Golden Week greatness part IV: Nagasaki, cont.

After a good night’s sleep in the love hotel, we were off for a full day’s adventure in the city!  We made our way to the hostel we were staying in that night and checked in.  They were extremely nice and accommodating by allowing us to drop off our luggage and telling us where a cheap parking lot was.  (It was EXTREMELY cheap for city parking.  We only paid 500 yen for twenty-four hours!!)

Our first stop of the day was Dejima, which once was a fan shaped island where the Dutch traders lived way back when.  Since they were the only foreigners allowed to trade with the city, the Japanese kept them there.  Even though it was an island when the Dutch were there, it’s now part of the city.  Nagasaki has reclaimed land from the ocean, and in order to get to the edge of the current wharf, you have to walk another quarter mile.  While there were some cool displays and reconstructed rooms, I wasn’t too big of a fan of Dejima.  It was a little boring for me. 

 

Luckily for us everything that we wanted to see in Nagasaki was located relatively close to each other in one area, so we were able to walk everywhere.  Our next stop was Chinatown.  I’ve never been to a Chinatown before, so the thought of cheap souvenirs really appeased me!    We even got to eat Chinese food in Chinatown (note: It’s not even close to being the same as American Chinese food.)  After lunch, we split up into groups of two: Ian and I, Melissa and Justine, and Mary and Hiro to do some shopping so that we weren’t a big group of tourists trying to wedge our way into these tiny shops.  I bought a new change purse.  In the cash based society of Japan, I always have a TON of coins floating around, and I have been carrying around a little peanut butter jar with a hole drilled through the top. 

 

Next up was Glover Garden.  Mr. Glover was a very, very, VERY rich trader way back when, and he built a magnificent garden and houses in the foothills of the mountains.  On our way there, we stopped by a street artist who was drawing anime and could even draw people into anime characters.  Therefore….Ian and I got anime’d!  He really made Ian look like a chiseled GQ model, but I was just whatever.  All-in-all, I was very pleased with the picture and thought it was ridiculously cute!  Justine also got herself anime’d, and with her long, blonde hair, the artist basically made her look like Barbie! 

 

At Glover Garden, we kept seeing Japanese tourists dressed up in old-fashioned clothes and wondered what the heck was going on.  As it turns out, you could rent those clothes and have your pictures made in the garden.  We talked about doing it until we realized it was rather pricey for a short amount of time.  On to the next stop…our hostel!

We were only at the hostel for a little while to get rested up and place our things in our rooms before heading out again.  Nagasaki boasts its nighttime view as the third best in Japan.  We had to take a bus to the station on the mountain and then a cable car up the rest of the way.  I was surprised at how much cooler it was on the top of the mountain, but Nagasaki was very, very right to brag about its view.  I don’t want to be biased, but you decide what you think! (picture below)  It was GORGEOUS!  Although there were people EVERYWHERE, we (being the loud foreigners) managed to clear out a section so that Ian could set up his tripod and take a picture on the nice camera.  We were saying how that would be a great place for someone to propose, and since Justine and Melissa are basically married as is, Melissa got down on one knee and “proposed” to Justine on the top of the mountain.    It was hilarious!  All of the Japanese tourists were staring at us, and to make matters worse Ian had to take several shots because the camera was acting up.  HAHAHA!

We rounded off our night with dinner.  Ugh!  Dinner that night pissed ALL of us off.  Since we were in the city, we thought that we should get food that we don’t have the opportunity do at home.  Hiro had an app that finds restaurants in the area, and we decided on Spanish cuisine.  All of us were starving because it had been a while since lunch.  Prices at the restaurant were typical of other restaurants, so we didn’t think anything about it.  After we ordered, the waitress brought each of us this bread thing with sauce on it, which we gobbled up.  Unlike in the States, dishes in Japan come out one at a time.  It is customary to wait until everyone gets their meal before eating.  Mary’s came first, and it was the tiniest plate I’ve ever seen.  We all laughed and said that it sucked her plate was so small, and we’d share some of our portion with her.  However, as plate after plate after plate came out, they were ALL TINY.  By this time, we were still hungry and upset, but it wasn’t until we got the bill that we were really pushed over the edge.  That bread thing that the waitress brought us actually cost 300 yen A PIECE, and not one staff member warned us of that.  Ian and I spent about 3,000 that night on dinner and walked away starving.  I was soooooooooooooooo angry!!    We still had to stop at a 7/11 and get an actual meal.  All told, we paid about 4,000 that night for dinner.  THAT’S GROCERY MONEY FOR A WEEK!!!  UGH!  After spending 10,000 yen on a room the night before and that much on dinner, I didn’t want to talk to Ian.  Even though it wasn’t his fault, I was mad at the world! 

The next day was much, much better.  One downside was that our hostel was divided into a guy’s and girl’s room, so Ian and I didn’t even get to sleep in the same room.  I woke up early and text Ian to ask for the cell phone charger.  He was already awake and had been out on a morning photography walk.  Since it was still early, we walked down to the wharf together to take pictures and just enjoy the morning.  We usually travel with friends, so rarely do we get to enjoy little moments like that to ourselves.    When we got back, everyone was up and ready to go.

Our last thing to do in Nagasaki was visit the Peace Park and Museum.  I cannot express to you how weird it was to be there.  Even though I had NOTHING to do with the attacks, I felt guilty as an American for being there.  Today Nagasaki is a beautiful, bustling city with all of the amenities, but on the morning of August 9th, 1945, it was reduced to nearly nothing.  Literally.  The pictures showed nothing as far as the eye could see.  Reading the placards about how many people died, were disfigured or injured, and suffered gave me cold chills.  In the museum, there were all kinds of haunting items that survived the blast—a wall clock that stopped at the exact time of 11:02AM, bloodied clothes, a helmet with bone fragments in it, charred rubble, and much, much more.  One of the brighter things to come out of that tragedy are the paper cranes (below, middle).  It is Japanese tradition that if you make 1,000 origami paper cranes, a wish of yours will come true.  Across the park and in the museum, hundreds of strings of 1,000 brightly colored paper cranes are hung that people from all over the world have made for the survivors.

  

After grabbing a quick lunch, we were on the road again.  We stopped at Unzen to see the boiling pits of water known as “Hell.”  The air there smells like sulfur, so of course fart jokes had to be made!    Once you visit Hell (below, left), you can climb to the top of a nearby hill and go to “Heaven” (a Buddhist temple with a rather large statue of Buddha) (below, right) to cleanse yourself.

 

Ta-da!  That’s it!  I’m FINALLY finished catching up from Golden Week!  Now on to the rest of the month….. *sigh*

The top of my worry list

I always make fun of my mom because she is a constant worrier.  She worries about EVERYTHING…even things that shouldn’t be worried about.  If she starts worrying about something that doesn’t need to be worried about, I tell her to “scratch that off your worry list.”  Sometimes I think she worries about not having anything to worry about.    Anyway, I find myself stepping into my mother’s role right now.

Yes, living in a foreign country can produce several different things to worry about: language and cultural barriers, work relationships, becoming the stereotypical foreigner, etc, etc, but my number one worry right now is obtaining my Japanese driver’s license.  And for all of the naysayers out there, please know that getting a license in Japan is NOT as easy as it is in the States.  If only it were that simple!!!  I cannot tell you the number of hoops you have to jump through and how much paperwork needs to be shuffled around before you can get it.  If I don’t get it by August 1st, I can’t drive.  If I can’t drive, I’m stuck in my cow town of Yunomae pedaling my butt around permanently (which isn’t a lot of fun in the middle of winter).  Since we live the furthest from Hitoyoshi, we’d either see our friends less, or they’d have to come to us all of the time. 

There are two categories you can fall into: the blessed and unblessed.  The blessed foreigners in Japan come from countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most European countries in which their driving tests are on the national level.  Japan has treaties with each of these countries, and foreigners from there only have to fill out paperwork and pay money to get a Japanese driver’s license.  LUCKY!  People from the unblessed countries (ie, me) have to go through the WHOLE process of getting a license since ours are issued on the state (not national) level, and the nation of Japan CANNOT make treaties with individual states. 

The first part of the process is assembling paperwork.  I had to get proof that I lived in the USA for at least three months before leaving the country, an official translation of my driver’s license, letter from my town stating that I actually live there, and copies of my passport and alien registration card among other things before I could even MAKE the appointment.  My supervisor had to make the appointment for me, and our main means of communication is through email since I’m only at the BOE for ten minutes a week.  I have absolutely NO IDEA how many times I emailed her last week asking varying questions about the driver’s test.  I was a bit worried about getting an appointment in time because the license center only accepts two foreigners a day.  Why? you ask.  No idea, I say.  Since everyone whose international driving permit is running out are all in the same boat, appointments fill up quickly.  You have to wait two months until the international driving permit expires before you can get an appointment.  For me, that is June 1st.  Since I’m going home in July, I only have a month and a half to obtain my license.    Luckily my supervisor was able to get me an appointment on June 8th.

From what I’ve read, if you don’t speak Japanese, it is recommended to bring someone who can speak it and interpret for you.  A few of my friends are lucky enough to have their supervisors going with them, but Ian and I are not as lucky.  I’m worried about this and not knowing enough Japanese to understand the process.

The test is two parts: written and practical.  The written part is ten T/F questions, is in English, and I hear that you have to be brain dead to not pass it.  I’m not really worried about this.  It’s the practical part that scares me.  Unlike the American system in which points are counted off for mistakes, in Japan it’s pretty much a pass/fail.  Don’t screw up, or you fail.  It’s on a closed course, but to make matters worse the proctor is RIDICULOUSLY nit-picky.  It’s rare that someone passes on the first try, and I’ve actually heard that they’ll fail you the first time JUST for being foreign!    Other reasons that I know people have failed for:

-NOT hugging the curb

-NOT saying “left” or “right” when turning

-going too fast (apparently 25 km/15 mph is just too fast)

-going too slow (apparently 25 km/15 mph is just too slow)

-having your blinker on for too short/long (Three seconds is the EXACT amount of time it should be on.)

-not FULLY stopping at the railway crossing, rolling down the window, and listening for an imaginary train to come

-keeping your eyes on the road instead of the mirrors (I’M NOT JOKING.)

-NOT coming to a full stop while rounding a corner

-There is a very precise order of what to do when you get in the car.  First, circle the car, including getting down on the ground and looking to see if there’s anything under the car.  Once inside the car, adjust mirrors and seat (even if they don’t need to be).  Buckle seatbelt.  Search for anything that might be considered a distraction (ie, AC on high).  Ask for permission to start the car.  Pull off the emergency brake, put the car in gear, and go.  Anything out of this order could be grounds for failure.

I’m really not exaggerating these things.  The worst I’ve heard is from my friend, Brittany.  She took the test TEN times before finally passing.  I’ve also heard of other people who took it a few times and just gave up.  You might be a perfectly fine driver, but they’ll find SOMETHING that you didn’t do right.  Their test is not necessarily about driving skill but more about HOW you do it and if it follows the rule.  The Japanese aren’t very flexible.  THERE IS ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY TO DO EVERYTHING.  If you don’t do it that way, it is incorrect.    It’s a really backwards way of thinking, but that’s just how it is.  In addition, the proctor might count you off on something one time (ie, not hugging the curb), and the very next time count you off for hugging the curb TOO MUCH.  There is no winning at this game!!!!  After you fail, you have to sit there in the car and listen to the proctor tell you what you did wrong (even if everything was perfect).  He is trying to shame you a bit, and it is your duty to sit there and take it. 

In addition to the actual test, the ONLY place to take the driving test in Kumamoto prefecture is in Kumamoto City, a good three hour drive from my house.  I have to take vacation days to take the test.  I could use those vacation days to relax at home or sit on a beach somewhere, but instead I have to take a stupid test that proves that I am a capable driving in the eyes of the Japanese government.  In addition, every time you take the test, it costs money.  (Do you understand why they fail people so often? )  Instead of spending our money traveling or trying something new, we have to spend it on taking a stupid test that we took when we were sixteen.

On top of ALL of that frustration, Japan is full of HORRIBLE drivers.  That stereotype about Asian drivers is TRUE.  On a daily basis I nearly get rear ended, laugh at the people trying to park at the grocery, slam on the breaks to avoid the jerk who pulled out in front of me, curse at the old fogies driving 20kph (12mph) down the road, and so much more.  I also heard someone say that the proctor told him that no one should ACTUALLY drive on the road the way they do on the test because it’s very dangerous.    I’m confident that I’m a better driver than half of the people in this country, but it doesn’t matter.  I still have to take that damn test.  

So…..after this long rant, do you now understand why this is at the top of my worry list?!?!

Golden Week greatness part III: Nagasaki

I suck, suck, suckity, suck at blogging these days!  The month is already halfway over, and I haven’t even written about what I did the first weekend!  Ugh…here goes!

The second weekend of Golden Week was spent in beautiful Nagasaki City.  Both Nagasaki and Hiroshima were at the top of my list of the places I want to visit in Japan when I first came here.  Originally we were going to visit Hiroshima during Golden Week, but it was going to be too expensive, so we decided to go to Nagasaki, which is MUCH closer to us, and we were able to invite our friends.  That Friday morning, Ian and I woke up at 6AM in order to leave by 6:20AM so that we could meet at Mary’s house by 7:30AM.  We meant to get gas the night before (and were dangerously close to empty), but that Thursday was the day that we rode bikes to Hitoyoshi.  By the time we got home that night, all of the gas stations were closed in town.  Luckily, we found a gas station that was just opening for business.  The guy seemed surprised to see a car of foreigners out so early on a national holiday, lol. 

Whenever we were almost to Mary’s house, poor Melissa called and said that her car had a flat.  She was parked at a conbini about a mile from Mary’s house and requested Mr. Ian’s help.  I’ve described the “specialness” of our car, so if you can imagine, Melissa’s car is actually MORE special than ours.  When she got here in July, her BOE told her that if she stayed a second year, she’d HAVE to get a new car because that one just wouldn’t make it.  While Ian put the flimsy donut tire on, Melissa said that a new tire would probably cost more than her car is worth.  She decided to tell her BOE about it first thing on Monday and request a new car.

We left Melissa B’s car there and left right at 7:30AM from Mary’s house to race to the Kumamoto port for our 9:30 ferry.  Mary’s boyfriend, Hiro, was supposed to meet us there, but he overslept.  The look of anger in Mary’s eyes pretty much said it all, but fortunately he made it in time, and we all got on the same ferry.  Our next stop was the Shimabara Peninsula, just across the bay from the Kumamoto port.  We could see the peninsula from the port, but it’s still quite a distance away and took us about an hour to cross it.  Since it was Golden Week and everyone and their mother was traveling, the ferry was ridiculously crowded, so we stood outside the whole time.  It was actually probably better that way so that the loud foreigners didn’t have to be trapped inside! 

The Shimabara Peninsula is famous for its volcano, Mt. Unzen, which erupted in the early 90s and destroyed a couple of the towns.  However, since Japan is always ready for whatever mother nature hurls at it, only a few people died.  The rest were safely evacuated.  We spent the day on the peninsula before heading to Nagasaki that night.  Our first stop was Shimabara castle.  I honestly wasn’t too impressed with the castle, but one good thing about it was that at the entrance, they had all kinds of samurai and ninja costumes to dress up in.  Heck yes we took advantage of that!  I’m pretty sure that everyone got a kick out of the foreigners in Japanese garb.  

 

Our next stop was the reconstructed samurai houses, houses where samurai actually lived way back when.  It was basically a couple of large tatami rooms with a few “wax statues” of samurai.  The houses might have been cooler if there was more reconstructed stuff, but it was basically just wide open rooms with nothing in them….so we made our own entertainment by pretending to have a tea party with the wax statues.

 

Shimabara City was actually really cool because there was plenty to do in not a very big town.  Our next stop was the irrigation ditches of this one street, which are filled with koi.  Not only are the koi HUGE, but you can reach into the ditches and pick up the fish.  The trick is that they are really slippery and slimy, so they’re very difficult to grab.  Plus, they don’t really like to be held, so they try to swim away.  Mary was the first to pick one up, and like five-year-olds, the rest of us saw and said, “I WANT TO DO THAT!”  After several attempts, I finally snatched one and pulled it up, screaming at Ian the whole time to hurry up and take the picture before it slipped away (below, left).  I think it’s funny how the fish and I basically have the same facial expression.

 

We grabbed lunch after that and then headed to the buried houses.  Like I said before, when Unzen erupted in the 90s, it destroyed some towns, including anything and everything in the way.  Scientists have excavated some of the buried houses and turned it into an open air museum.  Some of the houses are outside, so as you’re walking along the sidewalk, you’ll step right next to a house roof (below, left).  There were also houses that were halfway buried (below, right).  In these, we could see posters still hung on the wall and tattered curtains fluttering in the breeze.  Remember that not many people died in the blast, so chances are that the original owners of these houses are probably still alive.  How weird would it be to know that your home is actually a museum now? 

 

That was the last stop on our whirlwind tour of Shimabara City.  Next we were off to the other side of the peninsula and then straight on to Nagasaki.  Mary, Hiro, and Ian rode in the first car, and Melissa, Justine, and I were in the second.  Mary told us that Hiro wanted to stop at one of the onsen on the other side of the peninsula.  I drove this leg of the trip, and even though it was a gorgeous drive across Unzen, the road was curvy, twisted, and difficult to navigate.  We kept seeing signs for the town of Obama and secretly hoped that we would stop there just so that we could say that we’ve been to Obama!    (Obama in Japanese means “little seashore”.) As luck would have it that’s where the onsen was!  HURRAY!  Obama is apparently known for its onsens. Since it is so close to Unzen, it has a surplus of scaling hot water just below the surface, and as we walked through town, we saw steam rising up through vents along the sidewalks. I jokingly stood on one and said that I was getting a free onsen. However, I stood on it for too long, and the steam actually burned my foot!   Hiro and Justine were the only two to actually go in the onsen, and the rest of us spent the time strolling along the boardwalk and watching the sun set.  One of my favorite things about Obama was the Obama statue.  Yes, I’m talking about President Obama.  While the town had its name long before our president came into power, that doesn’t stop the Japanese from LOVING our president and even giving him a statue in that town.  Japan tries so hard sometimes, but it’s still pretty backward when it comes to issues of race.  Case in point: we could tell that the statue was originally white and had been given a black face because the hands were still white.  Good try, Japan!  

  

It was another hour to Nagasaki.  Technically we were homeless that night.  Since it was Golden Week, and everyone and their mother was traveling, I couldn’t find a hostel to book.  We packed pillows and a blanket or two and just said that we’d either find a cheap love hotel to cram into or sleep in the car.  I thought that all of us were okay with this option, but Hiro had found a love hotel for us.  The only downside was that it was $100 a night!  I was so upset about this!  Hiro and Mary were able to split the price of their room, Melissa and Justine could as well, but Ian and I couldn’t do that since our money comes from the same account.  I was so frustrated and angry about paying so much for one night!  Ian and I have to be careful about our money as is, and to throw away $100 on housing for one night was ridiculous in my book!!

I think I’m going to break this Nagasaki blog into two.  I still have another full day of activities to write about, so this seems like an appropriate time to stop.

I heart elementary days!

For whatever reason, elementary days inspire me to write.  Maybe it’s because I’m in a perpetual happy mood at the ES, because the kids actually like me and fight over who gets to play with me, or because the kids are so cute that even whenever they mess up, it’s difficult to be mad at them.  Regardless of what it is, I love ES days and want to write about them. 

This morning I had 6th grade for first period, 3rd for second, and 5th for third period.  In 6th grade, we reviewed the months, and they learned the question: “When is your birthday?” and how to properly respond to it.  The 3rd grade teacher had a hoarse voice, so I tried to speak as much as possible so that he wouldn’t have to.  For the second lesson in a row, the kids were learning days of the week.  Japanese doesn’t have the “th” sound in it, so the kids REALLY struggled with Thursday.  They also kept getting Tuesday and Thursday mixed up.  We practiced, practiced, and practiced, sung a song to learn the days, and when the 3rd grade teacher was reviewing with the kids, they still didn’t know the days.  He got super angry at them and went into a ten minute rant (with his hoarse voice) about how they should know these days by now since we spent half the class reviewing.  I felt sorry for the next kid that he called upon.  The kid didn’t know “Tuesday,” so the teacher smacked him with the card and yanked him up from the group.  Don’t be alarmed.  That’s fairly common in Japan.  It’s not necessarily the punishment that is the bad thing but rather the shame that comes along with it.  NO ONE wants to shame themselves or their family.  That poor kid didn’t get to play the last game in class, karuta, a game that ALL Japanese students LOVE to play.

In between the periods, I went back to the teacher’s room, and one of the teacher’s was handing out printed information about the solar eclipse next week.  In not sure if it’s going to happen in the States as well, but in Japan, it will be visible on Monday morning.  Japan is really good about warning people to not look directly at it and to use proper precautions.  I’ve seen posters, commercials, flyers, and even the print out today demonstrated how to properly look at it.

In 5th grade we reviewed how to introduce ourselves and played the interview game.  Music played, and whenever the music stopped, whoever was in front of you was who you had to talk to.  I don’t know if it was because they were intimidated by me or what exactly, but when the music stopped and kids were in front of me, they scattered quickly.  It was only a few students who did that, but I literally had to chase them down to introduce themselves to me.  Silly kids!  My 5th grade kids are a little high-spirited, and by the end of class they had done something to piss off the 5th grade teacher.  She yelled at them for a good ten minutes, and we were actually late getting out of class because she had to scold them.  After class she was back to her sunny disposition and told me sorry about that but everyday it’s something with those kids!    Believe me, lady, I understand!

I had lunch with my 1st graders.  While I can detect the students with attitudes from the upper classes and determine who doesn’t like me or care about English, it’s MUCH harder to tell from the younger kids.  They love me just for being here!  As soon as I walked in, there was a communal “YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”    I had to sit at a desk in front of the classroom facing them, and before lunch started, I was playing janken (rock, paper, scissors) with them.  It was me against twenty other kids, and each time some of the kids beat me, they would shout out “YAAAY!”  It was too precious!  After lunch, I hung around in the classroom for a little while, and a couple of girls came up to me.  I’m not sure what they were saying, but they were being absolutely adorable and hugging me.    All was good and great in the world until they realized that my blouse could open.  Then they started to pull on it, trying to open it.  I had to swat their little hands away more than once! 

At recess, my normal girls weren’t outside for whatever reason, so I found a group of 1st and 2nd graders to be a part of and realized that it is MUCH easier to play tag with them.  Not only do their short legs not carry them as far, but they tire much sooner.    Plus, we had bases, and it was in an enclosed area of the playground, so none of that running all over the place craziness!  When we got tired of playing that, the girls started making clover chains.  I got several gifts of clover rings, bracelets, and flowers placed in my hair.    All of the girls wanted me to make them a bracelet even though they could do it themselves.  In return I got little bouquets of clover and other flowers tied together delicately.  Precious!  Two girls even found me a couple of four leaf clovers!!  I have never in my life found (or even seen!) a four leaf clover.  How sweet of them to find those for me! 

This afternoon I didn’t have any classes, but I had to choose one club activity to go to.  I had already decided this morning that I’d go to cooking class.  You can’t go wrong there!  Once the project is finished, you get to eat it.  Best.  Club.  Ever.    However, there was no one in the kitchen classroom, so I continued to wander down the hallway and poked my head into a different classroom and asked what club it was.  The seven girls in the class said it was dance.  Heck yeah!  I thought dance club would be pretty cool to watch, so I sat down at one of the tiny desks and got ready to watch kids busting moves.  However, it was the most boring club ever.  They spent the entire time selecting songs to dance to and in what order they would learn each dance.  Disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe my emotion. 

Also this afternoon I was afforded the opportunity to try some delicious ice straight from the South Pole.  No joke.  I have NO IDEA how Yunomae ES got ice from the South Pole, but it was setting in a cooler in the teacher’s room.  The groundskeeper (who has a thick, THICK country accent) was carrying around the cooler and tried to explain to me what it was, but I didn’t understand, so the principal and vice principal pieced together the story for me through gestures and drawings.  For whatever reason the ice came from the South Pole.  The principal chopped off a chunk, put it into a glass of water, and gave it to me to try.  Just in case you’re curious….. South Pole ice tastes like ice! 

I know that I need to catch up about Nagasaki and Aoshima Island, and I promise, promise, PROMISE that it’s coming soon!  I feel like I haven’t had as much free time at school, and that’s where I do the majority of my blogging.