howdy. (8/06/2007)

(this email is long.  i will try to keep them shorter in the future but when one first arrives in a completely new place there will by nature be quite a bit to tell.  if you'd rather not hear about my random travels / experiences in Japan, or if i missed someone, just lemme know.)

Hi everyone!

As I start to write this it's a been a week and a day since I arrived in Japan.  You will be reading it quite a bit later, though, as it is quite a lengthy process to get everything one needs when moving to a foreign country where one does not speak the language.  Espeeecially Japan, where it seems like things like getting internet and telephone take extra long.  Being more or less completely dependent on other people for anything more than buying food (and sometimes not even that) is kind of rough.

We got to Tokyo on Sunday afternoon (7/29) and stayed there until Wednesday morning (8/1).  During the day we had training sessions and whatnot and at night we were more free to explore.  I mostly went around with three friends that I made in New York: Nathan (going to Miyagi Prefecture) and Jessica and Christine (both also coming to Nagasaki Prefecture).  We also started to chill with Erica, who will be living in the boonies of Nara, toward the end.  Between Nathan and Jessica, who both had decent Japanese, the five of us got around all right and wandered through the large crowds of people.  It was pretty crazy, especially in Harajuku and Shibuya, where people dress up in fashions that might be better described as costumes.

But Tokyo is not Japan, or so I've been told, and after arriving in Oshima Town I wholeheartedly agree.  I am one of two ALTs (Assistant Language Teacher) on the island of Oshima, about a two hour drive from Nagasaki City.  Oshima Town is part of Saikai City, a newly created entity comprising several smaller towns; you can think of it like a county or a township.  There is one other new ALT in Saikai City, Wendy from Jamaica, and we were picked up at the airport by Yamaguchi-san, our supervisor from the Saikai Board of Education.  At the BOE we split up, and Torisei-san took me to my apartment.  In a completely unexpected gesture, he returned an hour later with a bottle of water, coke, some chips and crackers, three things of Cup Noodle, and disposable chopsticks.  In general, all of the BOE people have been very kind and helpful to me.

I have a different apartment than my predecessor, so all of the stuff that he had in a three room + kitchen apartment now had to squeeze into my one room + kitchen.  What didn't fit they put next door in an empty apartment so it's been quite a process sorting through and trying to figure out what I should keep and what to throw away.  My apartment, though small, is pretty nice though and it's got some modern touches that my predecessor's didn't, like push-button hot water (instead of cranking to get the hot water going) and built-in water-removal for the washer (instead of putting the hose into the shower).  The air conditioner is quite nice now as well, since we're just now in the height of Japanese summer, which means mid 80s-90s and100% humidity all the time.  Woo!!

So yeah it can get pretty nasty, but that is counter-balanced by the fact that Oshima is beaaautiful.  Driving from the airport to Saikai and then on to Oshima that's the one thing I was constantly struck by, just how amazing the natural scenery is.  Out the back door of my apartment there's a line of evergreens and then just perfect blue water and islands off in the distance.

The first night Yamaguchi-san, Torisei-san, and Murai-san (also from the BOE) took me and Wendy out for dinner at a restaurant in Saikai.  Note: Japanese people are generally surprised if you can do anything "Japanese", like eating with chopsticks or saying anything in Japanese.  Yamaguchi-san, Torisei-san, and Murai-san were more relaxed about it, with simple compliments on my use of chopsticks, but when entire offices of teachers give you a round of applause after a simple memorized introduction in Japanese...  well, the role of a foreigner in Japan has often been described as that of a "dancing bear" and it is certainly accurate in many cases.

After dinner though it was back to my apartment though for a pretty lonely night spent surrounded in chaos.  Over the next few days, Murai-san and another BOE worker, Nakashima-san, took me around to various offices, applying for an alien registration card, getting a bank account, things like that.  The second day, after doing our errands, I asked Murai-san and Nakashima-san to help me call the other ALT on the island, Rachel, since I didn't have a phone.

It took some doing and calling about, but I finally got in touch with her.  Before I came to Japan my predecessor gave her my info and she emailed me with her number and told me to call her when I got here.  It was such a huge relief when I finally heard her voice on the other end and we set up a time to meet and get some dinner.  It was overwhelming to come here with very limited Japanese and only be able to interact with the BOE people, whose English is only slightly better than my Japanese.  Rachel drove me to Sasebo, a city about 45 minutes away, to go shopping and get dinner.  This in itself was really nice, since Oshima isn't exactly a retail mecca, but more than anything it was just having someone to talk to (in English!) that understood the difficulties I was having and could help me out.  I told her a bunch of times, but I don't think she fully grasped how grateful I was that she was here and took the time to help me out.

Rachel left Saturday morning (8/4) to spend a few more days in Japan and then head back to the UK, but I met her friends who live in Sasebo (30 min by ferry from Oshima) when they came for her going away party, giving me more friends in the immediate area.  I actually went to Sasebo later that day to hang out with them for a bbq, so I'm really quite fortunate that I had Rachel here to guide me around and introduce me to people.  Ha, we even all hit up the karaoke for her party, which I gotta say was a lot of fun.  Which of course just makes it more sad that she had to leave, but I guess that's JET for you, people constantly coming and going.

I don't start work until this coming Thursday (8/9) because my JTE's (Japanese Teachers of English) aren't in town and there really isn't anything I can do until they get back.  The 9th is actually a school day for the kids because it's Nagasaki Peace Day, the conmemoration of the day we dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.  In the meantime, I've got time to try and really get situated in my apartment and explore the island some more, although that'll be a little more difficult without a bycicle or a car.  Last night I did walk down to the beach (where we shot fireworks over the water for Rachel's going-away) and then allll the way to the far side of Oshima Bridge, which seems a lot shorter when you're riding over it in a car.  It was a nice walk though.

It also gives me time to write really really long emails.  Sorry.  I can only wash dishes and tidy up for so long though and this is a good distraction / outlet.  I'll try not to write too many emails before I actually get internet so as to prevent a deluge in your inbox.  Until then..

lots of love (from the FUTURE!)

-greg.