectant everywhere. luckily, on tuesday, our beloved celebrity governor announced that the crisis was over. i guess now i can go back to sticking my foot in my mouth!

all dumb jokes aside, we arrived in nobeoka at around 5pm, and i got to meet shingo, my other supervisor. in his totally fabulous new car, complete with dashboard television blasting hip hop videos, he took us to get my inkan, or stamp (acts like a signature here). the guy in the shop clearly thought it was hilarious that whitey was getting one, as he kept laughing and pointing at me!

we also stopped by my new school, where i met a few of the other teachers, kyoto sensei (the vice principal), and kocho sensei (the principal). i kept hearing the word nihongo as people pointed at me--basically, asking if i spoke japanese. i was really embarrassed at how badly i was at introducing myself, and how i couldn't communicate at all and was doing the bowing all wrong, so i was a little glad when we gathered my shipped luggage and headed for the apartment.

it was still pouring outside, so we hurried my bags into the building--which happens to be riddled with spiders. the stairway ceilings, which are low, have huge webs with the beasts. i embarrassed myself further by whimpering pathetically as we climbed, trying not to look at the critters.

we finally made it, and i was pleasantly surprised by how huge the apartment is. there are two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathing room, and best of all--a balcony and WESTERN TOILET! cue napoleon dynamite voice: "luuuckkkyyy..."

i am really fortunate to have a very knowledgeable, helpful, and understanding predecessor (lester), who explained everything about the apartment before taking me to dinner at his friend ryoko's. ryoko was cooking a "lobster dinner," and kindly agreed to let lester and me partake in the festivities. she picked us up, and ten minutes later we arrived at her absolutely beautiful house. it was pristinely decorated, and everything was spotless to a degree i didn't think imaginable!

lester and i wanted to help ryoko make the food, so she allowed us to whip up some tempura. first, though, she had to kill two small lobsters that were scuttling around. i thought we were going to boil them. i should've known not to make assumptions! ryoko pulled out a huge knife, flipped them over, and crunchily split them in two. as she hacked away at the flailing lobsters, lester quietly asked me, "are you okay?" because i think i looked shell-shocked.

luckily, i didn't have time to think about it. ryoko deftly popped the lobster halves in the oven, then showed lester and i how to make the tempura. we dipped some veggies and shrimp in batter, then bathed them in the spluttering oil. i wasn't very good at it due to my lackluster chopstick skills, but it was fun nonetheless.

as we cooked, lester and i coversed with ryoko in japanese and english, respectively. her english was really good, so that was exciting! after finishing up with the food preparations, she allowed us to carry the plates over to the table, which was beautifully set and covered with eight different dishes of food. i had always thought that at those low japanese tables, people sat cross-legged on the floor. turns out, under the table there is a large space in the floor so that you can dangle your legs underneath. it's so quaint!

ryoko's husband and mother-in-law joined us for dinner, neither of whom spoke japanese. this made me feel a little bit abashed, since i couldn't adequately communicate anything about msyelf or how much i was in awe of everything japanese. however, they were all so warm, welcoming and generous that i felt pretty much at ease. booze was a must. we started with beer, which i ate with my tempura, cabbage, potato dish, and rice. then, ryoko's husband insisted on cracking open a bottle of fancy japanese whiskey; i felt like it would be really rude to refuse, so i had a large glass while digging into the baked lobster. i ended up feeling horribly anyways, but for a different reason.

before dinner, i'd noticed that my baked lobster had something bright orange in the stomach region, which looked suspiciously like intestines...or poop. lester magnanimously agreed to switch plates with me--something he'd live to regret. ryoko later pointed out to lester that his now orange-infested lobster was swollen with eggs--and she insisted that he eat the tang-colored goo, as it was "very important." i couldn't even watch as he braved the neon mess, it was just too painful and guilt-inducing.

however, there was plenty of other delicious cuisine to make up for the moment of discomfort. the main attraction of the meal was lobster sashimi, which apparently is very delicate and expensive. there was just a buttnekkid lobster, unadulterated and uncooked, in the middle of the table. ryoko and others kept insisting i take more, more, MORE, which made me feel very warm, fuzzy, and cared for. the whole time i was thinking of my dad, and how much he would have liked to partake in a wholly authentic and home-cooked japanese seafood meal. i hope i done you proud, papa! i also was instantly reminded of him when ryoko's husband uncorked a bordeaux to add to the nonstop flow of alcohol. the whole affair was over-the-top amazing, and i felt so lucky to be a part of it.

after dinner, of COURSE we had to do a little bit of karaoke! the house had its own karaoke suite, which included a sort of hawaiian-esque bamboo facade, american trinkets, and a big media system chock full of karaoke songs. lester and i sang a duet of "love me do," then ryoko and lester sang a japanese love song to raucous applause from the rest of us. we left shortly after, but not before ryoko and her family told me (through lester's translation) that i had to call them if i needed anything. i couldn't believe how genuinely kind and hospitable they were. it was like immediately being accepted in another family!

anyways, i wish i had brought my camera to the dinner, but i hadn't anticipated it would be such a to-do. i don't have pictures for this post, but my next post (about today) will have some visuals complementing my narration. sneak peek for next post: today was my first day of work, which meant many side-splittingly-hilarious interactions with students, shopping for necessities with yuka, and dinner with yet another local japanese family. the best moment of them all? probably when a 16-year-old female student said to me, "you have beautiful body!"

on that silly note, i'm off to scrub up and hit the sack. i have been unimaginably tired while writing every blog spot, so i'm hoping that these make sense. i literally have not had a moment alone since sunday (besides when showering), and i think that the jet-lag, combined with the constant go-go-go from person to person, errand to errand and work to work has drained me in a way i didn't think possible. anyways, hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better. i'm off to sleep!

with a beautiful body,
lilly - now riri-sensei

i'm leaving on a JET plane (again)

tomorrow, i will finally feast mine eyes upon the promised land of MIYAZAKI! HAI! my prefectural pals and i are flying down to kyushu island in the morning, and will finally meet our supervisors and predecessors (for me, that would be yuka and lester, respectively). i can't wait! particularly because this orientation, coupled with JETlag (can't stay away from these puns, sorry), has been unbelievably exhausting.

but perhaps i'm jumping the gun a bit; allow me to backtrack! prepare yourself, because this is about to be a doozy of a blob.

when ya'll last tuned in, i was whipping up a full-blown packing frenzy, which culminated very late on friday night (the night before my departure). unluckily, JET had had a mandatory 4 hour meeting that very evening, which dumped a lot of extra stress on the participants. on the drive there, though, i unwound by enjoying a last bit of california sunshine while tuning into some american classics on the radio. got some beach boys, dr. dre, kUSC, system of a down--you know, the works! however, after the meeting, my mood had changed utterly. i hurtled home, heart pounding, hands shaking, hyperventilating, wondering how the fudge i was going to finish everything i needed to do on time. WHAT WOULD BECOME OF ME?!

...as it (predictably) turned out, everything was fine. i had some difficult goodbyes, appointed jennifer my packing supervisor, and managed not to forget anything important. hooray!

flight details = boring. skipping!

upon arriving, and exiting narita airport, a crippling wave of wet, thick heat rolled over us. it was unlike any heat i've ever experienced. imagine diving into a pool of hot, freshly made molasses, heavy and sticky and totally paralyzing. that's what it was like, minus the sweetness. not to be dramatic or anything, haha!

anyways, after sweatily sorting out our luggage in delirious slow motion, we oh-so-happily boarded an air-conditioned bus at about 6pm that took us on a two hour drive into tokyo. along the way, when not dozing off, i looked down into the cars driving alongside us on the freeway. all of them were bedecked with dizzying dashboard navigation and entertainment gadgets. we're talking at least 4 different electronic screens in every car! in juxtaposition to these futuristic devices, the edges of the freeways were positively overflowing with lush green foliage. compared to good ol' barren los angeles, it was like driving through a freaking rainforest!

eventually, the green somewhat gave way to tall buildlings, which grew in number as we drove on into tokyo. exhaustion was beginning to overcome me by that point, so i drifted off until we arrived at keio plaza hotel a while later. after some slightly disorganized retrieving of room keys, etc, my plane-mate marie and i at last burst into our room at about 9pm. i was so shattered that i didn't even bother scouting for food; i shuffled to the intriguing-sounding "24-hour ironing room" to press some wrinkled garb, then passed out upon coming back to the room.

the next morning (yesterday, aka monday), marie and i both woke up at around 5:30 am due to our haywire internal clocks. i don't remember what happened that morning, other than that the small hotel "breakfast" spread hilariously included salad and french fries. i opted instead for fruit, corn flakes, and coffee (i know, i know, how unadventurous of me!).

orientation lasted all day, and consisted of many different workshops, lectures, speeches, etc. highlights for me included a workshop on japanese pop culture (i learned that the governor of miyazaki is a HUGE japanese celeb, kind of like ah-nold for us!), as well as a session on home japanese cooking. i also learned a ton about my upcoming role as an ALT, and the current state of english classes in japan: only 1.5% of schools in japan use english as the primary means in instruction in english classes. looks like we jetlings have a lot of work to do!

after the whirlwind of info that was ORIENTATION: DAY ONE, there was a huge reception for all of us, which of course offered an opportunity to do a proper japanese toast. translation: everyone pours each other's drinks, never one's own; you mustn't sip before the toast (much more of a faux pas here than in america if you forget and glub...like i almost did!); everyone cheers with "KAMPAI!" then clinkies with peeps around them before imbibing.

so i schmoozed, then yuri (another LA jet), marie, and i changed our of our corporate drone attire and planned a trip to shibuya, one of the most crowded and most famous parts of tokyo. you know in movies (like baraka, dave!), where they show a billion japanese people crossing the road, usually fast-forwarded? that's the "scramble shibuya crossing."

to get there, we had to take the subway, of course from the train station closest to our hotel. that just so happened to be the shinjuku station, which is famous for being the BUSIEST TRAIN STATION IN THE WORLD (source: wikipedia). lucky us?

all i can say is, thank goodness for yuri and marie, who actually know each other from japanese school (jackpot). thanks to their kanji skills, we figured out how to get to our line, but it was damn near physically impossible to get there. we continually had to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled by--literally--thousands upon thousands of japanese people. i've never seen such a rapid succession of people! it was insane!

we made it to shibuya in one piece, though, and proceeded to have an excellent (though muggy) night trotting round the district. we did purikura, aka the quintessential japanese soft-focus photo booth pictures that you can decorate with stars, accessories, electric squiggles, hearts, and furry animals. we also checked out some cell phone shops, and a place i think called daiso, which sold everything: junk food, costumes, cosmetics, houseware, fake guns, you name it.

decorative entrance to a shibuya shopping street

yuri and marie bedazzling our photos

we also ventured into some arcades, which were three stories high and teemed with all types of japanese people--businessmen in suits, teenage girls, couples, you name it--everyone seemed to love it!

including us!

omgz tokyo!

after absorbing lovely shibuya for a few hours, we were too hot and sweaty to continue on. we headed back to the hotel, with a few pictures in tow:

my bootleg picture of the famed crossing!

and proof that we were there, blurrily

sorry that there isn't a bit more photographic evidence. everyone here walks so quickly, and in such huge throngs, that it's difficult to find a place or moment to snap a shot. i didn't mind, though, because i really didn't want to be stuck behind a tiny lens documenting everything. the city is overwhelmingly loud, bright, crowded, and vibrant, and it demands full attention. it also warrants a long stay, not just a nighttime meander. i must return whilst in japan!

anyways, after some confusion and a necessary food run at a convenience store, we made it back to our hotel, where our beloved futuristic fountain toilet and radio+alarm clock-embedded furniture awaited us.

this isn't even the fanciest toilet i've seen so far. others have music settings (to cover up bodily noises), odor neutralizers, and other functions i don't understand.

who needs electronics when they come with your furniture?

utterly spent, we three lazed around and chatted for awhile over our food. i had bought a plain meiji chocolate bar per yuri's recommendation, and it was indeed delish! thus, i have successfully killed two birds with one stone: i have deduced that i am competent enough to make purchases in japan, AND i have now secured a secure form of dessert.

i had originally planned to include deets from today's events, but this is already far too long, and my eyeballs are turning very dangerously red from sleepiness. so this is it for tonight, but i shall be back as soon as possible. next time i write, i'll be in nobey town!

too tired to have a clever sign off,
lilly

preparations

i thought that a week would surely be enough time to make rounds of goodbyes, pack, and buy omiyage (gifts) for my future supervisors and colleagues. WRANG!

it's crunch time, but i continually finding myself spending time with family and friends, playing piano, and eating too much pan cookie; in short, doing things i won't be able to do in japan. however, i'm also taking very important preparatory steps.

tonight, for faja's birthday, we sojourned into gardena for some authentic japanese tempura. normally, not being a seafood person, i would sort of pick at everything and try to sneak food onto haha's plate (haha = "my mother" in japanese. HAHAHAHA! or should i say...mommomomomom). anywhoodle, i decided to give myself a much-needed food attitude adjustment. one of the most valuable lessons i learned in college is that if you go into any situation determined to have incredible fun, it will always result in incredible fun. similarly, if you eat with decided gusto, you will enjoy seemingly strange foods. granted, tempura isn't that out there, but i tried the eel and some strange pickles, and felt proud of myself. and i loved the tempura! each piece tasted like a delicately flavored krispy kreme. ^_^ happy japanese face!

other preparations for my journey have included purchasing a japanese-english dictionary, which already is dead useful. i've learned some choice words for certain foods, colors, and body parts (innocent curiosity, i swear!). yesterday, i casually decided to peruse the mall for some hot-weather and professional clothing. after a few hours, i wandered into forever 21--only to realize that i had absolutely no appropriate clothing for my trip, and to have a damn near mental breakdown in the middle of the store. it wasn't really about the clothes, though...it was more of a "what am i doing?! i'm moving to a place where i don't know the language and will be a total outsider!" kind of panic. i'm over it now; i bought some shorts and professional clothes for an excellent bargain, and somehow that seemed to solve everything. hooray!

and in other news, i've also killed two grotesque spiders, which for me is the equivalent of jamming flaming arrows in my eyes. normally, when spidey appears i squeal and barf and faint and call Haha. i guess i've finally become a woman.

most of what's left is packing. luckily, i'm not totally averse to pack jobs. however, my room currently looks as it did back in high school.

woe to those who ever imagined i was neat!

alas, tomorrow will be work-intensive. but at least it will get my mind off of the people i've said goodbye to already. i've tried to keep my mind blank and soft (like mochi!) while bidding peeps "adieu," and it's helped prevent waterworks--but thoughts of them are still floating around in the old noggin. they will be for a long time, i think.

anyways, i should probably skedaddle off to bed. big day tomorrow! and bigger day after that! and then...IT'S TIME.

dreaming of a giant mochi pillow,
lilly

reunited, and it feel so good!

oh, blogspot, i missed you so! i haven't felt your digital embrace in over a year, and i feel as though i'm welcoming back an old friend...with an accompanying avid readership!

anyways, since this is my inaugural blob about japan, i suppose i should detail the blossoming hysteria that is leading up to my departure from fair murica.

i only found out five weeks ago that i was accepted to JET, and since then have explained my situation to seemingly hundreds of different people. strangely, with each recanting of when i'm leaving, and where i'm going, the imminence of it all becomes less and less real. i have a sneaking suspicion that i will feel nothing until my slippered feet trod on the tatami of my apartment, and i settle into solitary living. however, i'm confident that any inevitable homesickness will be trumped by the overwhelming thrill of being in "one of the most beautiful water villages of japan" (from the nobeoka promotional website, my chickadees).

in the meantime, i'm trying to figure out exactly how to prepare for this drastic change. i've been sluggishly learning japanese, brainstorming ideas for gifts, halfheartedly thinking about packing, and saying goodbye to various rounds of people. most importantly, i've been browsing youtube for hilarious japanese videos. shockingly, i found one with a phony redhead!

naturally, it's for mcdonald's. click here to watch.

is it wrong that i'm slightly comforted that my kind are at least somewhat visible in japanese media? hopefully, i won't be too much of a sideshow freakout once i hit nippon...or at least, not physically; undoubtedly, i will innocently commit some heinous, unforgivable faux pas within my first few days there. ah well, at least it makes for good blobbing!

for now, i'm off to do some pressing procrastination. i've decided that every blob i mold should have at least a one japanese word or phrase sprinkled in for flavor, so look forward to that--until next time!

oyasumi nasai (good night),
lilly