Family Outings and Barbecued Squid

My first week here in Sapporo has been nothing short of amazing. Everyone has helped me so much that I feel right at home here, like I never even left a life completely different from this one. The Japanese teachers of English who I'll be working with are all great and incredibly friendly...one helped me to set up all of my bills for direct deposit out of my banking account; one drove me all over the city to get important foreigner things done like getting a hanko (personal seal stamp which acts as a signature for all things important) and setting up my bank account (he and his wife then invited me to their home for lunch); and one constantly helps me everyday with anything and anything I can possibly think up to ask, including how to order a bento lunch from the school's tea-lady!

There is one person...well, family...who stands out though, and that's the Tanechi family, consisting of my Kyoto Sensei or vice-principal (also my supervisor), his three lovely daughers (24, 22, and 19 years old), and his fabulous wife. They live just two houses down from me and have really gone out of their way to make me feel a part of their family! Eri, the oldest daughter, speaks excellent English and has been my guide for everything Sapporo! Aya and Risa, while limited with English, are hilarious and like to communicate in Japanglishsignlanguage, which I totally understand most of the time (seriously). Mariko-san is mom to everyone...I've rarely cooked a meal since coming here because of her. And last, but not least, my Kyoto Sensei in all of his glory:

Vice-principal, father, bear-lover.

Sunday, Kyoto Sensei and Eri loaded me up in their mini-van for a fun trip to the town of Otaru, which is famous for its historical canal and waterfront shops, as well as seafood and glass blowing

Ice cream (actually, I should say "soft cream"), is a Hokkaido speciality, among other things (such as all things dairy, the freshest seafood in all of Japan, lilacs, lavender fields, cows, onsens (hot springs), skiing, national parks...)

Here, you can puruse such soft cream flavors as lavender, melon, milk, and cold water...mmmm...cold water:

This building says "House of Crystal"

Rich Chinese tourists looking for expensive glass souviners. People with teacher's salaries can only take pictures instead.

Ahhhh, the best little street-treat I've had so far...scallops grilled in their shell with a hearty pat of Hokkaido butter!!!!!! Cost about a buck each!

After Otaru, we made a brief feet-soaking stop at one of Sapporo's city beaches...this one in particular was called Dream Beach. I LOVE this city! Beaches, mountains, skiing, dairy farms, snow festivals...all within an hour or less of me!

Last stop of the day...some good 'ol Hokkaido soft cream!

After our venture out of the city, we came back in time to prepare for my welcome BBQ party with my two neighboring households!

On the "menu": cow tounge, cow colon, lamb stomach, beef flanks, grilled squid, grilled vegatables, fried chicken bones, grilled chicken, potato cakes, and beer, beer, beer! Yes, I did try everything, and no, nothing killed me! Actually, for the most part (aside from the cow colon and lamb stomach) everything was quite tasty!

Mariko-san and Kyoto Sensei...grill masters*

Moe and Nagi...two of the sweetest neighbor girls a person could ask for!

As I've come to discover, it's not a true Japanese party unless there's some kind of fire...in this case, sparklers!

Home, sweet, home indeed!!!

Our New Home

Ahhh...home sweet home in Sapporo and, more importantly, NO MORE LUGGAGE!!! Arriving in Sapporo, I was picked up by one of the English teachers from my school. He took me out for a nice soba noodle and sushi lunch before heading to my new apartment...

...which I was surprised to find was not an apartment, but actually an awesome little HOUSE!! Ours is on the left, with another co-worker and his family living next door, and my Kyoto Sensai (vice-principal) and his family living in the two story house (more on them and the AMAZING time I've had with them so far in a later post).

Here it is, up-close, in all its glory (note our fabulous bikes which came with the place, courtesy of our wonderful predecessors).

Come on in...this is our entry way complete with plenty of hidden closet and storage space. The toilet room is on the right (and yes, we DO have a western-style toilet! Don't even get me started on Japanese-style toilets...)

In Japan, the front entry area where you put your shoes is considered public property, so locking the door is always a pretty good habit.

Looking out through the front door...the parking lot leads to my school where I will be teaching, so it's literally a 40 second walk to work!

Looking back towards the front door and entrance from the door that leads into the main part of the house.

Enter into our little living room...

From our last apartment to this place, we upgraded size-wise in everything but the kitchen (sorry, Jacob)

Many Japanese homes have rooms with tatami floors, kept as kind of a connection to their traditional past. Tatami mat floors are intricately woven of grass and are soft, but extremely fragile (which lends to the Japanese custom of not wearing shoes in the home as they can severly damage tatami mats).

We are fortunate to have two tatami rooms in our home! It makes me feel more Japanese-y! An upclose shot of tatmi:

Our bedroom, which is a 6 tatami mat room.

The "office" (soon to be plastered in photos) -slash- versatile guestroom for Snow Festival guest overflow...

Our shower and Japanese-style bath

The second tatami room which we will use for guests. Don't be shy...we have PLENTY of futons, blankets, and pillows!! Come and enjoy the soft wonders of the tatami!

I leave you with the wonderous view outside of our living-room sliding door:

Okay, so it's not the best view, but I do like that Sapporo's surrounded by beautiful mountains and nature-y things.

All in all I am extremely happy to be here and the place feels so much like home! The only thing that's missing is a husband, which I will be getting at the beginning of September, and some lovely guests (contact me at any time)!

Tokyo Finale

Backtracking a bit to my last night in Tokyo, which was this past Tuesday. I met up with a couple of Tennessee gals who I met at Nashville orientation, Lauren and Elissa, and we took to Tokyo`s steamy streets (literally, it was so humid an muggy that my camera lens was too fogged up for pics most of the time)!

This area of Shibuku in Tokyo is one of the most recognizable, thanks mostly in part to the movie "Lost in Translation." It's known as Tokyo Times Square and has so many lights that it seems like daylight!

We found a nice and gritty little back alley to try some beers and foods that we couldn't pronounce or decipher. We did get a free glass of sake each out of the deal...I like to attribute that to our good looks and good efforts...

Do we blend in yet?

Tokyo...Continued

As promised, more on my little Tokyo adventure:

The wonder that is yellow-shirt-JET-helpers...got us through Narita airport with no sweat (besides that emitted from Tokyo's 100+ degree heat and humidity)!

Our hotel, Keio Plaza, was down in the vibrant Shinjuku district of the city.  All of these neon lights constantly blink, "You're illiterate!  You're illiterate!  You're illiterate!"  It's a strange sensation, this mixed feeling of helplessness, curiosity, and excitement.

My first meal in Japan was at an INCREDIBLE hole-in-the-wall noodle shop down in the "blinky light district."  I chose what I wanted to eat by looking at a few plastic models in the window, finding the corresponding selection on the machine by the door, inserting probably a ridiculously large bill, and handing my meal ticket to the kitchen staff.  

Best meal EVER ordered from a machine:

Monday afternoon, I met up with my friend, Taka (met him in Dublin a few years ago) and his Korean friends for lunch.  This was my first experience with conveyor-belt sushi (where you simply select the plates of sushi you want as they spin along in front of you) and it was so, so fabulous!  I got stuffed on about 800 yen...the equivalent of about $8.

My first taste of the wonderful world o' Japan vending machines!

Back at orientation, or as I like to call it, "Brain and Butt Overload 2008" (we do a lot of sitting).

Last night, we had a enika (drinking/eating party) with those heading up to Hokkaido prefecture (about 30 of us) at this little place up the way from our hotel.

Tonight is one last spin out in Tokyo and then tomorrow, I'm on a plane again up north to Hokkaido, where my official life in Japan will begin!  I'm not sure of my internet access/availability yet, but I will be posting again as soon as I get the chance!

Oriental Orientation in Tokyo

I'm here in Tokyo after a 13 hour flight and smooth sailing through Narita airport, thanks mostly to the floating-yellow-shirt-frenzy known as current JET helper-outers.

Everything here makes me feel like I'm in the future. The fact that I feel like a robot makes it even more surreal.

JET Orientation has been long and laggy, but good. I've met a ton of people from all over the world, as there are about 800 of us here! We're staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel...a swanky setup in the heart of Tokyo's hip and bright Shijuku area, which has made for some great jet-lagged meandering.

My internet is sketchy at the moment, but I hope to be back soon with full blog thoughts and photos for your reading and my typing entertainment...to be continued...

Flighty-flight

Northwest airlines.

Flight 1724.

Depart Nashville 10:12am, 02 August

Arrive Tokyo 4:20pm, 03 August

札幌市 (Sapporo) Here We Come

Today I received an email from the principal of my soon-to-be place of employment, the Sapporo Intercultural and Technological High School.  That's right, we're placed in Sapporo, which is Japan's fifth largest city, the capital of Hokkaido island, and, most importantly, the beer capital of Japan!!

As the island of Hokkaido is very much rural (by comparison to the rest of Japan), we feel particularly lucky to have been placed in the city, especially where Jacob is concerned.  He's been polishing up his new (expensive) knives and reading everything there is to know about sushi in hopes of getting on somewhere in the back of the house (restaurant talk for "veggie chopper").  I think this will very much be a learning experience for the both of us.  

Kana Mama!

What I've been doing lately:

Japanese writing is somewhat complicated as it has four character sets:  katakana, hiragana, kanji, and romaji.  I've already gotten a good grasp on romaji, which is what I'm typing in now (basically, the Roman alphabet)!  Hiragana and katakana (also lumped together as Kana) are both syllabaries, which have one syllabic sound per character.  Finally, Kanji, the writing system borrowed from Chinese, is the hardest as there are literally thousands of characters each representing entire ideas, things, etc.

Of the two Kana syllabaries, hiragana is the hardest as the characters are more involved and "flowing" than katakana.  For every hiragana character and sound, there is a corresponding, simpler character in katakana (which is used for writing Western/foreign words, names, and the like).

My uber-goal in this endeavor was to completely know and be able to use both hiragana and katakana before I depart for Japan-land.  After writing and writing and writing these characters hundreds of times (read: eye-bleeding amounts), I've learned all of the hiragana, and about 20 of the 46 characters of katakana (which, being easier than the former, should take about a couple more weeks).

Kanji will definitely be more of an undertaking.