Meetin' Foreigners

At last I have time to write more! And as always there is so much to say.

Last Monday we got a great addition to the staff- an English-speaking coworker! Alaina is the new instructor at our school and will be my coteacher if we get enough students. Work has gotten a lot more interesting since I now have someone who is a native English speaker that I can talk to. It also helps that she is a really nice person and has lived in Matsue for about a year already. Because of this, she knows a lot about the city, the festivals and goings-on in the city, nearby cities, and great ways to meet other foreigners. I get the feeling things are about to get more interesting!

Speaking of ways to meet foreigners, this past Sunday I participated in the coolest activity! I was in a group of about 15-20 people - not all foreigners, but some were - and we were given three different maps of Matsue and an area nearby. We were released and told to act like tourists and try to navigate using this new map that a company is making. It had recommendations of places to eat which was a good idea in theory, but it was all in Japanese so it was not much help to me. I got to see a different part of Matsue than I had seen before and got to try some delicious Japanese curry. After exploring Matsue in the morning, we met and traveled a short distance to a little place called Tamatsukuri. There are some onsens there, or public baths, but unfortunately we didn't have time to participate. The main road runs parallel to a sort of stream that is set below the road and has foot baths along the edge. There is another foot bath on street level that I used and it was very nice! (Pictures below). It was pretty cold outside and the water was warm. It is basically a hot tub for your feet and feels very nice and refreshing. After wandering around a little more, I decided to use up the rest of the money they gave us for lunch by getting another treat. I walked by a little patio with two trailers and wasn't quite sure what they sold but was ready to try whatever the server recommended. I got a sort of combo with orange juice and these two green tea flavored ice cream ball things. They were essentially a ball of ice cream mashed next to some sort of green tea flavoring coated in some sort of gelatinous substance to hold the shape and rolled in a green tea powder. As strange as it sounds, it was highly enjoyable. They had a tent with a space heater that I sat in to eat while browsing Japanese magazines and it was very pleasant. I then walked across the street and might have taken a visit to a dessert cafe for a cream puff, but honestly who remembers these things? It was so good. Then we all met and filled out a feedback questionnaire and then were paid 15,000 yen ($150)! What a fantastic deal. Getting paid to be a tourist, getting lunch paid for, making new friends, and exploring- what could be better? On the walk home, I passed by a store that I pass by every day. I have always walked right by, but today I figured that I had time and why not just browse (no harm in that, right?). Fans of the show Parks and Recreation will know what I'm talking about with this next part: there is an episode where two characters, Tom and Donna, have a day where they go around and "treat yo self." They only do it once a year, but as the name suggests, you treat yourself to things you normally wouldn't because they are a little more pricey or maybe a bit extraneous. In theory, this sounds like a great idea. In real life, this idea is very tricky. You have to be careful not to stay in that mindset or woopsie- there goes your paycheck. But, I had just spent a whole day of splendor eating delicious food and exploring Japan that I decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if I spent some of this money that I was just given. Heck, I would have walked around using the map and given feedback for free, so why not? I'm not saying I went crazy, but it was nice to do a little bit of shopping for fun instead of for apartment necessities. Treat yo self. I was really glad that I got to meet some nice people as well. I learn something new from every foreigner I meet because everyone has such different reasons for being here and are at different places in their life. I am very excited to have these new friends with such diverse backgrounds.

Something that I have been happy to experience is talking to people as if we were carrying on a conversation, but they are speaking Japanese and I am speaking English. I am not talking about the difficult mime-communication that I have to use at the post office or grocery store, but I do have a good example. Unfortunately it is a sad one. I walked to the 100 yen store on Monday and I will spare the gory details, but on the way home an animal ran out in front of a car and was hit, not 20 feet in front of me. The animal ran off afterward, looking frazzled but alive. It was one of those things that is so shocking that all you can do is to stand still with the people around you and try to process. It happened right on a crosswalk and an old Japanese woman was on the other side of the road than I was. Soon after it happened, it was her turn to cross the street. By this time, I had inched my way forward and was even with the end of the crosswalk. We both looked in the direction the animal went and then walked together exchanging some words. My words were of how shocked I was and wondering where the animal went, hoping it would make it, and I like to think that she was saying something similar. She walked off into her neighborhood shortly after, but the feeling that we had some sort of interlingual communication was pretty cool.

Well friends, I finally took on the task of sorting my trash. It is far more complicated than necessary. There are options for combustible, plastic, metal, paper, old paper, and then you take your plastic and glass bottles as well as aluminum cans to big bins located throughout the city. I did the best I could with the large amount of trash I had acquired in 3 weeks time, but I am sure I made many mistakes. It is all very complicated and now every time I am going to throw something away, I have to check my guidebook and decide what to do with it. What a ridiculous thing to do. I don't understand how Japan can be so technologically advanced in so many things but have such absurd trash laws.

Except for the unfortunate crosswalk event, Monday was a great day. I received a letter from a friend (I have been trying to write many, so to get one in response is very nice) and I got a care package from the most wonderful woman that I am so lucky to call my mother. This was the same day I was going to attempt to make tortillas, but in the package was that beautiful bag of Mission brand tortillas. Oh the glory! With that as well as some Girl Scout cookies, this girl was a happy camper. I did my best to make tacos that night and breakfast tacos the next morning but the cheese here is a bit strange. I make it work though with a little garlic salt and chili powder. Either way, tortillas are one of my favorite foods and I have to give shout out to my loving family who put the package together and made me valentines. I'm related to some fantastic people.

One thing I have had a hard time getting used to is how much cars yield to pedestrians. In the US, I feel like pedestrians really need to be careful because people driving cars are not always paying attention or feel like it is their right to be able to turn and pedestrians are just in the way. In Matsue when I cross at a crosswalk, the cars will wait for every person to cross before turning, even if you are coming from the other side of the street. Not only am I having a hard time getting used to it because Americans are not as polite, but also because it feels so unsafe to assume that the car will yield to me. I am hesitant to change my habits too much in fear that I'll go back to the US and walk right in front of a car and that'll be the end. I guess it's better to come here and have to get used to cars yielding to you than if I were to travel to America and learn that if a car can turn before you reach its path, it probably will.

One of the new foreign friends I made named Brittany has a blog as well that can be found here and has a lot of interesting information on the area and more. I walked around with her a bit and she seemed very knowledgeable on all things Matsue and really just generally knowledgeable.

Here are some of the pictures I took during my outing!

These are views inside a middle ranking samurai house.

Not great image quality- my camera isn't working or might have run out of battery so they are all from my iPhone.

 The front of the house.

This was in a little house near the samurai house and showed a video about the Matsue Drum Parade. It is held in October and selected neighborhoods pull giant drums through the streets while banging in rhythm together. It is something that I am definitely looking forward to.

A part of Matsue that was built during an era where they tried to westernize the city. That is a clock tower on the left that chimes at the top of the hour.

This is the stream in Tamatsukuri. The foot baths along it are a few blocks further down.

This is the foot bath I used! So warm and wonderful. A family of 5 joined me shortly after I began.

 
These are the green tea ice cream gelatinous balls of delight.

I can't figure out how to rotate this, but this was my attempt at a Matsue breakfast taco. Bringin' the Texmex to Japan. Mmm.

Business Cards

Two posts in two days? A Christmas miracle!

I had to post again today because I saw the business card exchange ceremony first hand! Here's the scoop: soon after moving into a new building and getting set up, the company gathers a number of representatives together. For us, this meant both counselors who work with me, my branch manager, the section manager of sales in Hiroshima, another manager of sorts, and myself. I am not sure if everyone in the new company would come, but we took everyone we had. The building I work in is 9 floors with multiple companies on each floor. We rode the elevator to the top and knocked on every door and introduced ourselves and our company to everyone who answered. Each member of our group who had a business card would walk up with it displayed facing the other person while bowing and introducing themselves. They both exchange cards, lots of bowing, and try to use both hands when giving and receiving. Upon receiving, the person reads the card, or at least looks at it, and then the next person walks up to begin the ceremony again. Everyone had a separate wallet for their business cards, so I got the impression that the ceremony happens often enough to warrant one (also so you can carry a lot on you at all times). I mostly stood there and bowed when everyone else did and when I was introduced. I tried to make a lot of mental notes on what my coworkers were doing, for example they would not just walk out of the room but back out of it so they could keep bowing. I was surprised how much I could understand of the conversations from body language and voice intonation. It still felt pretty awkward not really knowing what was going on.

After work, I went to Aeon, one of the big department stores. I found a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in there which is exciting because I hadn't yet seen one yet in Matsue. I picked up my name stamp so now I can stamp my name in katakana everywhere! Pictures soon. Since I was already nearby, I stopped at the McDonalds because wow, cooking all the time is not a lot of fun and oh those french fries are so good. Here they call them fried potatoes. It is also pronounced mack-a-dough-nal-dough.

Well, tonight's the night. I'm going to finally take on this Japanese washing machine. Wish me luck.

Explorations, Fame, and Becoming Bonafide

Hello again everyone!

I recently had three days off in a row due to a make-up day off I had earned. What a perfect opportunity to explore Matsue and be a tourist! My first day off was a Saturday and, since I don't yet own a bike, I strapped on my boots that I would best describe as "serious business." and wandered over to a park about 10 minutes walk away. Really, by park I mean a thin strip of land between the busy road and the lake. Don't get me wrong, it was very beautiful and had an amazing view of the lake, it is just an unconventional park location. There is a running trail near the water, then toward the shore there are some stairs which I imagine are filled with sunset-watchers in the warmer months. Past that are some rocks which make up most of the shore on this section of the lake. I sat on the steps to enjoy a snack and about 20 seconds after I opened my bag of potato chips a huge bird nearly ran into my head. I had seen these massive hawk-like beasts roaming the skies before but did not expect that they would get so close to people! It was one of those moments where you look around and think "Did anyone else just see that? I mean I was almost just brutally attacked. Would someone have been there to help me fight it off?" Luckily it just hovered about 10 m above me for a few minutes then flew off. I then ventured over the big bridge over the big river on my way to the castle. The Black Castle, also known as Matsue Castle, has a really fantastic history that is pretty extensive. It is too much for me to explain but that is what Wikipedia is for. I walked around the various levels and then decided to pay the small fee to get in which was discounted since I am a foreigner. Inside the 6 story castle- think Mulan type of castle, not general fairy tale or Game of Thrones style- was a plethora of artifacts such as really small war armor, helmets, swords, and plenty other things that don't sound as cool. One level was devoted solely to a bunch of photographs of the castle basically since photography was invented. It was amazing to see the castle as this constant figure with the age of the photograph showing the only difference in the appearance. There are four views from the top, one in each direction. It was a really cool experience and totally worth the 280 yen ($2.80), climbing up and down extremely steep stairs and shuffling around in slippers that were too small for me. Yes, the castle and every watchtower area with a roof had an area to leave your shoes and provided slippers to walk in. My feet are about exactly as long as the sole so the slippers would fit, but the toe of the shoe is so small that my heel hangs off the edge. I only wear a size 9! It was on my way out of the castle that I had my first experience being a celebrity. Kind of. I was about to put my shoes back on and a man stopped me and introduced himself and seemed pretty excited to meet me. In Japanese culture it is not rude to ask prying questions like someone's age, and I was asked many personal questions. I imagine part of the appeal was to practice English with a native speaker, and it was more interesting than any other interaction I've had with strangers here. I even was asked to take a picture with him! I answered his questions because I understand what an anomaly I am- some tall blonde white girl walking around, attempting and mostly failing to follow cultural norms. Right after that, I walked outside and a man asked me to take a picture of him with the castle in the background and then he strikes up a conversation with me! Many people asked where I was from but when I told them I live here now they were very surprised. After the castle, I walked north hoping to see the Samurai's House. There is a little row of houses along the moat/canal around the castle where there is an art museum, the Samurai's house, a famous painter's old house, and some other things. I stopped at a little tea shop on my way and couldn't resist some ginger tea, mmm! Unfortunately, I was then late for the Samurai House and it was closed. I decided to console myself with some balls of fried fish on a stick and a local cider at an indoor market. After that, I walked back towards home and that park but continued on farther south to what is supposed to be the best spot to see a sunset on Shinji Lake. Although there were clouds on the horizon to block the actual sunset, it was still a very beautiful sight. After that, I found a wonderful, less expensive grocery store (the cream puffs they sell won me over).

The next day was not as action-packed, but still interesting culturally. I ventured to the department store closest to me to see what they are all about because they are very different than those in America. On the basement level, there is a sort of market which has a little bakery section, an area where you can buy your bento box (a relatively cheap prepared lunch on the go), and much of it is currently filled with chocolate for Valentine's Day. The ground floor has the more expensive brands such as Coach and Dior and a large makeup selection. The second and third floors are made up of only women's clothing while the fourth floor had men's clothes as well as some jewelry. The fifth floor had homegoods, but the real excitement happened on the sixth floor. Little did I know that on Sundays the markets on the top level of department stores are the busiest. There were many vendors all selling their food with someone in front of their cart with samples. I mostly just walked around looking like a deer in headlights, but I did try food from one stand. I know one thing I consumed was some sort of chicken soup, but I am pretty clueless as to what the other was. I am glad I don't have any food allergies. The coolest vendor I saw was an old man sitting over a piece of leather, I suppose I would call it chisel-decorating the leather by hand. He made fantastic shapes like a scene of a cherry blossom tree by a lake or a fire-breathing dragon. He had many things for sale such as glasses cases, wallets, and purses that I would have purchased if I had a spare $150. After the sensory overload that was the market, I got out of there and didn't do much else with the day.

My last day off was Monday and I decided I wanted to try to find the city gym and go swimming. And that I did! After a lot of help from the non-English speaking woman behind the desk and properly saying the phrase "Puru wa doko desu ka?" or "Where is the pool?" I made it. I found out that you are not supposed to wear the locker room slippers out in the pool area (trial and error) and that caps are required. Seeing as I forgot to pack a cap, I was just going to swim without but was forced to rent one. How strange. The pool was actually pretty nice as far as city pools go- 8 lanes, flags were in the right place as were the marks on the bottom, and warm enough. There was even a swim practice going on with kids maybe 9-11 years old.  I found out two things: it's really cool that I still have my stroke and swimming doesn't feel unnatural, but I am laughably weak. I am not sure I will be going back to that pool super often  because it is $5 to swim, but now I know where it is.

During my first day back to work, my coworker Naoko took me to order my name stamp. In Japan, everyone signs their name with a stamp that has their name on it. Usually, it is their last name in kanji (a Chinese character), but we had to spell out my name in katakana, or the alphabet. I don't really understand why a stamp would be used instead of a signature; it seems extremely easy to forge. I also now have a bank account and I am registered with the city which feels great and no longer illegal!

I have a cell phone now and Japanese phones are different in that you have a phone number for calling but for text messages you use an e-mail. The problem is, my phone is made for Japanese users so there is no space bar button and typing on it is obnoxiously difficult. Still feels great to be connected by phone again.

I think I may have seen my first white person in Matsue. It was dark outside so I am only about 75% sure, and it was also cold so I couldn't see much of his face. I crossed the street at the same time as this man going the opposite direction and stared at him like he was a car crash--no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't look away. The only other non-Asian people I have seen technically were Asian. I saw an Indian man and his son in city hall. It's a pretty bizarre feeling.

More interesting things about Japan:

1. Last post I mentioned that the Japanese are workaholics and that, however hard you are working, you should always work harder. I want to add a bit to that and that is to always be extremely humble about your accomplishments or your family's accomplishments. Even if say you were the highest earning employee, if someone commented on it, you would basically break yourself down and talk about how terrible  you actually are. Maybe it's just luck and you're, in fact, very unintelligent. Anything to make you sound not great.
2. In Japan, the culture is very much about being a part of a whole, therefore fitting in with the rest of the whole. I heard a quote that read something like- Never be the nail that is standing out because then you will be hammered down. Always be the nail that is the farthest in so everyone around you gets hammered down.
3. The idea that women showing a lot of leg is scandalous is laughable here. Legs are for walking and are not sexual. The chest on the other hand is extremely sexual and women are expected to cover it up as much as possible. This fact caused some unexpected issues with some of the clothes I brought that would not be considered inappropriate in the US.
4. I have yet to feel unsafe walking around, even at night. Hopefully this is because my city is safe and not just my false sense of reality.
5. I have walked around with my coworker Naoko a few times and yesterday she put on one of those white masks that you stereotypically see Asian people wearing and think of dentists or doctors wearing during surgery. Out of curiosity, I asked her why she chose to wear it then and not the other times. She said that she wore it to keep warm. I believe it had something to do with being cold means you are more likely to get sick, but that is not exactly what she said so I am only guessing. Her answer was not what I was expecting to hear. My assumption was that it was to protect from germs when a lot of people are around. I then asked if it was difficult to breathe with it on and she said that it was a bit harder but you get used to it.
6. Utilities bills are paid at convenience stores in Japan. Each one has a barcode and you take it up to the counter at the Larson's, they scan it, you accept the charges on a touchscreen computer, pay it, and get a receipt. Pretty simple! I have successfully done it once.
7. It is not strange to see people, especially women, trotting places. I saw it more in Kashiwa and Shin-Kashiwa where I was training, but I do see it in Matsue some. I love it and that is one thing that I can easily adjust to.
8. It is also not strange to see people riding their bike and texting at the same time. Maybe even smoking a cigarette as well. Adults don't wear helmets on their bikes so I really don't understand why or how you could text and bike.
9. For Valentines Day in Japan the girls give the boys boxes of chocolates. I'm not sure I like that tradition much.
10. There are drink vending machines everywhere. Also cigarette vending machines. The cigarette vending machines have a sign on them that says no one under 20 is allowed to buy them but I am not sure how that can be enforced. All of the drink machines have water and iced tea and iced coffee but also hot tea and hot coffee. Actually hot means warm but it is nice for those cold days, ahem every day, as a lunchtime treat. Not as common in Matsue, but I saw them enough during training, were beer vending machines. Luckily there is one around the corner from my apartment so I can run and grab a 100mL beer at any time, day or night. Now I don't have to worry about finding my 5am beer fix- phew!

Some great news: I have my first demo lesson next week for what I imagine are some prospective students AND we are getting a transfer student in March who takes business classes. Finally I get to do the job I came to do! Now I just need to learn how to teach business English. What I have figured out is that if you can read the textbook, you can make a lesson plan and be alright.

I posted some pictures on Facebook of the castle and my experiences that first day that can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4394604472676.2142237.1515360382&type=1&l=344076e255

Now, please enjoy some pictures of my apartment!

The kitchen. I have an extender to go over the sink so I can use my cutting board or dry dishes.

Washing machine

Bathroom sink/ tub/ the whole room also is a shower

My front door. Notice my shoes at the door, following proper Japanese culture and not wearing shoes in the house.

Fridge, microwave, pantry

Bed with stairs, loads of storage underneath, and my flag reminding me in Italian to live a life of peace. And color.

The giant flatscreen TV that sits behind my computer desk because I can't move it and my computer must stay plugged in to the wall internet. 

View from my backyard. That's actually a flat house but the Photosynth app is going to do some weird things to pictures.

The view from the door of my living/ dining/ bedroom/ closet/ office

Not pictured: toilet room. It's pretty boring though. A small room with a toilet in it and a shelf above is really all you need to know.

Outside most restaurants, Japanese are famous for having intricately decorated rubber food that looks very oddly like the food you will eat. It makes things a lot easier because you can just point at the food you want, but it is pretty strange. 

Oooh, you almost got it. The Ls and Rs are a very big issue in Japan because their R is almost like our L sound but they tap their tongue against the back part of their mouth. That doesn't mean this isn't hilarious.

 
That's all for now! Happy Valentines Day! Questions and comments always welcome.

Finally!

Hello everyone! I am so happy to finally have this blog up. It took a lot of patience, mostly from the extremely willing Japanese staff at the Leopalace, but my home internet works :). The Leopalace is the name of a nationwide apartment facility- at least I think so. I believe they have some sort of contract set up with Nichii Gakkan, my employer, so that they house foreign employees with no place to live. But I'll get into living arrangements later because get ready folks, I am about to tell my first tale of my blog: the first 12 days of my life in Japan!

Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, I call this story...
JAPAN: Entered

It was a comfortable early morning, that of the 25 of January, 2013, in which I arrived at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. After some goodbyes, airport security, and breakfast tacos, I was well on my way. The layover in LAX was nondescript at best what with wavering wifi and expensive airport food. And then finally, it happened. Singapore Airlines, flight 11 to Tokyo was boarding. Oh ma goodness, this double-decker plane was just a dream of the 90's and now I am boarding an enormous Airbus a380? Wikipedia it, it's huge. Although I was stuck in the middle seat of the middle row of Economy, I didn't mind too much. I had a seat next to me that was empty so, with proper maneuvering, I could utilize the extra leg room of the empty seat while giving the Japanese man next to me just enough space to maintain comfort. Despite my slightly taller-than-usual size, everyone knows that fitting into the Economy seats is an art, and I believe it is one that I mastered that day. Word is that Singapore Airlines is one of the best airlines around and boy, that word is the truth. Hot towels administered multiple times during the flight, braised beef option or traditional Japanese with teriyaki salmon? Yes please! Many naps and a few Japanese lessons via in-flight entertainment later, not to mention the viewings of Pitch Perfect and Bernie, the massive air tank landed gracefully in Tokyo. Past customs was Dan, the very man who interviewed me over Skype. After waiting for another flight to land, Dan, a fellow instructor, and I made our way through the train system to Kashiwa where the other instructor's and my hotel was. Dan made it back to his house that night and us girls got our first taste of Japanese life. Small showers, small hotel rooms, small everything, leave your shoes at the door. The next morning, we finally found our way to the training center and were met by one of our trainers who taught us about Japanese culture that morning, took us to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant for lunch, and showed us two of the COCO Juku schools that would be similar to the ones we would work at. The head company I work for is Nichii Gakkan, but that has multiple branches including a healthcare branch and some other cool stuff, and only recently did they open up the education branch. COCO Juku is the name of the schools: COCO for Communication Competence and Juku which basically means school.

TRAINING: Monday 28-Friday 1

Every day training began at 9 and lasted until 18:00 (oh yes, I will be using 24 hour time as much as possible) with an hour for lunch served in the cafeteria. There was a lot of boring, so I'll keep the description brief. We got practice teaching lessons which was great not only to build confidence in lesson planning the COCO Juku way, but also to learn what techniques our fellow trainees have utilized in the past. We also learned a lot about what Nichii Gakkan has done and what their goals are for COCO Juku. A little background information: COCO Juku has only been a reality since April of 2012 so most schools do not have a full staff and many don't even have students yet (including mine!). We obviously aim to provide the best English learning possible, and we do so by many means but a big seller is that we offer classes with two teachers. This way, we can work in two different cultures who both speak English (hopefully a mix of American and British or Australian) and teach the differences between them as well. The point is, I gained an unexpected amount of respect for my company, even though we are just starting and have a few little bugs to work out of the system (but doesn't everyone?). So training was fun and we got to eat out around Shin-Kashiwa (where the training center actually is, called New Kashiwa) and the bigger, more exciting Kashiwa. I had my first and second hamburger for breakfast while at the training center, as well as my first salad for breakfast. Very interesting times. I was glad to be there but even more so when I got to move to Matsue.

MOVING: Saturday Feb. 2

Hauling a 20 kilo suitcase and an 18 kilo duffel bag around trains, monorails, an airport, and a bus is not a fun thing to do and golly am I glad it's over. Waiting for me at the Matsue station were four women: Izumi and Naoko, who are counselors that I work with, Yamamoto my branch manager, and Kakayama my section manager. Japanese culture fact: everyone is very respectful of one another. For example, I do not call my branch manager by her first name, which I don't know, or even her last name, Yamamoto. I call her Shitenchou (sh'ten-choh) which literally means branch manager. Many more examples of Japanese respect are to come. Anyway, I got to my little apartment and these wonderful four women went to work helping me get my paperwork sorted, checking to make sure everything works, waiting for the man to turn on my gas, the list goes on. After that was complete, Naoko, who speaks the best English out of the group, took me to get basics for my apartment: two pad things I stack on top of each other for a mattress, an extra blanket, chopsticks and plates (yes, I have converted to chopsticks. Trying to find forks anywhere is useless), and more. We then went grocery shopping so I wouldn't starve - hooray! That night, I was taken out to a lovely dinner by Shitenchou, Izumi, and Naoko and we had all sorts of food from fish to veggies to octopus to pizza to edamame. It was delicious. I got back to my apartment and set up the bare necessities before crashing for the night.

LEARNING: Sunday 3-present

That Sunday I had off of work, so I wandered to the 100 yen store (with current conversion rates, that equals $1 so that is handy) and bought a bunch of cheap stuff for the apartment. That is a 15 minute walk one way. Then I made sure I could get to work, another 15 minute walk away. Matsue station is across the street from my work, and they have free wifi so you know I stood outside in the cold as long as I could stand it to get in touch with everyone I could. I made my way back home and then to the 100 yen store again because there is a lot to buy when you start almost from scratch, and stopped at the supermarket on the way home. That supermarket is 5 minutes away, but I get the idea I am getting ripped off, so I am going to shop around (ha! Get it? shop.. for shops. yes). I showed up for work Monday and it happened to be the first day the school was open! Izumi, Naoko, and I are the only ones working there right now but we are supposed to get another instructor in about a week and a half. Without any students, life around the office has been pretty slow. I try to make lesson plans and familiarize myself with the textbooks, but it is difficult to plan for students who don't yet exist. When I am not doing that, I am either having Izumi or Naoko help me figure out all of my paperwork or running around Matsue registering myself with the city, learning about Japan's crazy trash system, trying and failing to buy a Japanese cell phone, the list goes on. Today was cool because I learned to write my name in katakana, which is one of the four ways of written communication in Japan. Katakana and hiragana are two alphabets that have somewhat similar sounds to English letters, they also use kanji, which are Chinese characters, in almost every sentence, and rarely things are spelled out in the Roman alphabet probably just for foreigners.

INTERESTING FACTS
It has been a long day and my concentration is failing me so I will leave you with a few things I have learned that I think are neato.

1. When giving or receiving things, use two hands. Almost always unless it is an extremely casual situation, and even then it depends. It shows that you respect what you are giving and being given.
2. A similar topic, giving and receiving business cards is a very methodical and formal ceremony. When given a business card (or a gift), you accept it with both hands and read over the entire card carefully. If you are going to be in the person's presence for a longer amount of time, you leave the business card displayed on your desk neatly. Again, respect.
3. In general, the Japanese try to burn their trash. They separate it into burnable, nonburnable (plastics that aren't plastic bottles), plastic bottles, and metals. I think that's all of the categories. They have many more trash collection days that we do, usually multiple burnable collection days per week.
4. Unless you are a thug guarding your turf, do not put your hands in your pockets. Ever. Bitter cold, slightly snowing, wind cutting like ice? You brave it, my friend. I have learned to bring gloves with me everywhere.
5. If you aren't working hard, work harder. If you are working hard, work harder. Japanese are generally workaholics.
6. I am not as much of a giant as I thought I would be. Although I am taller than probably 95% of people I would consider "old," there are a number of 20-30 year olds who are close enough to my height to not make me feel totally strange.
7. Most public toilets have heated seats and spray, bidet, music, flushing noise, and extreme deodorizing functions. So far, I have abstained from any extraneous button pushing.

As of yet, I am the most thankful for the support I am getting back home, my picture Japanese-English dictionary (thanks, swimmers), and my amazing winter jacket. And duh the fact that I'm here relatively unscathed.

Soon to come: deets on my tiny apartment, more about my job, other customs, more life!

Comments are welcomed, questions are encouraged. Sayonara!