Japan ： 日本

I am in Japan now. I can't believe my first month has already gone by here. Nagai is a beautiful town nestled in a valley of mountains in Yamagata Prefecture. Unfortunately, I live across from a creepy looking hospital and don't see the mountains when I look out the window, but if I stand on my balcony I can see them looming over to the right and left.

Work for the first few weeks has been boring, I have just been reviewing teaching materials and trying to come up with ideas for games to play with the kids in class. Since Robin, my fellow ALT in the office got back from Thailand, she has been helping me with ideas and giving me teaching tips. But Friday was my first day in the class and it was a great experience even with some of the failed games. I tried to play "fruit basket" to help the kids learn numbers. Basically, they sit around in a circle with one less chair than the number of students in the class so one can stand in the middle of the room and call out a number. Then all the students with that number run to other empty chairs in the circle. I didn't demonstrate the game properly with the students and they were confused at times as to what to do. They also would get their own numbers wrong even though we reviewed 1 through 10 several times. But I did have fun introducing myself to the kids and showed them pictures of my town, Silver Spring, pictures of Snowmageddon from the winter and me sledding. They enjoyed that picture quite a bit. Overall it was a decent first day and felt way better than sitting in the office all the time.

Some of the teachers are really young (a few are even my age) so hopefully I will make friends and we can hang out outside of work. The young ones are also more likely to use English in general it seems, though some older teachers are also really excited to teach their kids in English and avoid using Japanese in the class. Outside class, at my office at the Nagai City Board of Education, I have started to study Japanese at work. Basically as long as I look busy no one will bother me at work. When I think about it, it's amazing that I get paid so well to live in such an amazing place rent free, with a free car and just get to play with kids and study Japanese all the time.

After work I have been trying to get as much exposure to Japanese as possible and study as much as possible. I have several foreign friends in the area and as much as I like hanging out with them, I am terrified of speaking English even a few times of week and constantly worry that my Japanese will not improve significantly because of the need to use English in the classroom and with friends. Lately though, I have started to make some Japanese friends. The other day I went with Will and Jennifer, the new ALTs to the TAS hotel for dinner since I had a ￥1,000 coupon. The next day I was at the library getting a card and the waiter from the previous night introduced himself to me. It was weird because he introduced himself as the pizza I had ordered "mixed pizza!" But we have started to hang out a little bit and he seems like a decent guy, though slightly socially awkward. Turns out he is studying to be a tax official. He's also a stock trader and I asked him for some financial advice in investing in Japanese/American stock. We are hanging out again on Tuesday and are probably going to get some food at a soba place and then play some pool at a local bar.

Weekends have been so much fun, generally I drive to a nearby town and hang out with friends at concerts and do karaoke and so on. Last weekend we went to the Zao Dragon Rock Festival at Mt Zao Ski Resort. It was an all weekend rave and though my English friend Will and I only went for the last day, it was still a blast. Last night we went to neighboring Oguni with a bunch of other foreigners to see some Japanese bands at a small bar. It was an amazing night to say the least. Amazing classical guitar, soulful Japanese love songs and blues! Though the blues band guitarist sung in English he rambled so much we barely made out anything he was singing. But his guitar skills were freaking amazing and the harmonica player had been playing for 18 years even though he was only 20 and was also incredible. At the after party we just hung out with the bands and talked. I was hit on several times by 60 year old Japanese ladies and a bit molested too as they liked to run their hands up my long legs and squeeze my cheeks. One lady was like, "Oh my god you're so cuuuuute!! I can't stand it! Nooooooooooo!" Literally "iya daaa!" as she would put her hands and her cheeks and grin at me. When she asked me why I wasn't a movie star I told her I was bad at acting. We ended up exchanging numbers and will probably go on some karaoke dates. The best part is her job is sewing women's panties. We watched drunken men try and wrestle the huge judo-playing harmonica player as he defeated each one super easily. You could literally hear the table cracking as he slammed their fists down.

Speaking of judo, I got the number of a local chiropractor who is also a Judo teacher. I will call him on Monday about taking lessons. Apparently he teaches all levels from beginner to advanced. I really want to put on muscle and get in great shape and I have never met a judo player who didn't have an amazing body. Can't wait!

Tomorrow I am teaching at Nagai Southern middle school, so I am looking forward to that. Anyways, I will try and get some pictures up soon.