I am mildly literate!

Well, after six months, I have finally learned some Japanese. Of course I still couldn’t hold a conversation with a 3 year old or anything, but I did learn the alphabet. Now before you think whoop-dee-do, or maybe only I think that, there are three different “alphabet/syllabaries” in the Japanese language. Hiragana is the basic one, then Katakana for foreign words, and Kanji, which I will never even attempt to learn. So I learned the Hiragana and Katakana. For most people they are really easy, but it’s taking me a lot of practice. The thing is, that this whole experience of learning a new language, is really helping me think of how my students learn language too. Suddenly those UCSD classes make (a little) more sense. I am still practicing, and mixing up some letters, but I am trying. At my last school, the teachers were so cute. Every day during lunch, they quizzed me with their food labels. I can read isolated sounds, but I still need to put them together to form the words.
Now, for all of you Japanese speakers, I have a question for you. Help me write my name!! I was all excited because I spelled it out in Katakana, but I am not sure if it’s correct because that is how you spell it, not pronounce it. So, if you could tell me the Katakana, I would appreciate it. You may have to email me the syllables Romanji, because my computer won’t read Japanese.
Maybe within the next six months I’ll speak more Japanese than that parrot at the zoo. Stupid parrot. Baka! Ha! Thanks mom!

Are you brave enough to come to Japan?

There are a few things in this world that scare me, and in Japan, let’s just say I found a few more. So this next page will be expanded upon in the coming year quite a bit.


First of all, the cicada. When I first arrived here in Japan, there was a strange buzzing sound that greeted me. I though it was crickets or something. As I walked past trees, the sound of this chirping would get almost deafening. When I finally saw one of these monstrous creatures, I knew I had found one of the scariest creatures in Japan, second only of course to Godzilla.


Many of you may not know that I have many bad dreams about filthy, disgusting toilets. Toilets have always been a source of fear for me for years. Don’t ask me why, but I think it is all E.T.’s fault. So when I arrived in Japan, I knew there was a good possibility that I would need to use a squat toilet or hole in the ground. For the first month, I was always able to find a “western” toilet. I was happy. Then I went to my first school. This is a picture of the only toilets in the school. Let’s just say, my nightmares have become reality. And by the way, the toilets haven’t been cleaned since I took this picture in September, so imagine how disgusted to go back this week.


There are the craziest spiders I’ve ever seen here. And they are quietly sitting in their webs outside of stores and such just waiting to scare me to death. Daddy long legs I can deal with, as long as they don’t try to touch me. But these are multi-colored, with thick legs, and huge bodies! They look like something out of a horror movie.





And you only thought they had scary clowns in America!
Whomever thinks clowns are funny are psychotic.












The picture isn’t very good, but it is of a video that was playing in the background during a Japanese karaoke song. The people are wearing large Ken and Barbie-like heads.
Maybe it was more scary that I was singing karaoke. Whatever.





Now what’s scarier: deer with antlers or deer with teeth?

Natto

For those of you who have not been to Japan, or those of you who are just smart, you may not know about the amazing health food in Japan called natto. When I first arrived in Japan, everyone was all-abuzz about this unique food, and wanted to know if I had tried it yet. It’s kinda like in the schoolyard when the kids ask if you have tried the mud-pie yet.
Everyone says how natto is really healthy and good for you, but it has a funny smell. Not funny like”ha-ha,” but funny like “I’m going to watch you vomit.” So I thought, well, I really should try this so I can at least tell the kids why I don’t like it. By the way, natto is a “fermented soy bean.” When I asked my adult students about what it was like, they translated “fermented” to be “decaying.” Enough said.
Let me explain that last night was actually the second time I tried to try natto. The first time was a few months ago and I didn’t quite know how to prepare it, and it is a bean right, so I popped it in the microwave. BAD IDEA. The smell was so intense and putrid. I wanted to at least try it, but all the dry heaving got in the way. I had to throw it away, along with the two other cartons in the pack. Luckily, the smell didn’t leave with the cartons! I couldn’t go in the kitchen or use the microwave for days while airing it out.
So back to my second attempt. After all this build up, it actually wasn’t as bad as it smelled. I mixed it into some fried rice with egg and sausage ( it was leftover night last night). I could still taste the “decay,” but the thing that really got me was the stringiness. You know when you melt marshmallows for rice crispy treats, and they get all sticky and stringy? Well, that is the consistency of a pile of natto, only not sweet but earthy.
Did I finish my dinner, no. Did I throw it away, no. Will I eat it again, not sure. It is supposed to help you lose weight. I think it works because I haven’t felt like eating all day!
I was inspired to write this blog after reading a hilarious website called The Sneeze. A guy named Steve has a section where he eats strange food and writes comments about his “adventure.” It is a bit crude, so if you like that, please check it out. I haven’t laughed that hard – well, I guess since I fell off the bridge. Here’s the website: http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php
Read all if you have time, but at least scroll down to Episode 6: Natto.
Happy eating!

Pusan, South Korea

On December 30th, Rose and I took a hydrofoil boat from Fukuoka, Japan to Pusan (Busan), South Korea. The trip only took about 3 hours. A sign said that Pusan is 115 miles away. We were surprised to see so many islands between the two countries. Not sure to whom they belonged. I took a Dramamine and took many naps along the way. They showed “The Wizard of Oz,” so I tried to keep my eyes closed as much as possible.
Pusan is definitely a big city. It is the second biggest in South Korea, and is a very large container port. I was surprised at the number of ships and the size of the port.
We stayed at another hostel, which sucked. Not because it was really bad, it was just inconvenient, noisy, and crowded. Plus the other people who were staying there were really weird. One guy had made his own catalogue of all the movies ever made, and color-coded ones he liked and disliked, and wanted to discuss them with us. Another was a Chinese guy from Australia that told us how much he hated Lebanese people. Finally, the snorer, who reached at least 800 decibels, kept us awake a few nights.
Ok, enough complaining. So Korea smells really bad too. It could be because it was a holiday, but the sidewalks reeked with garbage and rotten eggs.
We visited the fish market one morning, which was an interesting experience. There were sea creatures that I have never seen before. After a while, I had to leave because all the old ladies turning the fish and eels inside out, stripping off their skin and extracting all their internal organs was starting to get to me. Plus I discovered their little game of “splash the foreign girls with fish water and watch them squeal and run away,” which I didn’t appreciate. Luckily I only had two drops of fish brains splatter on me when I got too close to a man whacking the head of a fish with a dull knife. Rose had her leg covered in fish water. I will post pictures of the fish market when I get them from Rose.
But, it wasn’t all smelly and fish gutty. As I said before, the spa was great, and we also went to visit a temple on New Years Day, called Beomeosa. Many people make a trek out to the Buddhist temple on New Years, just like here in Japan.
It was nice to see the differences in the Buddhist temples in Japan and Korea. One thing that stands out is the colors. Every inch of the temple walls and ceilings are painted in bright colors. Same gold Buddhas, but the ones in Korea looked more like the Indian style ones I have seen. And some had moustaches.
There is a picture of me sitting on a stone bridge. What is funny about that picture is what happened right before. I asked Rose to take my picture on the bridge, so I hurried over to the spot I wanted to sit in. Well, the ledge was very narrow, and my butt is very big, so I fell over backwards onto the bridge. My legs were flailing up in the air and I lay there not being able to stop laughing. There was also an 80 year old man sitting on the bridge too who laughed hysterically right along with me. Unfortunately, Rose was either too nice, or laughing as well, and did not get a picture of me making a fool of myself. But a few minutes later at one of the temples, she fell off the steps, and a man carrying an orange purse saw both of us. He must think Americans are really clumsy.
I am very glad I was able to get out of the city to see some nature and history of Korea. If I were to go again, I would definitely visit some other places, but this was a great first trip.

Funny Signs in Hiroshima

We found some signs on Miyajima island that made me giggle.
We never did find any monkeys.

Hiroshima

I have a new favorite city in Japan, Hiroshima. The day after Christmas, Rose and I set out on our vacation. We knew we wanted to go to Hiroshima, but the rest of the trip was up in the air. So we took a regular train to Osaka, and from there the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima. It was a little expensive, but we both wanted to try it. I was hoping to experience some G-forces, and braced myself for “take off,” but was a little disappointed to find that it was just like a regular train ride, definitely faster and smoother, but not that different. I am glad to have tried it. We arrived in Hiroshima in about 3 hours. It was pouring rain on our way to the hostel, but we found it quickly. It turns out that this hostel, J-Hoppers, was great. The owners were extremely nice and accommodating, and the other people staying at the hostel were friendly. We hung out with a couple girls, Akemi and Jamie, we met there almost the whole time. They are also teaching English, but live near Tokyo. The rooms at the hostel were Japanese style, with tatami mats and futons. They were so comfortable! And the rate was only 2,000 yen (less than $20) per day. The first full day in Hiroshima we went to an island called Miyajima. We took a ferry there. The island is famous for it’s “floating” torii. During high tide, the torii is surrounded by water. There were more deer walking around and nibbling on tourists. The island is quite beautiful with nature trails and shrines to explore. We then took a cable car up to the top of a mountain. The view was spectacular. There are many islands out there. When we got to the top of the mountain, there were many signs about monkeys that were at the top of the mountain too. The signs were all very funny, but no monkeys were to be found. It was quite a long hike to the actual temple and viewpoint. It was a little hard, but worth it. Back at the bottom of the mountain, we tried some Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and did some shopping.
The next day, we visited the peace museum. It was quite cold that day, so I was glad to be inside. The museum was very moving and informative. There are two main parts, one dedicated to the facts about the war, the bomb, and the city, and the other section was about the effects of the bombing on humans and the environment. Everything was in English, but I rented the headphone set to get the extra info. It was helpful to get little summaries of each area. So far I have seen the Pearl Harbor Memorial, the museum in Los Alamos about the bomb, and now the Hiroshima Peace Museum. I am always interested in more information about the war. It is difficult to understand how it could happen.
As we left the peace museum, it began to snow. We didn’t expect it, and it was so beautiful just drifting down. We walked around the peace park, saw the eternal flame, and children’s memorial. Unfortunately, we forgot to look at the place where all the names are. I know my grandmother’s family is from Hiroshima, so family must have perished there, but I do not know much about them. I want to find out more.
It snowed all night, and it was so fun to play in. The snow didn’t stick on the ground, so we couldn’t build a snowman or anything, but we had lots of fun running around in it. All the people not from California just laughed at us.
We spent the rest of the time shopping and wandering around. It is a great city, and I definitely want to go back.
And then we were off to Fukuoka on the island south of Honshu, called Kyushu. We stayed in Fukuoka for one night, had tonkotsu ramen, and left bright and early the next morning for Korea.

Happy 2007!!

As I said in my last blog, I spent my holiday vacation traveling. Rose and I had the Christmas cakee you see in the picture. I also put a picture of some of my Christmas decorations.
We had a great new year’s eve in Pusan. In the morning we went to a fish market that had lots of interesting sea creatures. Rose has those pictures, so I will post pictures later. Then in the late afternoon, and after walking about 800 km, we relaxed in one of the biggest spas in Korea called Dongnae Spa. It has natural spring water with many different and quite large pools. My favorite was the lavender pool because is had cooler water and bubbles. Some were about 42 degrees C, and too hot for me! I had a few difficult times because they kept telling me I couldn’t do certain things like the exfoliation and massage because there was no time, and I couldn’t go to the relaxing room because there was no time. Others seemed to be allowed to, so I don’t really see why I wasn’t allowed. But it was a very nice spa and I loved relaxing in the different pools.
That night we went to an outdoor celebration in a park. We were a little startled to see lines of buses that each had protective bars and armor on it. It looked like they were to transport prisoners. Luckily we never saw the inside of one! We hung out by some trees, which was slightly less crowded than other areas. There was a line to get a balloon that said, “Dynamic Busan 2007” that you tie your wish to and let go at midnight, but we didn’t get one. So we took a picture with someone else’s. Rose and I were chatting away when suddenly everyone starting counting down, but of course it was in Korean, so we didn’t know what number they were on until the crowd started cheering and let go of the balloons. There were hundreds of balloons, and it was amazing to see them all float up. Then at 12:01, we tried to make our way down the hill along with hundreds of others. Rose and I were separated for a little bit, but I found her. The crowd was pretty calm, but I have never been so crushed for so long. It was a little scary for a few moments.
Last night, we took an overnight bus from Fukuoka to Osaka, then I took a train back to Wakayama-shi. This morning I washed all my stuff – yuck!, and slept.
We counted up the different modes of travel we rode on for this trip and it is at least 9: Shinkansen (bullet train), regular train, bus (city and highway), tram, trolley, subway, hydrofoil boat, cable car, and ferry.
I have had a great start to the new year. I hope all yours have been good as well. I want to hear all about it, so write to me!