"SHREKU! SHREKU!"

konbanwa! translation: good evening!

due to the heavy complaining of jessica mccarthy williams, i will now be translating every little freaking thing on this blog. doitashimashite, jessica. translation: you're welcome.

jokes...that is way too annoying! you're on your own, suckas!

i was supposedly going to recap the rest of my miyazaki city orientation shenanigans, but to be honest, there isn't much more to tell. after staying at carmen's for the weekend, tracey and i headed to the toyoko inn in the city, where we stayed during the monday-wednesday orientation. the orientation itself was really helpful and informative, and was especially fun on tuesday night; MAJET, or the Miyazaki Association of JETs, threw a hip-happening all-you-can-eat-all-you-can-drink party at a local restaurant. after, about fifty of us booked a gigantic karaoke room, and proceeded to have a raucously good time. all in all, success!

i got back to dear old nobeoka on wednesday night, and went to bed as early as possible so as to rest up for thursday--my first day of real school. i was incredibly nervous that morning, and even more so when the forty-something staff gathered in the teacher's lounge for my speech. to my great surprise, i didn't mess up! it was a short shpeel, only about a minute long, and i managed to say everything i had intended. yay!

to be honest, i didn't have much to worry about. the staff at seiun is so nice. random teachers who don't really speak english have made it a point to come up to me and introduce themselves, others have given me random sweets, and everyone is always bowing (of course, i do, too!).

thursday was spent purely in preparation for friday: my first day of teaching. before my first class, i was sweating so much i thought i was really ill. dame! however, much to my relief, everything went pretty well! the students seemed to like my presentation, and by the second class, my anxiety had greatly deflated. part of what made me feel so comfortable was how friendly the students were. even though some were shy and didn't want to speak, in the hallways everyone was more than happy to shout "HELLO!"

and they even left me some messages on the international bulletin board! ^_^


monday (two days ago), i had two more classes, and tuesday i had my last introductory class. my lesson morphed with time, which i think is going to happen a lot this year. some things that i think are surefire end up not working. example: using "telephone" as a warm-up game. unlike americans, who play with speed in mind, the japanese students freak out about accuracy. it took at least a minute for one student to get the message to the next!

anyways, my next lesson will not be featuring that particular exercise. but, it will include a lot of word and sentence scrambles. buckle up, kids. it's going to be a wild ride of grammar and phonics!

other news: this past weekend, tracey and i traveled down to saito city for a big party at another JET's apartment. i'm loving how tightly knit all of the miyazakians are! we met up with a lovely irish lad (and fellow JET) named john in takanabe, and he drove us to saito. it felt so good to be out of nobeoka for a little bit, and to have some socializing time!

our large jetling group headed into saito for the city's matsuri, which ended up being quite similar to the one in nobeoka a few weeks ago. click here for my short video of the taiko (drumming)!

unfortunately, i felt kind of sick the whole time, so i didn't enjoy it as much as i'd wanted. however, afterwards, all of us hit the town and i forgot all about my knotted stomach!

the sleeping arrangements were hilarious. two JETs lived in the apartment complex in which we all were staying, so there were about 8 people sleeping in each apartment. one guy slept in a closet. i slept on a futon with no pillow and no blanket. i had no problem, though, since we got home at about 5:30 in the morning! slept like a baby.

gotta take them off before you enta! there were lots of guests.

after our saito trip, not going to lie, i was feeling really terrible. i don't know what happened, but i was sick as a dog on the train ride home. i was really happy, then, when my japanese mama ryoko called me yesterday to unwind with some japanese yoga.

i had a feeling that the class wouldn't be yoga as i have experienced it before; i was right. instead of doing any yoga poses (other than child's pose), we did a mishmash of pilates, ballet, and random stretching. it was really fun, though! the teacher gave directions in japanglish (up-u, down-u, relax-u), and she was impressed with my good form. thanks for all the years of gymnastics, dance, yoga, and pilates, mom and dad! who knew it would come in handy in japan?

a few last tidbits: i do everything i can to avoid bug bites. i'm not always successful, and my body hates me for it.

no joke, this bite made me itch from my knee to my ankle. it's taken about ten days to heal, but it's almost gone now. yay!

joyously, i'm about to skype for the second time with jencat, so i must bid you adieu.

but before i go: today at school, two very giggly girls approached me. one excitedly started yelling, "SHREKU! SHREKU!" the other asked, "DO YOU KNOW SHREKU?"

i was a little confused, and answered, "yes?" i could tell they were trying to communicate something to me, and after seeing them gesturing wildly at my hair for about five seconds and jabbering in japanese, i realized they thought i looked like fiona. i asked, "do i look like princess fiona?" and they both let out SCREAMS, jumping up and down, and laughing and shrieking, "YES-U! YES-U!"

i was very flattered! but, to be completely honest, fiona's scrunchie is a total turn-off.

wondering what other remarks this year will bring,
lilly

the shopping beast has been unleashed

greetings! i now have oodles of noodles of time to blob about last week’s miyazaki city mishaps. get ready for (probably boring) descriptions of food and long-winded shopping nostalgia!

i forgot to mention last posting – on friday night, the hyuga beach crowd had an excellent time. after a cool swim in the ocean, we headed back to nobeoka to eat at a local restaurant. naturally, i had chicken nanban and a truckload of beer. it was glorious. freaking chicken nanban! every time i eat it i get excruciating (imaginary) chest pains…from thinking about how each mouthful of the sauce-drowned, oil-oozing, batter-dipped wonderfood is taking five years off my life. it’s worth it, though.

saturday, after a scenic two hour train ride, tracey and i arrived in miyazaki city. carmen, our prefectural advisor and fellow JET, was kind enough to let us stay with her over the weekend. she and lauren, another JET, picked us up from the station, then drove us to carmen’s apartment.

first, though, we stopped at the konbini to get some nourishment. i got a pocari sweat, the japanese equivalent of gatorade, because dave demanded i try it. proof:

a number of other JETs also live in the complex, and we were lucky enough to be invited to a dinner at one of the newbie’s apartments.

there were a bunch of unfamiliar jetling faces, so we were happy to get to know some new friends as we chowed down on a fabulous homemade dinner of vietnamese curry and rice. afterwards, we experienced the wonder of 31 – aka baskin robbins, japanese style.

the ice cream flavors, by and large, were the same. however, lauren recommended that i try a brightly-colored delight called something like “star party.” i did so, and was very pleased upon discovering that the ice cream was full of pop rocks! i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again: we really could learn a lot from the japanese. pop rock ice cream = the new gold standard.

we hit it early that night because we had to gear up for the next day – aka MALL DAY. miyazaki city has an enormous mall, complete with uniqlo, gap, jusco, and a boatload of little boutiques. i had my game face on, and lived up to my name as queen of shopping. we were there for hours, and although tracey was about ready to keel over and die, i was just getting started. i wanted to spend days there!

japanese fashion is really quite different than american or european fashion. for starters, women dress very modestly in most respects. there is never any cleavage on display. tops are not form fitting; in fact, tops are almost always really baggy and slouchy. the only caveat a puritan would have would be the amount of leg a lot of girls show. for some reason, i feel like japanese people don’t consider mini-mini-skirts immodest at all (however, i haven’t heard this directly from anyone, it’s just my own conjecture!).

girls also dress a lot more hyperbolically femininely than in the states. i’ve always been rather partial to girly-looking ensembles, so this is like a wonderland for me. in shops, there are lots of floral patterns (yes!), stripes (double yes!), and lace (there goes my paycheck!). i won’t attempt to dress like a japanese girl, just like i didn’t attempt to dress like a british hipster whilst in london (neither are quite me), but i will definitely be taking advantage of the absolutely adorable pieces that can fit well into my wardrobe. in japan, similarly to in england, outfits are a lot more complicated and have a lot more going on than what i’m used to back home. more accessories, more color, more perfectly mismatched shapes that i don’t understand but still seem to work. i have to stick to my simple ways, lest i become a trainwreck!

anyways, there was no way in hell i was going to be leaving that epic mall without dropping major cabbage. i found the place – the japanese jewelry mecca – where i would be doing the damage.

it was actually quite a small store, but it was so stuffed full of amazing accessories and jewelry that i spent – i’m proud to say – hours there. i won’t bore you with a list of all the booty, but i will say that i am enamored with one of the necklaces i bought. it’s SO TINY! the chain is so thin, and the pendant is so miniscule, you can barely the darn thing when i wear it. sidenote: i’ve realized a great truth about myself – i am a total sucker for novelty-sized (and generally useless) stuff. i love anything that’s stupidly big or logic-defylingly small. joyously, the latter is ubiquitous in japan.

after our shopping extravaganza, we were in need of some refueling. we spotted some japanese girls with melon soda floats, and the power of suggestion was great enough that we got some of our own!

allow me to explain melon soda: in short, it’s amazing. not only is it the most sugary drink i’ve ever tried, but it is also shockingly green(much like novelty-sized items, vividly colored food and drink inexplicably attract me). melon soda is fluorescent. i wouldn’t be surprised if it glowed in the dark, or if it somehow could be made into a bomb.

instead, it was made into a delicious ice cream float.

awesomely, the aeon mall also has a foreign foods store. buzzing from our melon floats, we stopped in to get some murican treats before heading out. i got two small jars of skippy, a jar of nutella (ugh, so predictable), and a few bags of whole wheat pasta. strangely, i haven’t had bad bouts of homesickness yet – just occasional pangs. i got a few while in the store…especially when i saw a box of betty crocker brownie mix for 700 yen (about nine dollars). it makes me sad that brownies are foreign here.

after malling (or mauling, depending on your perspective), we headed to some super fun karaoke with a small group of jetlings. hilarity and much imbibing of melon soda ensued. karaoke music video backgrounds are always totally random, and often include shots of los angeles. i think i was singing “dancing queen” when a shot of a “welcome to redondo beach” sign came up. i was so surprised that i let out a bloodcurdling scream, mid-song! who knew that in a random karaoke bar, in miyazaki city, little old redondo would be featured on screen?

these girls sure didn't!

wowzy wow, this post has quickly gotten way too long and out of control! i think that i shall truncate it for now, and resume tomorrow…when i have INTERNET AT HOME! THE HOLY GRAIL!

oh, and bee tee dubs, i have now taught a grand total of four classes. riri sensei’s whipping the kids into an english-speaking frenzy. literally, whipping.

jokes to the jokes,

lilly