more longishness
9/14/07 8:45 PM
We actually didn’t make it into Nagoya until today. I think Josh and I spent most of that Sunday I last wrote arguing over what to do with our day. Moving to a new country together has been rough. The move implies a major commitment that I’m not sure either of us was quite ready to make. Living together--with no one else around--has also proved quite difficult. We are used to having one or more roommates. With just the two of us, our apartment is a little quieter than I had expected. Of course it doesn’t help that we can’t communicate with many people around us, so making friends is a pretty limited endeavor. It has seemed like things between Josh and me are improving this week though. I think it is because we have started work and are meeting more new people.
On Monday we started our training program. Our trainer was--shall we say--impersonal. The first day of training was incredibly boring, and the evening was intimidating, as we were required to teach a lesson with very little preparation. Almost no feedback was offered after the lesson, which added to my worries. After a debriefing session with our fellow trainee and new friend Fran, Josh and I fell into an exhausted sleep.
Tuesday was a little better. Our trainer lightened up a little, and we taught two more lessons, this time with a little more preparation. While these lessons went perfectly by no means, I really enjoyed getting to know my students during the 40-minute sessions. They were extremely polite, eager to learn, curious, respectful, and hilarious--every teacher’s dream! One of my lessons was attended by a young woman and older man. I was teaching about popular vocabulary that can be used in a situation where one person is worried about an upcoming event and another person reassures them. The male student was expressing his worries about an upcoming presentation, and the female student assured him that he could always “get drunk” so he would no longer be worried! Of course I had not taught this vocabulary in the lesson; the student knew these words and tossed them in for comic relief. When she said this, the old man started giggling, so of course I exploded into laughter as well. Soon all of us were laughing hysterically. This is one thing I really love about being here; everyone seems to laugh at everything, which helps us all to feel more comfortable.
Tuesday night after work, Josh and I were supposed to meet some friends at a pub that is popularly frequented by both foreigners and Japanese patrons. However, we showed up late and couldn’t find our friends. The pub was quite cute but also quite expensive. We had a quick drink and then took a short walk in the park right next to our apartment before returning home for the night.
On Wednesday we taught three lessons to students. This was the best day of training. We also met all of the people who work at the Gifu branch, which is right down the street from our house! Unfortunately we have to take trains to the branches where we will be permanently working. Josh has to take a train, a bus, and a taxi to his branch every day! After work we went out to dinner with everyone from the Gifu branch and a couple of other Nova employees who live in Gifu-Shi. We went to this really cute place where everyone has to remove their shoes in order to enter the second floor, and the seating consists of cushions positioned around low tables. Our trainer ordered tens of appetizers for all of us, taking care to include all of the vegetarian dishes available in the order. They actually had four vegetarian options and an English menu! Soon everyone was ordering drinks, especially one character who was getting quite sloshed and kept ordering strange concoctions such as “chocolato minto” and “pineapple peach.”
When the bill came, I pitched in about $20 to pay for my three drinks ($12 total) and my share of the food. (There is no tipping in Japan.) Josh put in about $20 for his three beers ($9 total) and share of the food, even though he didn’t eat anything. After everyone had thrown down their money, we were about $70 short. A few of us began adding more money; Josh and I ended up spending $70 between the two of us! The person who had ordered the 9 cocktails was so drunk that he wasn’t paying attention to the payment procedure, and his wife appeared to be oblivious as well. She appeared to be in denial that her husband was drunk or that he had ordered that many drinks and remained so until the server assured her that her husband did in fact owe about $70 for his drinks. Even when this was pointed out to her, she paid about $50 for both her and her husband total. Josh and I ended up paying $20 more than that couple, and another guy ended up paying $55 just for himself! We tried to point this out to the couple with the drunk husband tactfully because we had just met all of these people, but they didn’t seem to pick up any hints. They kept bringing up other topics when anyone tried to discuss the bill with them. Although the food and drink were merry, the end of the night was so disappointing that it made me quite reluctant to go out to eat with a big group of people any time soon! That evening was quite out of my budget! I had planned on spending $20 at most. So although there are a few bars and restaurants around our apartment that Josh and I want to check out, we have been avoiding them so that we don’t spend any more money! I can’t wait until we get paid so that we can explore some more!
I requested a cash advance because we are not supposed to receive our first paycheck until October 15. I am quickly running out of money, so I am excited about this! Josh, however, did not request an advance. He did bring almost $300 more than me to Japan, but he is still pretty worried about spending money, so I have to convince him that it will be okay any time I want to buy a green tea or chocolate.
Yesterday we woke up late after our night out on the town and went to the Internet cafe, where I have become quite a regular. Then we did some shopping and tried to purchase a cell phone. At the phone shop, the clerk typed something into a Yahoo! translator program and printed us a sheet that read, “Because some contracts of SOFTBANK were particular, you had better bring the friend who could speak Japanese.” We got a good laugh out of this and returned home so that I could work on some homework. After I finished my essay, we returned to the Internet cafe in hopes of being able to use a printer. However, we were told that their printer was broken.
Instead we explored the train station, where there is a gym with natural hot springs. This turned out to be too expensive for us; membership is almost $100 a month! We did find a free library with a small English selection (but no printer!) and a bookstore that sells English books. I checked out the books Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Living in Japan: A Guide for Foreigners. We also found a public study space and a space where a Japanese class is held five days a week. The class is only $2 for each lesson, which lasts for an hour and a half! I hope to start these classes next week and hope to attend classes at least three times per week.
We also had dinner at the train station last night. We found a shop that had many kinds of bread--apple, cheese, pizza, leek, sweet potato, carrot, you name it! We were intrigued, so we loaded up on goodies. However, my mini breakdown occurred when I could not buy green tea at the counter. For some reason, the tea I wanted was only available for take-out. No food, however, was sold to go. I couldn’t communicate to the cashier that I really wanted some tea. Ten minutes and a cup of horrible-tasting tea later, I felt a little better but was still frustrated that communication is so time-consuming and not always successful these days.
Today Josh and I woke up late again, this time to the sound of our doorbell. Our bank cards were hand delivered to us by a delivery man from the bank. Of course I have no money in my account to withdraw with this card, but it is nice to have all the same! Then we ventured into Nagoya with some vague directions from a friend in search of the cell phone shop. We found it almost right away in a six-story building! This shop had everything--bicycles, cameras, washing machines, mattresses, and most importantly--cell phones! We got the free phones with our super cheap $22 monthly plan, not expecting much. We were wrong! Our phones have adopt-a-virtual-pet features, video cameras, voice recorders, digital cameras, music, and more! They are tiny too! I will post pictures when we purchase a camera. (This may not be for a while.) I also saw a really awesome keyboard that goes with the iBook in this shop! It costs about $80, and I am totally getting it while I am here! You can basically play the piano on your computer with it, and there are all kinds of cool features! Josh was enthralled with all of the technological toys in this shop; I had to practically drag him out of the store so we could catch the train back to Gifu-Shi!
When we returned home, I completed a little more school work, and then we had our standard dinner of noodles with tofu and vegetables--quite good, easy, and cheap! After dinner I went (where else?) to the Internet cafe where I received a discount on my time because I go there so often and stopped by the convenience store to pick up some $1 snacks (6 ice cream bars--yes, all for $1; rice crackers, and chocolate covered almonds).
We’ve only bought three items so far that had meat in them--not bad for not being able to understand 98% of what people say to us. These accidents were quickly passed on to friends after the first bite. It’s a meat-filled world out there, especially when many translations of “meat” do not include chicken or fish.
Tomorrow is our first day of work at our permanent branches. I do not feel especially ready to teach a full day of lessons yet. For one thing, I am not familiar with the schedule at all! For another, I am not familiar with any of the lessons or students. Also I do not feel especially comfortable with the evaluation process that takes place after each lesson. I am going to need a lot of support tomorrow! I hope things go well and that I feel comfortable with my new coworkers!
9/17/07, 22:30 PM
Work is a little dreary so far, but I continue to be amazed by the genuine politeness of the Japanese people. The other day I was searching for random things in the Gifu area in which I am interested. One of these interests was yoga; I found an e-mail address for a local yoga teacher online and sent her an e-mail in the long shot that she would write back (hopefully in English!) The next day I got a really nice e-mail from her not only providing me ample information about the yoga class but also offering to help me with anything that might be confusing to me in the Gifu area (in English, nonetheless). Her exact words were, “Are you feeling troubled in life? I can help you.” Such an e-mail might sound a little creepy if I received it in the States, but this is how many Japanese people are--genuinely interested in helping people feel comfortable and trying to communicate in the politest way possible. It is also quite notable that she replied in English; many Japanese people undergo much embarrassment when they speak English, as they wish to sound native and natural in their speech and realize that they often don’t. Many Japanese people will refuse to speak English to a native speaker, even if they know the language quite well, in order to avoid the embarrassment of making a mistake! Although our students obviously overcome this shyness when speaking English with us, I can still detect traces of it. All of our students also seem to exhibit a genuine desire to help others and do the right thing, which I find very admirable.
I have become a little more confident about living in Japan; I’ve even been eating out recently! Of course this means that I’ve accidentally bought more items containing meat, but I have learned some handy vocabulary words to deal with this situation. Although I dislike not seeing Josh all day because we work at different offices, it is good that I don’t have him around to depend on for speaking to people all the time. This time apart has increased my desire to learn the language quickly, as Josh isn’t there to ask the store clerk if this noodle package contains meat when I’m on my lunch break.
Yesterday I worked at a different branch than my usual one in Ogaki called Loc City Ogaki. I will be working there every Sunday with two young American men. I enjoy working there because we aren’t that busy, so I get a lot of one-on-one time with the students, and there are many children who come in for lessons. Working with the two guys however is pretty challenging. They both seem to be pretty misogynistic and talk a lot about how hot many of our female students are, in addition to many other charming things. One of the guys and I ride the train to and from work together on Sundays as well. While it is nice to have someone to talk to (in English!), he can be pretty obnoxious in public, which completely embarrasses me! For instance he delights in calling out to other people in the street or roaring at passersby. On the train he intentionally bumps into people and laughs. He’s explained to me that he really gets a kick out of scaring the little meek people. He seems like a genuinely nice person, and his antics are in good fun and are typically surprisingly well-received by most people. However, I really don’t like to perpetuate this negative perspective of foreigners that so many Japanese people share, so I try to limit the amount of time I spend in public with that guy.
Today Josh and I had our first day of kids’ training. The training strategies for this company leave much to be desired. Anyway, today consisted of a lot of holding hands, jumping up and down, and singing the ABC’s. I’m serious. Then, because of a scheduling mishap on the company’s part, we had to go to another branch in Nagoya and spend the evening teaching lessons. It was actually not bad because the branch where we taught is really cool. Everything is super organized, and we met a lot of nice people. Nagoya seems quite fun; there were many people playing music and selling artwork on the street as we made our way back to the train station. I hope to be able to make jewelry or other crafts and sell them there one day!
I should have time for making crafts and such because we only work 32 hours per week. However, with transportation time, we definitely spend over 40 hours working each week. It’s not like riding a bike half a mile to work, like I’m used to doing! We often have to take a train and a bus and then walk during our commute to work, depending on where we’re teaching each day.
At work tonight I taught a Voice lesson, which does not follow a formal lesson plan. Each Voice session is open to any number of students who are speaking English on any level. Voice lessons usually have a general topic that is chosen by the instructor, and the lesson usually consists of free conversation among all the members. Tonight I thought that we would talk about our interests and what there is to do in Nagoya so that I could get some information about the city! Somehow, however, we ended up talking about Mexican immigrants in the United States and if undocumented residents should be allowed to remain in the States. Each student seemed to have a pretty conservative opinion on the subject, and I tried to remain as objective as possible. However, I was soon labeled as “empathetic” by a student who had lived in the States for 3 years, so I guess my opinion showed through a bit. Although I was worried about discussing such a controversial subject with the students, the conversation remained respectful.
Tonight when I got home from work, I talked to my friend David on the phone. He and I were friends when we lived in Mississippi, and he now lives in Tokyo with his wife, baby, and another one on the way. It was really fun to talk to him because he wanted to talk about politics and starting the revolution in Japan. It was interesting to get to have an intellectual conversation with someone after teaching people what to say when they meet someone new all day (“Are you new here? Yes, I moved here two weeks ago.” This is one example of what I talk about for seven hours each day at work!) It was also quite hilarious because he was pretty drunk! I’m glad we had this conversation, but it made me miss all of friends a lot more!
We actually didn’t make it into Nagoya until today. I think Josh and I spent most of that Sunday I last wrote arguing over what to do with our day. Moving to a new country together has been rough. The move implies a major commitment that I’m not sure either of us was quite ready to make. Living together--with no one else around--has also proved quite difficult. We are used to having one or more roommates. With just the two of us, our apartment is a little quieter than I had expected. Of course it doesn’t help that we can’t communicate with many people around us, so making friends is a pretty limited endeavor. It has seemed like things between Josh and me are improving this week though. I think it is because we have started work and are meeting more new people.
On Monday we started our training program. Our trainer was--shall we say--impersonal. The first day of training was incredibly boring, and the evening was intimidating, as we were required to teach a lesson with very little preparation. Almost no feedback was offered after the lesson, which added to my worries. After a debriefing session with our fellow trainee and new friend Fran, Josh and I fell into an exhausted sleep.
Tuesday was a little better. Our trainer lightened up a little, and we taught two more lessons, this time with a little more preparation. While these lessons went perfectly by no means, I really enjoyed getting to know my students during the 40-minute sessions. They were extremely polite, eager to learn, curious, respectful, and hilarious--every teacher’s dream! One of my lessons was attended by a young woman and older man. I was teaching about popular vocabulary that can be used in a situation where one person is worried about an upcoming event and another person reassures them. The male student was expressing his worries about an upcoming presentation, and the female student assured him that he could always “get drunk” so he would no longer be worried! Of course I had not taught this vocabulary in the lesson; the student knew these words and tossed them in for comic relief. When she said this, the old man started giggling, so of course I exploded into laughter as well. Soon all of us were laughing hysterically. This is one thing I really love about being here; everyone seems to laugh at everything, which helps us all to feel more comfortable.
Tuesday night after work, Josh and I were supposed to meet some friends at a pub that is popularly frequented by both foreigners and Japanese patrons. However, we showed up late and couldn’t find our friends. The pub was quite cute but also quite expensive. We had a quick drink and then took a short walk in the park right next to our apartment before returning home for the night.
On Wednesday we taught three lessons to students. This was the best day of training. We also met all of the people who work at the Gifu branch, which is right down the street from our house! Unfortunately we have to take trains to the branches where we will be permanently working. Josh has to take a train, a bus, and a taxi to his branch every day! After work we went out to dinner with everyone from the Gifu branch and a couple of other Nova employees who live in Gifu-Shi. We went to this really cute place where everyone has to remove their shoes in order to enter the second floor, and the seating consists of cushions positioned around low tables. Our trainer ordered tens of appetizers for all of us, taking care to include all of the vegetarian dishes available in the order. They actually had four vegetarian options and an English menu! Soon everyone was ordering drinks, especially one character who was getting quite sloshed and kept ordering strange concoctions such as “chocolato minto” and “pineapple peach.”
When the bill came, I pitched in about $20 to pay for my three drinks ($12 total) and my share of the food. (There is no tipping in Japan.) Josh put in about $20 for his three beers ($9 total) and share of the food, even though he didn’t eat anything. After everyone had thrown down their money, we were about $70 short. A few of us began adding more money; Josh and I ended up spending $70 between the two of us! The person who had ordered the 9 cocktails was so drunk that he wasn’t paying attention to the payment procedure, and his wife appeared to be oblivious as well. She appeared to be in denial that her husband was drunk or that he had ordered that many drinks and remained so until the server assured her that her husband did in fact owe about $70 for his drinks. Even when this was pointed out to her, she paid about $50 for both her and her husband total. Josh and I ended up paying $20 more than that couple, and another guy ended up paying $55 just for himself! We tried to point this out to the couple with the drunk husband tactfully because we had just met all of these people, but they didn’t seem to pick up any hints. They kept bringing up other topics when anyone tried to discuss the bill with them. Although the food and drink were merry, the end of the night was so disappointing that it made me quite reluctant to go out to eat with a big group of people any time soon! That evening was quite out of my budget! I had planned on spending $20 at most. So although there are a few bars and restaurants around our apartment that Josh and I want to check out, we have been avoiding them so that we don’t spend any more money! I can’t wait until we get paid so that we can explore some more!
I requested a cash advance because we are not supposed to receive our first paycheck until October 15. I am quickly running out of money, so I am excited about this! Josh, however, did not request an advance. He did bring almost $300 more than me to Japan, but he is still pretty worried about spending money, so I have to convince him that it will be okay any time I want to buy a green tea or chocolate.
Yesterday we woke up late after our night out on the town and went to the Internet cafe, where I have become quite a regular. Then we did some shopping and tried to purchase a cell phone. At the phone shop, the clerk typed something into a Yahoo! translator program and printed us a sheet that read, “Because some contracts of SOFTBANK were particular, you had better bring the friend who could speak Japanese.” We got a good laugh out of this and returned home so that I could work on some homework. After I finished my essay, we returned to the Internet cafe in hopes of being able to use a printer. However, we were told that their printer was broken.
Instead we explored the train station, where there is a gym with natural hot springs. This turned out to be too expensive for us; membership is almost $100 a month! We did find a free library with a small English selection (but no printer!) and a bookstore that sells English books. I checked out the books Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Living in Japan: A Guide for Foreigners. We also found a public study space and a space where a Japanese class is held five days a week. The class is only $2 for each lesson, which lasts for an hour and a half! I hope to start these classes next week and hope to attend classes at least three times per week.
We also had dinner at the train station last night. We found a shop that had many kinds of bread--apple, cheese, pizza, leek, sweet potato, carrot, you name it! We were intrigued, so we loaded up on goodies. However, my mini breakdown occurred when I could not buy green tea at the counter. For some reason, the tea I wanted was only available for take-out. No food, however, was sold to go. I couldn’t communicate to the cashier that I really wanted some tea. Ten minutes and a cup of horrible-tasting tea later, I felt a little better but was still frustrated that communication is so time-consuming and not always successful these days.
Today Josh and I woke up late again, this time to the sound of our doorbell. Our bank cards were hand delivered to us by a delivery man from the bank. Of course I have no money in my account to withdraw with this card, but it is nice to have all the same! Then we ventured into Nagoya with some vague directions from a friend in search of the cell phone shop. We found it almost right away in a six-story building! This shop had everything--bicycles, cameras, washing machines, mattresses, and most importantly--cell phones! We got the free phones with our super cheap $22 monthly plan, not expecting much. We were wrong! Our phones have adopt-a-virtual-pet features, video cameras, voice recorders, digital cameras, music, and more! They are tiny too! I will post pictures when we purchase a camera. (This may not be for a while.) I also saw a really awesome keyboard that goes with the iBook in this shop! It costs about $80, and I am totally getting it while I am here! You can basically play the piano on your computer with it, and there are all kinds of cool features! Josh was enthralled with all of the technological toys in this shop; I had to practically drag him out of the store so we could catch the train back to Gifu-Shi!
When we returned home, I completed a little more school work, and then we had our standard dinner of noodles with tofu and vegetables--quite good, easy, and cheap! After dinner I went (where else?) to the Internet cafe where I received a discount on my time because I go there so often and stopped by the convenience store to pick up some $1 snacks (6 ice cream bars--yes, all for $1; rice crackers, and chocolate covered almonds).
We’ve only bought three items so far that had meat in them--not bad for not being able to understand 98% of what people say to us. These accidents were quickly passed on to friends after the first bite. It’s a meat-filled world out there, especially when many translations of “meat” do not include chicken or fish.
Tomorrow is our first day of work at our permanent branches. I do not feel especially ready to teach a full day of lessons yet. For one thing, I am not familiar with the schedule at all! For another, I am not familiar with any of the lessons or students. Also I do not feel especially comfortable with the evaluation process that takes place after each lesson. I am going to need a lot of support tomorrow! I hope things go well and that I feel comfortable with my new coworkers!
9/17/07, 22:30 PM
Work is a little dreary so far, but I continue to be amazed by the genuine politeness of the Japanese people. The other day I was searching for random things in the Gifu area in which I am interested. One of these interests was yoga; I found an e-mail address for a local yoga teacher online and sent her an e-mail in the long shot that she would write back (hopefully in English!) The next day I got a really nice e-mail from her not only providing me ample information about the yoga class but also offering to help me with anything that might be confusing to me in the Gifu area (in English, nonetheless). Her exact words were, “Are you feeling troubled in life? I can help you.” Such an e-mail might sound a little creepy if I received it in the States, but this is how many Japanese people are--genuinely interested in helping people feel comfortable and trying to communicate in the politest way possible. It is also quite notable that she replied in English; many Japanese people undergo much embarrassment when they speak English, as they wish to sound native and natural in their speech and realize that they often don’t. Many Japanese people will refuse to speak English to a native speaker, even if they know the language quite well, in order to avoid the embarrassment of making a mistake! Although our students obviously overcome this shyness when speaking English with us, I can still detect traces of it. All of our students also seem to exhibit a genuine desire to help others and do the right thing, which I find very admirable.
I have become a little more confident about living in Japan; I’ve even been eating out recently! Of course this means that I’ve accidentally bought more items containing meat, but I have learned some handy vocabulary words to deal with this situation. Although I dislike not seeing Josh all day because we work at different offices, it is good that I don’t have him around to depend on for speaking to people all the time. This time apart has increased my desire to learn the language quickly, as Josh isn’t there to ask the store clerk if this noodle package contains meat when I’m on my lunch break.
Yesterday I worked at a different branch than my usual one in Ogaki called Loc City Ogaki. I will be working there every Sunday with two young American men. I enjoy working there because we aren’t that busy, so I get a lot of one-on-one time with the students, and there are many children who come in for lessons. Working with the two guys however is pretty challenging. They both seem to be pretty misogynistic and talk a lot about how hot many of our female students are, in addition to many other charming things. One of the guys and I ride the train to and from work together on Sundays as well. While it is nice to have someone to talk to (in English!), he can be pretty obnoxious in public, which completely embarrasses me! For instance he delights in calling out to other people in the street or roaring at passersby. On the train he intentionally bumps into people and laughs. He’s explained to me that he really gets a kick out of scaring the little meek people. He seems like a genuinely nice person, and his antics are in good fun and are typically surprisingly well-received by most people. However, I really don’t like to perpetuate this negative perspective of foreigners that so many Japanese people share, so I try to limit the amount of time I spend in public with that guy.
Today Josh and I had our first day of kids’ training. The training strategies for this company leave much to be desired. Anyway, today consisted of a lot of holding hands, jumping up and down, and singing the ABC’s. I’m serious. Then, because of a scheduling mishap on the company’s part, we had to go to another branch in Nagoya and spend the evening teaching lessons. It was actually not bad because the branch where we taught is really cool. Everything is super organized, and we met a lot of nice people. Nagoya seems quite fun; there were many people playing music and selling artwork on the street as we made our way back to the train station. I hope to be able to make jewelry or other crafts and sell them there one day!
I should have time for making crafts and such because we only work 32 hours per week. However, with transportation time, we definitely spend over 40 hours working each week. It’s not like riding a bike half a mile to work, like I’m used to doing! We often have to take a train and a bus and then walk during our commute to work, depending on where we’re teaching each day.
At work tonight I taught a Voice lesson, which does not follow a formal lesson plan. Each Voice session is open to any number of students who are speaking English on any level. Voice lessons usually have a general topic that is chosen by the instructor, and the lesson usually consists of free conversation among all the members. Tonight I thought that we would talk about our interests and what there is to do in Nagoya so that I could get some information about the city! Somehow, however, we ended up talking about Mexican immigrants in the United States and if undocumented residents should be allowed to remain in the States. Each student seemed to have a pretty conservative opinion on the subject, and I tried to remain as objective as possible. However, I was soon labeled as “empathetic” by a student who had lived in the States for 3 years, so I guess my opinion showed through a bit. Although I was worried about discussing such a controversial subject with the students, the conversation remained respectful.
Tonight when I got home from work, I talked to my friend David on the phone. He and I were friends when we lived in Mississippi, and he now lives in Tokyo with his wife, baby, and another one on the way. It was really fun to talk to him because he wanted to talk about politics and starting the revolution in Japan. It was interesting to get to have an intellectual conversation with someone after teaching people what to say when they meet someone new all day (“Are you new here? Yes, I moved here two weeks ago.” This is one example of what I talk about for seven hours each day at work!) It was also quite hilarious because he was pretty drunk! I’m glad we had this conversation, but it made me miss all of friends a lot more!