Two and a half months into my stay in Japan and I've finally experienced my first earthquake!!! It wasn't that big - about a 5.1 on the Richter Scale. "Moderate" might be a better description.
(Note: According to Wikipedia an earthquake of this magnitude "can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At most slight damage to well-designed buildings." Gotta love Wikipedia, it knows all LOL).
While this may be so, it wasn't exactly earth-shattering (no pun intended) by the time its effects reached the 215 or so kilometers to Oita. The only indicators of the quake here were that I was woken up to a vibrating bed and the light swaying above my head. To my disappointment, my students said that people outside probably didn't even feel anything. As bad as it sounds, I was secretly hoping for something a little more destructive - I'm not talking total annihilation or anything, but maybe a few rattling plates in the cupboard or something... Nonetheless it was a rather novel experience for me.
We got a new teacher this week who is, unfortunately, the walking stereotype of the "Arrogant American." (No offense to my American readers, you know I love all of you). But, not only is he rude but a racist as well... Always a fun guy to have around! Oh yeah, I suppose I should mention that he's also a bit of a stalker... He's invited himself over for dinner, and tonight he was practically waiting at our doorstep when Amy got home. (Who knows how long he'd been waiting there!) Kinda freaky. Not really in a "scary" sorta way, but more in an irritating, "what the hell are you doing here you annoying ass" sorta way. Truth be told I've been trying to be tolerant of him, and I realize that it's hard when you're in a new place to meet new people, but really, if you're trying to make new friends you probably shouldn't walk around uttering racial slurs. Just my humble opinion...
So next week is Golden Week here in Japan. Golden Week is a period which encompasses about 4 different days of public holidays and the cost to travel skyrockets about 400% (You think I'm joking...?) Most people still get time off of work or school, but not us here at Nova. Instead we get to work special holiday hours - which translates into starting work early :( Oh well, I guess the bright side is that we finish early too right...? (I'll just keep telling myself that as I'm dragging myself out of bed 3 hours earlier than usual). You ALL know I don't handle mornings very well... Anyway, moving on... Amy's second day off got switched around next week so now we have two days off at the same time and we've decided to take this opportunity to travel to Hiroshima. We also get to take the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to get there which is kinda exciting. I'm definitely looking forward to the trip as it marks the first time we've left the island of Kyushu since we've arrived in Japan.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Japan - Day 64
Another week (or so) has gone by but I don't really have anything exciting to report... I've been working lots and that's about it. On the plus side - I'm officially finished my probationary period - woohoo! LOL, now I can get paid my full amount. Bonus.
Today was mine and Amy's mutual day off, the day where we usually venture out and try to take in some of the local sights. Naturally, of course, it was raining. (If you look back over some of my pictures you'll notice the common theme of an umbrella in hand). We were originally going to take a cable car up the mountain in Beppu to get a nice overlook of the city, but judging by the amount of fog there was we decided not to waste our money. Instead, we decided to go see some of the hotsprings along the "Jigoku Meduri" or the "Hell Tour". These hotsprings, or "hellsprings" rather, are so hot that people are not allowed to go in the water - hence the "hell" aspect. The water temperature was between 90 and 98 degrees Celsius as far as I could understand, maybe hotter. But still pretty damn hot!
There are 8 of these Jigoku along the tour route but we only made it to two of them today. We decided to save some of the others for future entertainment. (And hopefully for a day without rain). Today we managed to see the Umi-Jigoku and the Yama-Jigoku. The water of the first one is a brilliant cobalt blue - difficult to see through all the steam though. The water's hot enough that they can hard-boil eggs in it. At the latter hellsrping isn't overly spectacular, but the site doubles as a mini-zoo. They have a hippo, an elephant, some monkeys and baboons, and a bunch of random birds. The brochure claimed that they also had "prancing lions" but we didn't see any. ...Much like how we didn't see any of the mystery sea otters at our trip to the aquarium last week.
...Last week Amy and I visited the local aquarium called Umitamago (don't judge us). We saw a lot of sea creatures native to this area in Japan. (Note to self: Do not go swimming in the ocean). As well as some seals, dolphins, and walruses. They claimed to have some sea otters which I was really excited about (they're so cute!!!) but we couldn't find any :( We tried asking one of the employees but that didn't really amount to much.
Anyway, the hellsprings were pretty cool to go see, and I think we'll go back to see some of the remaining six later on. They have one called the "Oniishi Shaven Head Hell" because it's a boiling mud bath where the bubbles look like the top of monks' heads, and another one called the "Blood Hell" because the clay of the pool makes the water look red... There was a mini red hellspring at the Umi-Jigoku site too. And there was one hotspring that people could actually use at the Umi-Jigoku site as well. It was a foot bath of sorts - so nice! The sign for it was kinda funny though - you'd think that in a touristy area they'd double check their English translations - apparently not. Instead of writing "foot bath" or something similar they called it "hot spring of a leg". Okay, maybe that's not amusing to all, but it's amusing to me nonetheless.
Alright, well since Thursday is the new Sunday I have another full week of work to look forward to starting tomorrow. I never thought I'd ever say I love Mondays, but I guess now I do.
Today was mine and Amy's mutual day off, the day where we usually venture out and try to take in some of the local sights. Naturally, of course, it was raining. (If you look back over some of my pictures you'll notice the common theme of an umbrella in hand). We were originally going to take a cable car up the mountain in Beppu to get a nice overlook of the city, but judging by the amount of fog there was we decided not to waste our money. Instead, we decided to go see some of the hotsprings along the "Jigoku Meduri" or the "Hell Tour". These hotsprings, or "hellsprings" rather, are so hot that people are not allowed to go in the water - hence the "hell" aspect. The water temperature was between 90 and 98 degrees Celsius as far as I could understand, maybe hotter. But still pretty damn hot!
There are 8 of these Jigoku along the tour route but we only made it to two of them today. We decided to save some of the others for future entertainment. (And hopefully for a day without rain). Today we managed to see the Umi-Jigoku and the Yama-Jigoku. The water of the first one is a brilliant cobalt blue - difficult to see through all the steam though. The water's hot enough that they can hard-boil eggs in it. At the latter hellsrping isn't overly spectacular, but the site doubles as a mini-zoo. They have a hippo, an elephant, some monkeys and baboons, and a bunch of random birds. The brochure claimed that they also had "prancing lions" but we didn't see any. ...Much like how we didn't see any of the mystery sea otters at our trip to the aquarium last week.
...Last week Amy and I visited the local aquarium called Umitamago (don't judge us). We saw a lot of sea creatures native to this area in Japan. (Note to self: Do not go swimming in the ocean). As well as some seals, dolphins, and walruses. They claimed to have some sea otters which I was really excited about (they're so cute!!!) but we couldn't find any :( We tried asking one of the employees but that didn't really amount to much.
Anyway, the hellsprings were pretty cool to go see, and I think we'll go back to see some of the remaining six later on. They have one called the "Oniishi Shaven Head Hell" because it's a boiling mud bath where the bubbles look like the top of monks' heads, and another one called the "Blood Hell" because the clay of the pool makes the water look red... There was a mini red hellspring at the Umi-Jigoku site too. And there was one hotspring that people could actually use at the Umi-Jigoku site as well. It was a foot bath of sorts - so nice! The sign for it was kinda funny though - you'd think that in a touristy area they'd double check their English translations - apparently not. Instead of writing "foot bath" or something similar they called it "hot spring of a leg". Okay, maybe that's not amusing to all, but it's amusing to me nonetheless.
Alright, well since Thursday is the new Sunday I have another full week of work to look forward to starting tomorrow. I never thought I'd ever say I love Mondays, but I guess now I do.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Japan - Day 53
Time seems to be flying by lately. I could've sworn I just wrote an entry a couple of days ago but apparently it was more like 9? How these things happen, I just don't know.
I guess it was a week ago now that Amy and I had dinner with our (former) Japanese instructor - I'd tell you his name but I can't remember. His last name translates to "Bath" in English - that's all I retained. Anyways, dinner was an interesting experience... We met him at his friend's restaurant (his "very famous" musician friend mind you - he's been on TV! NHK to be exact - the equivalent of TVO in Ontario, so yes, "very famous" in deed LOL). "Bath" had ordered all the food before we arrived (and we arrived 5 minutes early) so we were pummeled with plate after plate of yakitori (basically a kebob). It wasn't that the food was bad (although some of it was) it was just that a person can only eat so much meat in one sitting - By the end all I really felt like was a nice, crisp, green salad but that just wasn't in the cards. We kept telling him that we were full but he either A) didn't hear us, B) didn't care, or C) didn't understand. I'm guessing it's a combination of the three. For an English teacher, he really doesn't know a whole lot. By the end of dinner Amy and I were both feeling pretty queasy.
The food is only half the story though... In addition to having already ordered all our food, "Bath" had also already ordered a bottle of wine for the table. I hate wine and Amy didn't want red. So Amy ordered a glass (or three) of white wine while I suffered through the red. (I hate wine by the way, but I had no choice but to drink it - my request for water was ignored/denied). After the wine we were informed that we had to try shochu - a southern Japanese liquor made from sweet potatoes. Now I've heard of shochu before and knew better than to actually try any, but when I tried telling "Bath" that I wasn't up for it and that I'm not much of a drinker (a tiny white lie) he either A) didn't hear me, B) didn't care, or C) didn't understand. Again, I'm betting on the combination. He promised us that it was a very weak drink and so after a lot of pushing on his part (and the fact that he already ordered it) we agreed to try - thinking that it would just be a small shot. But no, it wasn't. It came in a large glass mixed with water. I took one small sip and knew I'd never be able to finish the entire thing. Amy powered through her's and by the end she was ready to fall off her chair (it was about 8:00 at this point haha).
One of the highlights of the dinner was when the restaurant owner decided to come out and play us some tunes. We were informed (repeatedly) just how lucky we were for this honor. In all honestly the guy was pretty decent, but it was pretty funny watching his facial expressions as he did some renditions of classic Beatles songs. The owner's son, (also "famous") was invited out to sing us some songs as well. He chose some Eric Clapton songs. These guys are hitting up Nova Scotia soon, so if you're ever on the East Coast and need some entertainment...
By about 8:30 we were ready to leave, we finally got the One-Armed Bandit to stop ordering more food - after he ordered some rice balls. After promising us they were seafood-free, out they came sprinkled with dried shrimp flakes - yum! (Note: sarcasm) Instead of making a clean get away, Amy managed to get us into a little bit of a situation... All night "Bath" kept asking us the same questions over and over (I think in part due to his limited vocabulary), but one of these questions was what do we like to drink? ...Getting bored of answering the same way again and again, Amy decided to switch things up a bit and said "tequila". This was a big mistake. "Bath" just so happened to know a nice little tequila bar around the corner and insisted on taking us there. I protested that I don't drink tequila and that it makes me sick but he either A) didn't hear me, B) didn't care, or C) didn't understand. I was getting a bit annoyed at this point, but since I had to see him again the following Tuesday for my Japanese lesson me and Amy decided we couldn't just ditch him on the way there (a very tempting idea though).
So we get to the tequila bar after running to keep up with the 70 year old man leading the way and we all get a round of shots. I was hoping I could fly under the radar and try and order a glass of water - but no such luck. To cut a long story short, after finishing the shot we finally were able to break free of the One-Armed Bandit and take the bus home. We were almost conned into letting him "drive us home in a taxi" - whatever that meant? I was confused on whether he meant he'd pay for our taxi, or that he'd drive us home. Either way it didn't matter, we both just wanted out of there. All the repetitive questions all night and the ignoring of our requests to stop with all the food and disgusting drinks! At least the night makes a good story...
Other than that outing the past week has been pretty low-key. On Tuesday I had my Japanese lesson - it was pretty redundant and boring. I don't I'll be returning... I don't think I'm really learning all that much and it'd probably be best to find a good tutor or a more professional class. By "professional" I just mean one that isn't run by a bunch of bored, retired, Japanese men who really just want to learn English.
Wednesday, Amy and I went to a small town about an hour and a half away called Yufuin. We'd heard good things about it from our students so we thought we'd give it a go... The town turned out to be a bit of a bust - it was super cold and windy (a repeat of Usuki) but with the added pleasure of rain (luckily not until the end). We decided to take a horse carriage ride around the town. It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time... About 3 minutes into the ride we clued in that it was one horse pulling a huge carriage with 14 people in it! We felt so bad for the horse! ...I was half tempted to ask the driver to stop so we could get off. I really couldn't enjoy myself because all I could think about was the poor horse... We did stop at a temple and a shrine which were kinda cool though. We didn't stick around to do much else in Yufuin. We had lunch at a yakiniku restaurant (Korean BBQ), and somehow managed to order what looked to be beef intestines of some kind... The menu was completely in Japanese but there were drawings of cows, chickens, and fish by the appropriate dishes. We thought we were ordering a regular beef dish, but apparently not! After seeing our disgusted faces the waitress let us reorder and we had some relatively normal beef - albeit more fat than meat... After that we caught the first train home. (And then almost forgot to get off at our stop - that would've been an interesting situation).
So that's pretty much all that's happened in the past little while... The Cherry Blossoms are out in full bloom now, so we've gone to see those and try and weasel our way into a hanami party to no avail. Hanami parties are literally "flower viewing" parties - and they are taken quite seriously! People take off work or school to go picnic under the trees... We even saw one party that had caterers! Now that's hardcore.
Sorry for the length, I hope I haven't bored you all to death ;)
I guess it was a week ago now that Amy and I had dinner with our (former) Japanese instructor - I'd tell you his name but I can't remember. His last name translates to "Bath" in English - that's all I retained. Anyways, dinner was an interesting experience... We met him at his friend's restaurant (his "very famous" musician friend mind you - he's been on TV! NHK to be exact - the equivalent of TVO in Ontario, so yes, "very famous" in deed LOL). "Bath" had ordered all the food before we arrived (and we arrived 5 minutes early) so we were pummeled with plate after plate of yakitori (basically a kebob). It wasn't that the food was bad (although some of it was) it was just that a person can only eat so much meat in one sitting - By the end all I really felt like was a nice, crisp, green salad but that just wasn't in the cards. We kept telling him that we were full but he either A) didn't hear us, B) didn't care, or C) didn't understand. I'm guessing it's a combination of the three. For an English teacher, he really doesn't know a whole lot. By the end of dinner Amy and I were both feeling pretty queasy.
The food is only half the story though... In addition to having already ordered all our food, "Bath" had also already ordered a bottle of wine for the table. I hate wine and Amy didn't want red. So Amy ordered a glass (or three) of white wine while I suffered through the red. (I hate wine by the way, but I had no choice but to drink it - my request for water was ignored/denied). After the wine we were informed that we had to try shochu - a southern Japanese liquor made from sweet potatoes. Now I've heard of shochu before and knew better than to actually try any, but when I tried telling "Bath" that I wasn't up for it and that I'm not much of a drinker (a tiny white lie) he either A) didn't hear me, B) didn't care, or C) didn't understand. Again, I'm betting on the combination. He promised us that it was a very weak drink and so after a lot of pushing on his part (and the fact that he already ordered it) we agreed to try - thinking that it would just be a small shot. But no, it wasn't. It came in a large glass mixed with water. I took one small sip and knew I'd never be able to finish the entire thing. Amy powered through her's and by the end she was ready to fall off her chair (it was about 8:00 at this point haha).
One of the highlights of the dinner was when the restaurant owner decided to come out and play us some tunes. We were informed (repeatedly) just how lucky we were for this honor. In all honestly the guy was pretty decent, but it was pretty funny watching his facial expressions as he did some renditions of classic Beatles songs. The owner's son, (also "famous") was invited out to sing us some songs as well. He chose some Eric Clapton songs. These guys are hitting up Nova Scotia soon, so if you're ever on the East Coast and need some entertainment...
By about 8:30 we were ready to leave, we finally got the One-Armed Bandit to stop ordering more food - after he ordered some rice balls. After promising us they were seafood-free, out they came sprinkled with dried shrimp flakes - yum! (Note: sarcasm) Instead of making a clean get away, Amy managed to get us into a little bit of a situation... All night "Bath" kept asking us the same questions over and over (I think in part due to his limited vocabulary), but one of these questions was what do we like to drink? ...Getting bored of answering the same way again and again, Amy decided to switch things up a bit and said "tequila". This was a big mistake. "Bath" just so happened to know a nice little tequila bar around the corner and insisted on taking us there. I protested that I don't drink tequila and that it makes me sick but he either A) didn't hear me, B) didn't care, or C) didn't understand. I was getting a bit annoyed at this point, but since I had to see him again the following Tuesday for my Japanese lesson me and Amy decided we couldn't just ditch him on the way there (a very tempting idea though).
So we get to the tequila bar after running to keep up with the 70 year old man leading the way and we all get a round of shots. I was hoping I could fly under the radar and try and order a glass of water - but no such luck. To cut a long story short, after finishing the shot we finally were able to break free of the One-Armed Bandit and take the bus home. We were almost conned into letting him "drive us home in a taxi" - whatever that meant? I was confused on whether he meant he'd pay for our taxi, or that he'd drive us home. Either way it didn't matter, we both just wanted out of there. All the repetitive questions all night and the ignoring of our requests to stop with all the food and disgusting drinks! At least the night makes a good story...
Other than that outing the past week has been pretty low-key. On Tuesday I had my Japanese lesson - it was pretty redundant and boring. I don't I'll be returning... I don't think I'm really learning all that much and it'd probably be best to find a good tutor or a more professional class. By "professional" I just mean one that isn't run by a bunch of bored, retired, Japanese men who really just want to learn English.
Wednesday, Amy and I went to a small town about an hour and a half away called Yufuin. We'd heard good things about it from our students so we thought we'd give it a go... The town turned out to be a bit of a bust - it was super cold and windy (a repeat of Usuki) but with the added pleasure of rain (luckily not until the end). We decided to take a horse carriage ride around the town. It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time... About 3 minutes into the ride we clued in that it was one horse pulling a huge carriage with 14 people in it! We felt so bad for the horse! ...I was half tempted to ask the driver to stop so we could get off. I really couldn't enjoy myself because all I could think about was the poor horse... We did stop at a temple and a shrine which were kinda cool though. We didn't stick around to do much else in Yufuin. We had lunch at a yakiniku restaurant (Korean BBQ), and somehow managed to order what looked to be beef intestines of some kind... The menu was completely in Japanese but there were drawings of cows, chickens, and fish by the appropriate dishes. We thought we were ordering a regular beef dish, but apparently not! After seeing our disgusted faces the waitress let us reorder and we had some relatively normal beef - albeit more fat than meat... After that we caught the first train home. (And then almost forgot to get off at our stop - that would've been an interesting situation).
So that's pretty much all that's happened in the past little while... The Cherry Blossoms are out in full bloom now, so we've gone to see those and try and weasel our way into a hanami party to no avail. Hanami parties are literally "flower viewing" parties - and they are taken quite seriously! People take off work or school to go picnic under the trees... We even saw one party that had caterers! Now that's hardcore.
Sorry for the length, I hope I haven't bored you all to death ;)
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