Leah's Speech Contest

It was really nice to have a normal, quiet week after all my traveling. I'm also back to updating on Mondays again! I'll also most likely be going back to shorter posts for the next few weeks.

I left off last week on Tuesday with my dinner and karaoke night with Caol. The next night, Wednesday, Leah came over for dinner and we had a last, little birthday celebration since we hadn't seen each other for our birthday's over the weekend. We sat and talked and had a great time. Thursday I went to Orange Door to visit Kikumi and Friday I went to Megan's to watch movies.

On Saturday I tried a new food for the first time, loco moco. Loco moco is a popular dish in Hawaii with rice, hamburger, fried egg, and gravy. I went shopping with Megan in the morning and helped her cook before everyone came over. We made the hamburgers and gravy from scratch and everyone loved it! We all sat around the 炬燵 (kotatsu, heated table) and talked and watched movies until dinner time. We all decided to go out in Kokura together, but none of us were hungry yet, so we decided to sing a bit before dinner. We went to Carnival Karaoke for a few hours and then headed over to 鉄なべ (Tetsunabe) for some gyoza. We went to one more place, Bob's, after for another drink and some more karaoke before finally all heading home.

Sunday I stayed home and cleaned most of the morning, knowing I'd be out that afternoon. I left home a little after 1:00 PM for Move Hall. There was a Japanese speech contest going on and Leah was a guest speaker! She had wanted to participate, but it was only open to language students at the YMCA. I went to go see her and her speech was fantastic. The speeches in the contest were all really well written and performed, too. Our supervisor, Ms. Tsuruta, had also come and she treated us to coffee and snacks afterwards. Leah and I got dinner after that and stayed out talking for a while before leaving.

This week should be another quiet week. I'm back at Shinozaki and these are my last full two weeks here. I'm really sad to be leaving, but I'm excited to make the most of my last class time here!

Happy Birthday to Me and 沖縄！

I know my updates have been a bit strange these last two weeks, but this is the last one for a while that will be out of the ordinary. Next week I'll be back to normal and updating on Mondays. Last week I was in Tokyo and had come back on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were pretty quiet days at work and I had some friends over on Friday (2/13/15) for board games. Juha, Dan, Marc, and Megan all came over and we tried out some new games Juha had ordered. They were all really fun and we had a great time! I hadn't seen Dan in a while, so it was really great seeing him. I didn't want to cook, so we splurged and ordered pizza. (Yes, pizza is probably the most expensive delivery food here.) As things were winding down Megan surprised us with cake she'd gotten on her way over. She had to get slices instead of a whole cake, but she still bought numbered candles to spell out "25" and made everyone sing to me. It was really nice and the cake was delicious!

At midnight that night, right as it turned into the 14th and my birthday, I got a LINE message from one of my co-workers at Shinozaki. That day they'd made a video where, one at a time, teachers would hold up letters to spell out "Happy Birthday Caroline." They drew pictures and some of the teachers did a little dance. It was really cute and I was so happy to get it! It was sent to me by one of the special education teachers who I've become close with. She told me everyone was celebrating my birthday, despite me not being there and they all wished me a happy birthday. It was an amazing start to my birthday.

Saturday morning I met Patrick outside our apartment building and we headed to the airport together. We got to the airport quickly and checked in easily. We arrived in Okinawa in the afternoon and heading out into the sunlight. We took a monorail to our hotel, but I made a mistake on the way. Our hotel was on 国際道り (Kokusai Dori, International Street), but I took us to the east end of the street and our hotel was on the west end. Thankfully, the walk along the street was only about 10 minutes and it was a really cool introduction to Okinawa walking down the street. The street was full of restaurants, bars, shops, and ice cream parlors. After getting settled in the hotel, Patrick and I wondered around looking at everything. We treated ourselves to some ice cream and even saw some cherry trees starting to bloom. We happened upon a small performance area outside where we saw a dance performance and some singers. They were all fantastic! We stopped in a ton of shops and wandered down back roads for a few hours before decided to get some dinner. We went to a teppenyaki restaurant and had steak and shrimp. The shrimp they cooked us were the biggest (and some of the tastiest) shrimp I've ever had! We walked around some more after dinner before deciding to go to a bar for a few drinks. At the bar we tried ハブ酒 (Habushu, snake wine), which had a real snake in it! The snake in it is similar to a rattlesnake and it's famous in Okinawa. It was surprisingly good! Because of Valentine's Day, the bar cleared a small stage area and professional dancers came to perform. Patrick and I had a great time and even made a few new friends! It was a great way to spend my birthday!

The next morning I woke up early and headed downstairs for breakfast. Patrick had apparently had a bit too much to drink the night before, so I took a walk to the nearest drug store for some Advil for him. It was warm and sunny out and I really enjoyed the little walk. Patrick was soon feeling better and decided to take a walk. We walked around for a while and after about an hour or so found ourselves at a beautiful beach. We stopped to read for a while. Patrick stayed on the beach, but I wanted to find some shade. I wandered up a nearby hill and found a garden. I ended up reading my entire book before I met back up with Patrick for a late lunch. We'd been walking for a long time, but we'd gone in almost a complete circle, so we returned to our hotel area fairly quickly. We had Okinawan soba noodles for a light lunch before heading back to the hotel. The entire road was closed to cars when we got back and there were people performing in the streets! We saw a group dressed up as Power Rangers, a man performing in an acrobatic ring, and musicians. We stopped to watch for a while before heading back to the hotel. I had done some shopping so I wanted to put down my bags, but I left the hotel pretty quickly again. I found a book store with two shelves of English books and picked up a few. I walked up and down 国際道り and did the last of my shopping. I got presents for Leah and Kikumi, both of who had birthday's in the last week. I also treated myself to some 紅芋 (beni-imo, purple sweet potato) ice cream. The purple sweet potato is another famous food in Okinawa and most of the souvenirs are sweets made from it. I can see why, the ice cream was delicious! I went back to the hotel before dinner to see if Patrick wanted any food and found out he'd been napping while I was out. We went out to dinner and he went back to the hotel after to read. I stayed out a bit more doing some final shopping and enjoying the nice weather before eventually returning as well.

We both woke up the next morning in time for breakfast and checked out of the hotel. We took the monorail back to the airport and said goodbye to Okinawa. I was back in my apartment by late afternoon (I took a slow bus back from the airport) and spent the rest of my day unpacking and unwinding from my crazy two weeks. The next day, Tuesday, I was back to work. The students have testing all this week, so I'm just doing extra work like change the English board, but it's nice to be back to my regular routine. I met up with Caol that night and we went to a really nice dinner and sang karaoke for two hours. It was great to see him again and we even started planning another trip!

The next few weeks should be pretty quiet leading up to April when I'll be traveling all around Japan with Mike and my parents. I have more tentative plans for later in April (Korea) and Golden Week in May (Ehime). Although I'm looking forward to what's ahead, I'm very excited to be back to normal and relax for the next month!

Tokyo

I just got back from a conference in Tokyo yesterday and today I'm back in school. It's been a long week, but I had a really good time! After posting last Saturday from my hotel I went out for dinner to a place called Wired Cafe. It was near my hotel and the food was great. After dinner I hopped on the train to Shinjuku to go see the show at the Robot Restaurant. It was incredibly flashy, very loud, and a lot of fun! There were assigned seats and I ended up next two three other Americans. They were really nice and invited me out with them afterwards. I ended up going out with them to Shibuya for a while and had a blast. We went to a few different bars and to me it was reminiscent of the last time I was in Tokyo. Patrick and I had gone out in the same area last year. I was really happy to make some new friends and I had a great night!

I was up early the next morning to Skype with Reid. He recently moved out to California and we hadn't gotten a chance to talk since then, so we were able to Skype for an hour or so. I was really excited to get to talk with him and a bit. By the time I got of Skype it was time for lunch. I took the train to Harajuku to get lunch and do a little shopping. I got a nice lunch, but it started to rain pretty hard so I decided to forgo shopping and head back to my hotel. Thankfully the rain let up a bit when I left soon after to go to the Ghibli museum. I had a great time even just walking to the museum from the station though the park. The museum is a beautiful building that Hayao Miyazaki designed and walking in really does feel like your stepping into a movie or a fairy tale. They have a short movie that you can only see at the museum that changes every few months. Even the tickets for the museum are made from real 35mm film prints that had previously been used in theaters. I explored every part of the museum and stayed until it closed at 6:00 PM. I headed back to my hotel, but stopped in Shibuya for dinner. I wasn't very hungry yet, but I knew once I went back to my hotel I'd have to start packing up for Chiba. Because I wasn't hungry, I ended up walking up and down the streets for over an hour just looking at everything. I explored the a bunch of smaller side streets and walking around with no real destination was kind of relaxing. I did eventually find a small Pokemon Cafe and decided to eat there. After dinner I packed and prepared for my conference the next day.

I was up early again on Monday to catch a train out to Chiba. I had a quick breakfast at my hotel before leaving. The commute was well over an hour, but I still ended up getting to the conference too early to check in. I ended up meeting Lisa there, another JET from Kitakyushu. I though I was the only Kitakyushu JET coming, so I was really excited to see her! We checked in as soon as we could and got lunch at a pizza place before the conference started. The conference started with two speakers that were not incredibly interesting. They spoke for about three before before we changed rooms to a career fair with companies looking to hire ex-JETs. It was a bit strange because none of us will be available to work for six more months, but it was a great networking opportunity. Sixty three companies were represented and only two were hiring for positions outside of Japan, so it was incredibly helpful for me. Still, I talked to some companies, gave out business cards and resumes, and it was nice getting to meet different people from all around Japan. When the career fair ended I went to my new hotel to check in. I was really lucky and got a hotel very near the convention center. For dinner I met up with Lisa, the Kitakyushu JET, and Nick. We had a nice dinner and it was really nice to talk with them, because we don't often see each other. Nick left after dinner to meet some of his other friends. Lisa and I stuck together and found a small place to grab a drink and some dessert before turning in for the night.

We all met up again the next morning for the conference to continue. Again, the morning was two speakers, but I found this talk more helpful. We learned how to put our JET experience on a resume and skills we can now market, even if we end up not going into educated or Japan-related fields. The afternoon was made up of four smaller lectures that were broken up into different categories. I went to the "Career in Education" panel, but nothing else really applied to me. After the conference finished, I headed back into Tokyo for my last night. I checked back into the hotel I had stayed at the first two nights before catching a train to meet Lisa, who had also gone back to Tokyo after the conference. We met in Asakusa and did a bit of sight-seeing before grabbing dinner. We walked through Sensouji, the oldest temple in Tokyo. You can easily see Tokyo Sky Tree from Asakusa and the seeing the shimmering tower while standing in the old temple is a cool juxtaposition. Lisa and I decided to get dinner in the area and ended up getting yakiniku. After dinner we found a cute little bar down the street and stopped in for some more time together. I'm really glad she was there and I had the chance to hang out with her. We have plans to hang out more before we both go home!

Wednesday was a national holiday in Japan, so I used it as a travel day for coming back home. I slept in for the first time on the vacation and checked out of the hotel as late as possible. There's a nice cafe that serves really good Thai food next to the station that I had lunch at and killed time until my train. I caught a Nozomi shinkansen a little after 12:30 PM and settled in for the five hour ride back to Kokura. I got really lucky and the day was very clear, so I had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji on the way back! It was a nice way to end my trip. I settled in back home and Leah and Caol came over to welcome me back. I told them all about my trip and they told me all the KitaQ drama I'd missed being away. After my trip and the conference it was really nice to just sit around with my friends in my apartment and have a low-key night.

I'm back at work now, but my adventures are still continuing! Tomorrow I have to re-pack my little suitcase because I'm heading to Okinawa on Saturday for a long weekend and my birthday! I'll be staying home for only six weeks because I'll be back in Tokyo with Mike and my parents at the beginning of April. I'm doing my best to make the most of my last six months living in Japan!

百人一首

I'm updating a bit earlier than usual! I arrived in Tokyo this morning and wanted to get something out because I don't think I'll have time to update again until I get back to Kokura on Wednesday and hopefully I'll have lots of exciting Tokyo stuff to talk about then. So I'm updating now to let you know about my week at Shinozaki before it gets totally overshadowed by my Tokyo adventures.

Last week I was working at Shinozaki and there weren't many classes. There were high school entrance exams as well as regular end-of-the-year exams and the 7th and 8th graders had something called 百人一首 (hyakunin isshu, 100 people one poem). The students have been practicing all month for this competition by memorizing 100 short poems. The poems are two lines long and the second line is written on a card. All 100 second-line cards are placed on a mat and students sit around it. The teachers read the poems and the students had to find the second line of that poem and slap it first to get the card and the student with the most cards the end wins. The teachers read the whole poem, but the idea is that if students memorize the poems they can find and slap the second line before the teacher reads it, thus increasing their chances of slapping it first.

I missed the 7th graders' game because of a meeting at the Board of Education, but I was able to go for the 8th grader competition the next day. It was really cool listening to all the teachers read the poems, they're kind of chanted and each one has a certain melody that goes with it. I even learned three of them and they let me read them as part of the game. I wasn't perfect, but everyone really enjoyed it, especially the students! I had a ton of fun!

On Friday we also had a half day at school and elementary students came in the afternoon. The students will be joining Shinozaki in April for the new school year. We did a short English lesson for them. We did alphabet drills and taught them how to use an English dictionary. I think they really enjoyed it and I definitely had fun. On Friday night Caol and Megan came over for dinner. We watched some movies and had a great time!

This morning (Saturday, February 7th) I headed out for Tokyo! I caught the shinkansen at 9:20 AM and got into Tokyo a little after 2:00 PM. I have a JET conference on Monday and Tuesday, but I'll be exploring Tokyo a bit during the weekend. I went to a pizza place for lunch and had some really weird pizza. I had a slice of beef and pickle pizza and a slice of squid ink pizza! For dessert there was chocolate banana pizza and apple walnut pizza. Despite the weird toppings, everything was really good! I even liked the squid ink pizza! After lunch I stopped by the new Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo that launched two months ago. I have a lot more stuff planned for my trip and I'll update you at the end of the week!

Girl's Night

I was happy to have one more uneventful week before things start to pick up again. School was pretty uneventful. Leah came over for dinner on Tuesday and Patrick came over on Wednesday. It was a quiet week. Friday I went out with Caol and our friend Teppei. Teppei had been away for a few months and it was really nice to see him again after so long! We went to a Korean place for dinner and karaoke afterwards. I went right home after that because I knew I'd be busy on Saturday.

I started my Saturday with hours of cleaning. I made sure every nook and cranny was spotless. Of course, I cooked afterwards and made a bit of a mess again, but that's all right. My friend Tanya came over early along with Megan and Kyoko. We had a lot of fun cooking and waiting for my co-workers to arrive. For dinner we made soft-shell tacos since the teachers here had never had them. We made guacamole and got tortillas and salsa from the foreign food store. My co-workers brought a big box of sushi and a chocolate pie for dessert. Sushi and tacos were an interesting mix, but everything was really good! I had a ton of fun and everyone got along really well. Marc and Juha joined us later in the night and people didn't head out until close to midnight. Megan missed her last bus, so she stayed the night.

Sunday we slept and and when we did wake up we watched some movies. Caol texted us and we meet him for lunch at an udon restaurant by my house that I really like. He ended up coming back to my place after and we all watched some more movies before Caol and Megan headed home.

Although these last few weeks have been a nice break for me, I'll be back to adventuring soon! I'll leave for Tokyo on Saturday and stay until Wednesday. I'm going to an after-JET conference in Chiba on Monday and Tuesday and this week will mostly be preparation for that. The next Saturday, my birthday, I'll be headed to Okinawa for a long weekend trip. I'm not sure when my next update will be because my schedule will be a bit strange. I'm going to shoot for next Monday like normal, but I might not have time until Wednesday or Thursday because of the traveling. Stay tuned for my solo adventures in Tokyo next week!