oops!
Oops, as in, sorry I haven't updated this thing in half a damn year. I moved to a new apartment at the end of October, and I still do not have an internet connection there. The reason for this, is the truly epic incompetence of the Yahoo BB internet service. They are who I have to use to get hooked up at my new place, and they are staggeringly obnoxious. I'll save my rant about them for another time, but for now, I hope to be finally getting hooked up around the end of this month.
I'm very happy with my new apartment. It's a prefectural apartment for teachers, with a heavily subsidized rent. I'm paying 9700 yen a month now, or about $90, for an apartment twice the size of my old one. It's located in a beautiful area out in the Western suburbs of Hiroshima City. It's at the top of a hill, about a 20 minute walk up from the seaside train station. From the veranda of my apartment, or from pretty much anywhere else in the neighborhood, I have a clear view of Miyajima, one of the so-called 3 most beautiful spots in Japan, and Itsukushima Shrine with its huge gate built out on the water, a World Heritage Site. That's pretty solid, I think.
The downside of all this is the distance from Hiroshima City, where I work (and play!). To get to work, I have to walk down the hill to the Miyajimaguchi JR station, take a 25 minute train ride to Nishihiroshima station, then walk 30 minutes from there to my school. It takes 1 hour 20 minutes in total, 45-50 minutes of which is walking. And of course I have to come home in the afternoon, so I'm walking for around 100 minutes every day, about half of which is up and down a huge hill. Needless to say, I'm in much better shape than I used to be! The location is certainly inconvenient for getting into the city, but the benefits far outweigh that.
I went home for 3 weeks for the holidays this year, which was incredible. I hadn't gone home, or even left Japan, for a year and a half. Getting out of here, and spending 3 weeks at home with friends and family, was an absolutely necessary and hugely satisfying trip. I won't bother going into the specifics of all the great times that were had, and all the overwhelmingly delicious food I ate, but it was really fantastic.
At the end of my trip I was asked by various people there, and again by friends here when I came back, how it felt to be leaving again. Whether I was dying to get back here, or never wanted to leave home again. The answer, I suppose, is somewhere in between. I enjoyed my time at home very much, and could have happily stayed for longer. But, I was starting to miss my friends and my life here, and knew that had I stayed longer, the urge to return here would have steadily grown stronger and stronger. One of the main reasons, I think, is that these days I have more friends in Japan than I do at home. While in New York it was great to see my very good friend Stan from high school, and James, Matt, and Tyler from college. There are a handful of other high school and college friends that I would have liked to have seen, but wasn't able to. In Japan, I have a number of ALT friends all over Hiroshima prefecture (and in other prefectures too), and many more Japanese friends in Hiroshima and elsewhere. I have friends that I made recently who I want to get to know better, and one best friend from years ago who I haven't seen in far too long. I guess there are just more people for me to miss in Japan than I realized.
The other newsworthy item, I suppose, is that I have a girlfriend now. This is a pretty recent development, so let me tell you all about her! Her name is Kana, and she works at the Battleship Yamato museum in Kure, a city about 30 minutes East of Hiroshima, which is where I met her. I was at the museum with some students and a few other ALTs last September. She was working upstairs, in the "let's have fun and learn about science" room for kids. There was a computer quiz about ships that you could take, and she helped me and the other ALTs work through the tricky Japanese bits...she didn't speak much English, but she had a translation with her. Anyway, we talked for a while, and she seemed very friendly, but I walked away without doing anything. One of the students, a girl, came up to me and said "um, she clearly likes you a lot, why don't you go back and talk to her some more?" It hadn't even occurred to me to ask for her email address or anything, but one of the other ALTs agreed that she was definitely into me, so before we left for the day I went back. We talked for a bit more and I gave her my email address, leaving the ball in her court.
I didn't really expect to hear from her, but she sent me an email that afternoon. We sent messages back and forth for a while but could never seem to get together, mostly because of her work schedule, and because we lived in different cities. But finally, around the end of November, she was able to come into Hiroshima for the evening, and we went out for yakiniku and drinks. I really had a good time, she was a lot more fun to talk to, and easier to talk to, than most of the other girls I've tried going out with here. After that night she scheduled another evening to come in, and we ate and drank up the city. That evening, we wound up accidentally and awkwardly jumping into a conversation about how we felt, and I was happy to hear that she was definitely interested in me. She was worried, however, because she spends a lot of time thinking about the future, and wasn't sure what to make of the fact that I might be returning to New York for good some day. I tried to convince her that she was thinking too hard, and that we would cross that bridge if and when it came. But she was still hesitant, and unfortunately that's where we left it...I went home for the holidays a few days later.
We sent lots of emails over the holidays, and after I got back here, before we had even seen each other again, she called me and popped the question: 「付き合ってください」or, "please be my boyfriend." I said yes, and here we are!
She's kind of a quirky girl, not really the type of Japanese girl I always figured I'd wind up with. Her face is very different from the traditional Japanese face...she almost looks Korean. I think she's pretty, of course...although she cut her hair while I was gone, and it's way too short now. She looked a lot better before. She and I are similar in a lot of ways, different in many others, and sometimes I wonder how long we could seriously last as a couple. Especially considering that her work schedule makes it hard to see each other...sometimes we might go for two weeks without meeting, and other times we'll have no idea when the next time we'll meet is. That's already starting to get frustrating for me (and for her, I'm sure).
But it's obviously way too soon to start having second thoughts or anything of the sort. I'm just over-thinking things, as always. So for now, I'll just enjoy the time that we do have together, and try to get to know her better. I have a couple pictures but none that I'm really happy with, so you'll all just have to wait on that.
Graduation is fast approaching, third-year classes are already ending, and so it's almost time to say goodbye to another batch of students. This year is going to be infinitely harder than last year. I'm happy, at least, that this year I have a girlfriend that I can go and spend time with when I start to feel lonely after graduation. That is, if I can actually spend time with her.
Anyway, sorry I've been incommunicado for so long! People in Hiroshima, I'll see you soon. People online, I'll hopefully be around more starting in a couple weeks. People at home...it was good seeing you if I did see you, sorry I missed you if I didn't. Come to Japan, if you can manage it!
I'm very happy with my new apartment. It's a prefectural apartment for teachers, with a heavily subsidized rent. I'm paying 9700 yen a month now, or about $90, for an apartment twice the size of my old one. It's located in a beautiful area out in the Western suburbs of Hiroshima City. It's at the top of a hill, about a 20 minute walk up from the seaside train station. From the veranda of my apartment, or from pretty much anywhere else in the neighborhood, I have a clear view of Miyajima, one of the so-called 3 most beautiful spots in Japan, and Itsukushima Shrine with its huge gate built out on the water, a World Heritage Site. That's pretty solid, I think.
The downside of all this is the distance from Hiroshima City, where I work (and play!). To get to work, I have to walk down the hill to the Miyajimaguchi JR station, take a 25 minute train ride to Nishihiroshima station, then walk 30 minutes from there to my school. It takes 1 hour 20 minutes in total, 45-50 minutes of which is walking. And of course I have to come home in the afternoon, so I'm walking for around 100 minutes every day, about half of which is up and down a huge hill. Needless to say, I'm in much better shape than I used to be! The location is certainly inconvenient for getting into the city, but the benefits far outweigh that.
I went home for 3 weeks for the holidays this year, which was incredible. I hadn't gone home, or even left Japan, for a year and a half. Getting out of here, and spending 3 weeks at home with friends and family, was an absolutely necessary and hugely satisfying trip. I won't bother going into the specifics of all the great times that were had, and all the overwhelmingly delicious food I ate, but it was really fantastic.
At the end of my trip I was asked by various people there, and again by friends here when I came back, how it felt to be leaving again. Whether I was dying to get back here, or never wanted to leave home again. The answer, I suppose, is somewhere in between. I enjoyed my time at home very much, and could have happily stayed for longer. But, I was starting to miss my friends and my life here, and knew that had I stayed longer, the urge to return here would have steadily grown stronger and stronger. One of the main reasons, I think, is that these days I have more friends in Japan than I do at home. While in New York it was great to see my very good friend Stan from high school, and James, Matt, and Tyler from college. There are a handful of other high school and college friends that I would have liked to have seen, but wasn't able to. In Japan, I have a number of ALT friends all over Hiroshima prefecture (and in other prefectures too), and many more Japanese friends in Hiroshima and elsewhere. I have friends that I made recently who I want to get to know better, and one best friend from years ago who I haven't seen in far too long. I guess there are just more people for me to miss in Japan than I realized.
The other newsworthy item, I suppose, is that I have a girlfriend now. This is a pretty recent development, so let me tell you all about her! Her name is Kana, and she works at the Battleship Yamato museum in Kure, a city about 30 minutes East of Hiroshima, which is where I met her. I was at the museum with some students and a few other ALTs last September. She was working upstairs, in the "let's have fun and learn about science" room for kids. There was a computer quiz about ships that you could take, and she helped me and the other ALTs work through the tricky Japanese bits...she didn't speak much English, but she had a translation with her. Anyway, we talked for a while, and she seemed very friendly, but I walked away without doing anything. One of the students, a girl, came up to me and said "um, she clearly likes you a lot, why don't you go back and talk to her some more?" It hadn't even occurred to me to ask for her email address or anything, but one of the other ALTs agreed that she was definitely into me, so before we left for the day I went back. We talked for a bit more and I gave her my email address, leaving the ball in her court.
I didn't really expect to hear from her, but she sent me an email that afternoon. We sent messages back and forth for a while but could never seem to get together, mostly because of her work schedule, and because we lived in different cities. But finally, around the end of November, she was able to come into Hiroshima for the evening, and we went out for yakiniku and drinks. I really had a good time, she was a lot more fun to talk to, and easier to talk to, than most of the other girls I've tried going out with here. After that night she scheduled another evening to come in, and we ate and drank up the city. That evening, we wound up accidentally and awkwardly jumping into a conversation about how we felt, and I was happy to hear that she was definitely interested in me. She was worried, however, because she spends a lot of time thinking about the future, and wasn't sure what to make of the fact that I might be returning to New York for good some day. I tried to convince her that she was thinking too hard, and that we would cross that bridge if and when it came. But she was still hesitant, and unfortunately that's where we left it...I went home for the holidays a few days later.
We sent lots of emails over the holidays, and after I got back here, before we had even seen each other again, she called me and popped the question: 「付き合ってください」or, "please be my boyfriend." I said yes, and here we are!
She's kind of a quirky girl, not really the type of Japanese girl I always figured I'd wind up with. Her face is very different from the traditional Japanese face...she almost looks Korean. I think she's pretty, of course...although she cut her hair while I was gone, and it's way too short now. She looked a lot better before. She and I are similar in a lot of ways, different in many others, and sometimes I wonder how long we could seriously last as a couple. Especially considering that her work schedule makes it hard to see each other...sometimes we might go for two weeks without meeting, and other times we'll have no idea when the next time we'll meet is. That's already starting to get frustrating for me (and for her, I'm sure).
But it's obviously way too soon to start having second thoughts or anything of the sort. I'm just over-thinking things, as always. So for now, I'll just enjoy the time that we do have together, and try to get to know her better. I have a couple pictures but none that I'm really happy with, so you'll all just have to wait on that.
Graduation is fast approaching, third-year classes are already ending, and so it's almost time to say goodbye to another batch of students. This year is going to be infinitely harder than last year. I'm happy, at least, that this year I have a girlfriend that I can go and spend time with when I start to feel lonely after graduation. That is, if I can actually spend time with her.
Anyway, sorry I've been incommunicado for so long! People in Hiroshima, I'll see you soon. People online, I'll hopefully be around more starting in a couple weeks. People at home...it was good seeing you if I did see you, sorry I missed you if I didn't. Come to Japan, if you can manage it!