Japan - Day 12

So I've had limited access to the internet over the past little while - my much loved pirated wireless signal decided to up and disappear. I'm now all settled in at my new apartment in Oita and have officially been an English teacher for 2 days!

Oita's alright, minus the scary right-wing fascist types that drive around in their big, white, Japanese flag adorned vans with tinted windows who yell their anti-foreigner manifestos over a loud speaker... Although I've seen/heard them I haven't had a run-in with them yet (thankfully) but they've been known to pull up beside foreigners and start yelling at them! ...So aside from that whole scene the town's alright. (I think those guys can been found in any city across Japan, so it's not just limited to where I am). But I do have the feeling that this area of Japan is much akin to the Southern US or parts of Alberta...

Anyway, so yeah, I'm adjusting well to my new living arrangements here in Oita. My new (temporary roommate) is pretty cool, she's moving out at the end of the month though. She's been super-helpful so far in showing me the lay of the land so to speak. ...Filling me and Amy in on all the secret rules of life in Japan and at Nova that people generally fail to mention. I'm especially getting used to *not* sleeping on a single three-inch futon mattress on a hardwood floor - think a la camping. I now have three futon mattresses piled up and it's actually quite comfortable or at least tolerable. I also now have a tatami-mat floor in my room so that softens things up as well.

The day before I left Kitakyushu I went out with Lucy to celebrate the end of our training. We went to a local bar and were just going to point to random things on the menu and hope we'd end up with something edible. Luckily one of the bar/wait staff spoke English and he helped us choose some drinks and appetizer. His name was Jun-ji and he was pretty cool and his English was excellent (he lived in Vancouver for a year so I'm sure that helped). He also had a mullet - and suprisingly enough pulled it off quite nicely haha. Mullets seem to be all the rage for Japanese males, it's kind of frightening actually...

On Wednesday we ended up at a kareoke bar - we were the only foreigners in the place. When we first walked in I thought they were gonna turn us away, but the owner-lady turned out to be really friendly, and with the use of our phrase books we were able to communicate somewhat... I even sang a song! (First time for everything). You know, the song "Michelle" by The Beatles seems a lot faster when I sing it in my head LOL. I also got my first Japanese gift! There was an old man in the bar (one of like 3 other patrons) and after he found out I was leaving for Oita the next day he ran out and came back a few minutes later with a sashimi platter for me. It was so sweet! It turns out he owned a sushi restaurant nearby according to the owner of the kareoke bar (who's name escapes me at the moment).

So this has been a week of firsts for me - Japanese gifts, kareoke, becoming a teacher... I also tried some eel sushi (along side the tuna and salmon, which I've tried before). Not to mention the cheesecake (which I would normally avoid) and some red wine (again, which I would normally avoid).

I haven't been in Japan two weeks yet but already I can see why people love it so much. It's not exactly as beautiful as people often speculate, but the people, the culture, and the whole atmosphere in general are just so warm and friendly. ...You know apart from the scary van guys.