. . : : Japan takes the QUEEN : : . .

‚·‚Ý‚Ü‚¹‚ñ�A”ö‚“‹æ‚È‚è‚Ü‚µ‚½ ... sumimasen, osoku narimashita ...excuse me, I was late.... that is what I had to say today. Out of all things in the language, that is what I had to say today! I couldn`t believe I was late. I am not sure what happened, but the 7:00AM alarm on my cell phone did not go off. I usually have a back-up (a mini travel clock, but it was not set). So instead I woke up at 8:05 AM and did not make it to school until 8:22 AM but the staff meeting was over by then. I am supposed to be at work for an 8:15 AM staff meeting every single day. I know I can`t change anything about it now, but I feel bad : (

I have to go to the bathroom and I have no idea where it is!

I ordered a `healthy living in Japan`-esque book from the Organic Market yesterday. I am looking forward to receiving it b/c it contains info about places where they practice yoga, creative and healing arts, organic markets, festivals, things of that nature. It was not raining today, so I gladly I rode my bike to work/school today. I think I may end up getting a bike when I return to the US. I actually enjoy riding around and looking at things. Someone is going to take me to the store to buy and iron and go food shopping today. Good! No more wrinkled clothing. My clothes had been packed up for almost a month, so they are in desparate need of an iron. I bought some hangers from the hyaku-en (100 YEN) store the other day, so some of the wrinkles are falling out.

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
My school doesn`t have a microwave for the teachers, so I will have to begin bringing cold {really room temp.} lunches (ie. sandwiches, etc...but not salads, b/c there`s no fridge either) to school. Somehow I don`t think that many of my cooked dishes will taste great at room temp. I will probably begin experimenting with raw food as lunch options...it should be cool!

..:: peace

I did my `Self Introduction`s today. They were great. The instructors and students seemed to like my activity. Typically (as far I was told), Japanese taechers do not give much feedback to anyone. So when I asked them how did they feel about the class session(s), they say `It`s okay.`..which for the most part means it`s good. Both teachers asked me about plans for the next lessons, so they musy have really liked what I put together. I am happy about that. There is a drastic level difference between the 3rd year students and 2nd year students. The 2nd year teacher seemed like he wanted to instruct the English class in Japanese (which is typically how it is done). He asked if it is okay, I said I prefer not. He felt that some of students didn`t understand some of the words, so in some moments, he translated to Japanese. For the most part, the students understood (even if they did not know the meaning of some of the words) because they were able to answer my quiz/crossword puzzle activity. I didn`t meet with the first year students today, but they already have a self-introduction activity planned, so it should not be too difficult.

Things are going well so far. I am getting acquainted with the teachers (the few of the 80 that I have met). I was actually invited to the bowling league game on Sept. 3rd, so we`ll see how that goes.

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
I am eating well. I am slowly getting familiar with what I can and cannot eat. I go to the grocery store pretty regularly, but I am looking forward to ordering food from an organic market in a ken (Saitama) close by. They have almost everything that I would get from home, except the Sunny Bears (vegan gumi bears) that I like. So I will have to create a wish list so people can send them to me, in case they are ever feelin` like sending me a care package (hint, hint! ;)

..::peace

It`s time for a sistah to get a car! This morning, it was raining (so), my supervisor had to come to get me and take me to work. That was cool and I appreciated it b/c who knows how I would have felt after riding 20 min. in the pouring rain on a bike. But he gets to my apt. about 15 min. early, and he calls me once to tell me he`s there...cool....he calls me a second time (no less than 15 seconds later), he calls me a third time...a fourth... a fifth time...maybe even a sixth time! I am like dag....give a sistah five minutes. He was early. Had he given me five minutes I would have been ready, but instead we had to spend 10 minutes of me running back and forth to and from the phone, then on top of that take a minutes for me to know that he is still here.

Well today is the first day of classes and I feel like I`m prepared. I am doing my Self-Intro on PowerPOint, so prayerfully, everything works out the way it`s supposed to. I`ll see in a few minutes...peacece...

So today is my `first day of school`. I was introduced at the teacher`s meeting (held at 8:15) where I had to introduce myself in Japanese. Later on there was school assembly where I had to introduce myself (English and Japanese) to all 800 students and 80 teachers. I thought it was going to be really nerve racking, but it wasn`t. Right now, I don`t really have much to do, so I am just preparing some activities and lesson plans for my `Activity Book`. Although I worked on my Self-Introduction in PowerPoint, it seems like I may not be using it as much as I initially thought. But I get I`ll see...I am sure someone will ask me to do something about myself in the near future.

YAY!!! I moved yesterday into my new apartment. The school said they would buy me my new stove and washing machine (so maybe I can buy a dryer next month!). I went to buy some bedding yesterday. It turned out to be a lot more money than I thought it would be (but overall, it wasn`t expensive). I had to buy the mat, the futon, the blanket (for summer), the pillow, then the sheet. I really like the futon because I can really use my full space in my apartment until it`s time to sleep.

..::peace...

Not to much going on today. I finally got somewhere on my self-introduction lesson today. The good thing is that I will be using the same one for all 3 of my classes. I an still nit sure what to expect on the day we begin utilizing the books and lessons. What I will probably do is just observe a bit and then maybe give suggestions of what I think I can "add" to the already existing structure in the classes.

Yesterday I worked on my travel calendar. YES! "travel calendar"...I am planning way ahead of time so I know where I'll be going and when. I definitely have to go down to Tokyo soon b/c when I was there for the Orientation, I really didn't get the opportunity to explore or visit the various sections. Of course Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Kyoto are in the plans as well. I have factored in a week or so for travelling outside of the country, however I haven't figured out my options yet. I am looking forward to being able to travel. All of these places were put into my calendar and only 1 out the 20 vacation days were used! Yay!

Tomorrow I am going to Aomori City for an "ALT Aomori Orientation". It should be pretty interesting. I will finally get a chance to meet the new brothas and sistahs in my prefecture. The days are only planned until 5PM, so I will have time to explore the area as well.

browsing the net and came across a license plate maker, so I give you:




ACME Liscense Maker



..::peace....

I had to put this here:




Current Terror Alert Level

So...I just had to begin this post with this.....why! oh why! was I just watching this show that deals with English translation and conversation and in between segments, what are they playing....F-E-L-A...it was a snippet, but it was Fela...a version from the Red, Hot+Riot Tribute Album that was released last year. How about that! I was just IMing someone saying how I've seen very interesting "things" on J-TV and then they play Fela like 15 minutes later. I have to go listen to that album, TONITE!

I had a great day...got a lot of stuff done...I am officially an alien...I got my alien registration card, which then allowed me to get my bank account, then, my cell phone, then a post office account. [SIDE NOTE: Post Offices are the bomb in Japan! You can do everything there..send mail and get money. They operate like full fledge banks and you can open it with just 10 YEN. Their ATM is very good. You don't even have to have your card. You just stick you bank book, which has a bar code on it, in the machine and put in your PIN and get $$$. Then is prints the transaction info right into your book for you.]

NOW when was I born again? The reason why I ask this is, b/c while doing all of these official transactions today, I found out that in Japan my birthday is actually : not 02/14/77...it's 52/02/14...which is the 14th day of February of 63 Showa. So let me do today's math for you. The last emperor (whose title was 'Showa') died at age 63. So when a new emperor takes over the years begin again. The new emperor is Heisei and he came into this position 15 years ago, so today's date is 15/08/15. The 15th day of August of 15 Heisei. So....since I was born 26 years ago you can say:

26 - 15 (# of years of the new Emperor's term) = 11, then
63 (age when Showa, last emperor, died) - 11 = 52 (the year I was born in Showa era)


52 Showa! Isn't that GREAT! I was so impressed and all of the "official" offices use this system. They don't use the Western calendar. I guess I just experienced this today b/c most places (if not all) that I have been to since I've been here have catered to foreigners. It was interesting, b/c my supervisor was so impressed that I understood the system and the mathematics behind it. I was fascinated with it actually...who really knows why...but it doesn't matter...I appreciate that they maintain their calendar....that's peace....that is so...peace.....

(at) peace.....

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:

Dinner tonight (well technically speaking..last night) was great...the menu....stir-fried broccolli and corn (in seasame oil, with cayenne pepper and basil) served over BROWN rice. It was great...I love food....I am satisfied!

I will be team-teaching at least three classes here in Japan. All upper level highschool English courses. Japan is on the 6-3-3 eduational system [elementary school: 1st - 6th; junior high school: 7th - 9th; high school: 10th - 12th]. So I am going to be working with 1st (10th grade), 2nd (11th grade), and 3rd (12th grade) year students. I have read through the 1st year materials and today I am going to read through the 2nd year materials and prayerfully the 3rd year materials. My 2nd year students will actually be travelling to the US (Washington State) in October, so my supervisor is excited about getting them prepared for the trip.

I plan on creative a good amount of lesson plans and activities to create the "communicative classroom setting". It's mostly fun stuff though. All the games/activities that some people might have done in elementary/middle school are revamped for the students here. The students tend to like them a lot (so I hear). I am looking forward to working with the English club and doing a lot of crafty stuff. The club was (and probably will continue to be) made up of all girls, so it should be fun!

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
apuru ju-su....yay!!!!!!!! The apuru ju-su [apple juice] here is soooo great. The box says Let's enjoy the mild taste of 100% pure apple juice made from selected apples. MILD! Ha!...This juice is bangin'. Actually all of the fruit juices are great. It feels like I am holding my mouth under a juicer. It's wonderful...just like life!

I got something in the mail from the Electric Power Company. Among all the mail that came I recognized my name (in Japanese, of course) and fetched it out. What the mail says? I don't know, but using my broken Japanese it seems like it's telling me to pay something and it gives me dates and a diagram of how to read it (but the directions are in Japanese [a LOT of Kanji that I don't know]). So it will have to wait a few days..I'll ask my supervisor...prayerfully, he can help me.

I got on my bike today and rode down the street to Haneianda (sp?) the CD/Book/Video Rental/DVD Rental store mentioned earlier. It was cool. Like in the US I spent almost two hours in there looking at books (language differenec doesn't change a thing!). Theay had a quite a bit of music available, like everywhere. MAD J-Pop, but I'm not up on what to get yet, so I held off and just observed and looked at CD covers and song. It was great practice for me, too. There were great combinations of hiragan, katakana, and kanji, so I had the chance to recall some stuff that I basically forgot. Of course, like any craftress, I found mySelf over to the crafty books in the store. I even foujd where the knitting and crochet books were. I found a book that I want to buy (next week), and it has really cute stuff in it too. I may try to work on my knitting skills while I am here, also. The patterns are in Japanese and also in the graphic style (that I usually do not read, b/c I find it confusing..imagine that!), so I have to either learn how to read Japanese crochet patterns or learn the graphic style of pattern writing to make the items in the book that I liked.

I checked out some FLY kimono books/magazines. They are so pretty and just lovely! It is interesting to see the modern day updates to kimonos and how people are maintaining tardition and still moving forward with various style and fashion elements. I then went to the magazine section and found that (I think) Japan has sooo much more fashion/beauty/cosmetic/make-up magazines than I ever noticed in the US. It is interesting though. The same concepts of "European beauty" are perpetuated here on a serious level. There was this magazine called "Egg"...I was looking through it, but had to put it down after a while...all of the Japanese women in there had blond hair, some with fake lighter eyes, etc... I just had to put it down. It's nothing new, just within a different culture.

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
After the bookstore, I went to Maeda and bought some FOOD (*song* Food glorious food. Eat right through the menu. Just loosen your belt. Two inches and then you. Work up a new appetite in this interlude. For FOOD wonderful food, beautiful FOOD, glorious FOOD! *end song*...who can tell me where that's from) It was great. I found and bought some food that doesn't require cookin'. I may need to buy a raw food cook book for the times when cooking is not an option. Well raw food is good anyway, so it's not like I'll be settling for something that isn't good. So things turned out great at the Supermarket and I have FOOD...no weight loss here!

..:: peace

Today has been pretty good so far. I finally figured out my budget(s): August expenses, suggested budget, actual budget. In a nice neat spreadsheet. The weather seems pretty good outside today, so I am getting ready to head on over to the CD/Book/Video Rental/DVD Rental store and the Supermarket, Maeda. Things havwe been great so far. I may get my new washing machine paid for, and that's ablessing, b/c aside from my car it is going to be the most costlly item that I will have to buy. AND if they buy the washer, then maybe I can have the luxury of having a dryer. YAY!!!!!!!!!

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
I found a bagel last night, a whole wheat one. I forgot that I had it in the fridge. Besides updating the blog and handling some business, it made my night. I still have yet to figure out what is the matter with my stove, but I am not going to worry about it right now. I wll go to the supermarket and buy some fruit, soy milk and some cereal, which should work for now (in case I can't figure out the problem).

..:: peace...

okay..so I can't get my stove to work...imagine that...the struggle to find food and NOW my stove doesn't work. Now THIS my people is C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I had to retype this entry from earlier b/c somehow, the LAN line decided to stop working in mid entry)

I went to my first onsen (hot springs/public bath) yesterday. It was great and it was FREE! This one, located in the Yagen Valley, was called Yagen/Okuyagen Hot Springs. It was very hot and it was outdoors, by some water. I just realized that it was part of a National Park, which would explain the FREE aspect. It was much better than I expected it to be. (The spas in the US have a lot to compete with). The men and women had separate sections (great!) and there was a lot of greenery around as well. If you want to check out info about the hot springs, and other Aomori info you can check out the Aomori Navigator that I have (over here =====>>).

After the hot springs, we went to Mt. Osore (means “mountain of fear”) [also known as Osore Zan], which became the spiritual home of the great Buddhist teacher Jikaku Taishi in 862. They ‘call the spirits of the dead’ here … the place where the spirits of the dead reside. The brochures were in Japanese (kanji), so I really couldn’t read them. It is ranked as one of Japan’s three great spiritual mountains (the others are Mt. Takano and Mt. Hiei). Mt. Osore had a lot of sulfur vents (which explains the smell) that heat the hot springs in the area.

After that we went to the tippy top of this mountain (you need a jacket b/c it is FREEZIN’ up there)….agghhhhh….[just a spider crawling on my ear…no biggie…I hope it wasn’t poisonous…it’s time for me to get out of this apt. *shaking out locks*]…that had an observatory on top. It was Mt. Kamafuse, the highest peek in Shimikota Peninsula. I could see Mutsu City, Shiriya Peninsula and even all the way to Hokkaido. It was quite impressive. But guess what!?...your girl took so many photos at Mt. Osore Zan that she didn’t have any left for the observatory :P imagine that! Overall, it was a great Sunday …

…………………………

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
NOTE: A great big Arigato Gozaimashita to Mr. Anderson for suggesting the GRANOLA MONOLOGUES section of this blog.

[Do NOT, DO NOT… stay in the hot springs for too long when you haven’t eaten. When I got out I was sssssoooooooooooooooooo dizzy, it was ridiculous. I never felt like that before in my life. It was kind of startling to me. I had to stand there for a moment (right out of the hot springs, so I was half-dressed, of course) until I felt okay.] So after the hot springs, I knew that I needed to eat some food, so at the end of the afternoon, we ended up going to a place called ‘Bon’ (sp?) for dinner. After some explaining, I actually had my first full meal in Japan. It was Yasaiitame (stir-fried vegetables), minus the fish-stock, eggs, and fish flakes. It was pretty tasty and only cost me 700 YEN. Isn’t that wonderful!

…………………………

So today, I went into the shed in the front of the house and got on the bicycle and rode to school. It was my first time on a bicycle in yyeeeaaaarrrrrssssss. I can’t even remember the last time I rode a bicycle. And to tell you the truth, I don’t recall ever riding in the street with cars, pedestrians, etc. It was cool though, after a few wobbles, and I made it to school safely. Once at school, I read over some materials/books, then I went to the Language Laboratory Teacher’s Room to get online (which was all good until the line stopped working…which explains why I had to retype ALL of the above), then my supervisor and I went to the appliance store to price some appliances (stove, washing machine, oven, etc.) that I will have to buy b/c I am NOT interested in using the ones here in this apt. :( and I definitely do not plan on taking them to my new apt. After going to Denkoda (like Best Buy) we went to tackle the ketai (cell phone) store ( I decided to go with J-phone b/c it’s not too expensive, I can get a nice one with a digi cam on it, AND their phones are so cute….mine is going to be pink!) After asking mad questions, I decided on the one that I wanted and I plan on getting it next week.

Who can guess how long it takes to get money from an ATM machine in Mutsu City with a VISA card? ONE hour…We first went to Lawson’s (like 7-11) b/c we were told it would work there..but it didn’t. We then went to Aomori Bank, b/c hey…they’re the bank and it should work there, especially since their ATMs say “VISA” on it…wrong again…so after an hour (AFTER the bank has already closed) of showing passports, making phone calls, verifying with supervisors, I get some $. At the end the teller says (in Japanese, of course) “you could have used the ATM”….it was funny b/c we had to tell her that we tried, but it would accept my card!

So onto the car dealership. (I think this is where the language barrier shows itself between my supervisor and I.) The dealer, just tells us to walk around, he doesn’t even greet us or walk us around (my supervisor complains and says that in Aomori, they help you select a car). Hey! I wouldn’t know, this is my first car purchase in Japan. So the first car we look at is 90 man. Just to explain a man is 10 thousand YEN. Now what is my supervisor and the dealer thinking at this point b/c I am not about to put down $9,000 for a car in Japan. So I tell them, I am looking for a used car that would be about ju ni man (12 man) with about 1 year shaken (car insurance-fee-thing)…which basically leads the dealer to give my supervisor a long speech saying something about cars and ju ni man and engine, etc. Needless to say, we left the dealership without any car leads or options….oh well…it’s a good thing I have a bike and my new apt. is not too far from my job…

Jaa.. (Well! Then!) I feel much better about things b/c I have a better idea of how things will look for me in the next couple of weeks.

Peace and blessings….

*sing* it's a rainy day, it's a rainy day...it's raining outside and I can't go out and play...*end song* (Does anyone remember that song from Seasame Street?)...but anyway...it's been raining for the past couple of days.... I was hoping that it wouldn't rain today, b/c I wanted to buy a pot from Sunday (Japanese Home Depot/Lowe's Home Improvement). I don't have a car (we'll get to that later) so I was going to ride my bike. I am going to be moving in about a week and a half. My arrangements here were not suitable so I am moving to the other prefectural apartment. It is significantly smaller (by two tatami mat rooms) but I think I will be more comfortable there.

Now, onto the car situation! I am getting one. "Which one?" you ask. Who knows, but it has to be cheap and have at least eight months shaken on it. (Shaken, in short, is a fee that cars have depending on it's condition that has to be paid annually) The shaken cost varies from car to car, but in my case I want one that has it already paid for the next year, so that when it comes time for me to pay it again it will be maybe April or May, so I can decide whether to keep the car or get rid of it. Shaken, mind you, is in addition to the car cost, insurance, etc. In Japan, a "used car" can be a '97/'98 or older. They get new cars about every 4 years, so a used car can be fairly new with not that many miles on it. So getting a car may not be as expensive as I thought, and it will be helpful in terms of travelling to Aomori City and other places within the prefecture. Plus, my new apt. will be further than my old one (which is only a 5 min. walk to the school).

My predecessor did a Holloween thing with the students last year, and my supervisor wants me to do something with the students this October. I told him two times that I don't celebrate Holloween and never have, but I think he really wants it. He actually put a picture of last year's "celebration" on my desk...which doesn't make a difference to me...we'll see how things turn out.

I am looking forward to classes beginning and having a schedule that I can follow (although it won't really be consistent). I have to prepare my self-introduction lesson for next week. I am going to do it on PowerPoint. It will make it easy and colorful. Plus, my school is the best academic school in the prefecture so they have the facilities.

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES
I FINALLY found brown rice (genmai) and soymilk (tonyu) in the local supermarket! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait to cook (I would never have thought that I would say that, but it's true). When my boxes get here, I can throw down on some Japanesed style cooking...until then, I'll have to work with what I have.

..:: peace

So today was a good day. I went to several workshops, sessions, and seminars that were very helpful for me. Although I have taught before I wanted to have some guidance on teaching HS students. In the "Driving in Japan" workshop, the presenter who is from Aomori kept saying "in Aomori, you will NEED a car"...that, my good folks was not what I wanted to hear. I really do not want to buy a car...so I am thinking that I will buy and drive a scooter, then lease a car for a few months in the winter. I go to my prefecture and city tomorrow, which is actually today...i am excited...it will be good!

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES
I really didn;t eat much today AGAIN...in my prefectural dinner, we went to an Indian Restaurant! I was like "YAY!" food I can eat...NOT! WelL not completely though, it was split evenly but I only really ate two samosas and a piece of brocolli and potatoes....I am looking forward to cooking my own food when I get HOME...yay!...HOME...sayonara...

. . : : peace

. . : : posted by The Queen  @ 5:04 AM

I am here...in Japan..in Tokyo...in Shinjuku....With the Creator's blesings I have arrived in Japan safe and sound. We left at 12:20 PM (US) and arrived at 3:20 PM (JP). I didn't realize it until we got here, but the hotel (Keio Plaza) was about 2 hours away from Narita Airport. I didn't sleep more than a half an hour on the 13+ hour plane ride, so once I got on the but, I slept for a half an hour.

I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with the organization of the JET Programme. When we arrived they had people that were there to direct us every step of the way. And that...my friends...was a benefit b/c Beckham was actually coming to the airport too, so there were hundreds of people there as well as video cameras, reporters, etc. Overall, the flight was great and I enjoyed it...I made a hat on the flight (which is very cute I might add)...I walked around and was able to see how people are "wow!(ed)" when hey go to NY, b/c I was almost like I was in a movie...in someone's life. Almost like how Spike Leave does the "floating down the street" technique in most of his movies...This year will go by quickly ( I can tell already)

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
okay...so far it seems like being a vegetarian in Japan may be a bit more tricky than I expected. I don't plan on eating out much, but a lot of people do which creates the animal-product issue. I don't eat out too much in the US, so I didn't have much of a problem with food, so I am hoping to do so here soon....so on to my first ramen shop experience: We went to the ramen shop and I didn't order anyhin b/c I was just too tired by then (only 8:30 PM!) and my eyes were half closed by then..anyway...the waiter kept bringing ramen, which was cool but the "basic" ramen at this shop had a large piece of pork in it. Initially, he brought he basic ramen for me. In my broken Japanese, I told him "no pork, no fish, no chicken, etc.". So he took it back and brought it back without the meat(s) but it had egg in it. I was finally able to explain that I was vegetarian and then he brought me a block of tofu. Okay, so tofu is alright, but it was the soft kind and it had NO SEASONING whatsoever, with the exception of some scallions on top. So the people I went out with each volunteered to conceal a piece of tofu in their soups so the man would not be offended. I really appreciate his time, energy, and effort though. I am going to an interest session today that will help a sista out....

sayonara...the queen