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.
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.
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