Finally, a blog update!
Today our ultra high-speed Internet was installed. It's a hundred megabytes/sec, or fifteen times faster than my family's Internet at home. Wowza. The Skype connection is pristine. Unfortunately the sad truth about Netflix is that it DOESN'T WORK here. Noooo!
But Internet is the least interesting part of life in Japan. The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of stress and craziness, but on Friday we signed our contracts! It felt like a true accomplishment after the extensive (physically and mentally exhausting) two week training period.
Kids training was sweaty, loud and shameless. We learned that prostituting white-board stars, yell-singing, and squealing excited congratulations (no "Tarzan English" allowed) constitutes only a fraction of the effort. The kids must be engaged at every moment, so while you’re organizing flash cards, trying to remember the rules to the next game (or completely blanking out), they have to be marching, touching their noses, or doing whatever distracting transitional activity you can think of. ECC equals fun. We're teaching our first real kid's lessons tomorrow, which are fifty minutes long (Mini Kids Classes, which are attended by 1.5-3 year olds and a parent, are basically 30 minutes of singing). I feel prepared and actually excited- working with kids (not twenty-something man children) will be fun! The intense training truly prepared us, so the stress and hard work was worth it.
Adult lessons, or free time lessons, are another story. They are fifty minutes and usually comprise one to three students. Basically the teacher leads a discussion in English and works with text books. I'm excited to meet and converse with Japanese people my age- we've heard that you make a lot of friends through these lessons.
Now that training is complete, our work schedules allot us much free time (Monday through Fridays we work from about 3:30-9:30 pm). Thus with the start of winter break comes the start of Japanese lessons! Being "Gaijin" (we get a lot of stares and free stuff) who speak none of the language complicates interacting with actual Japanese people, which is what we came to do. We've been cooped up in ECC's training headquarters with British, Australians, Canadians and other Americans, and we're ready to make some Japanese friends! Young people are always friendly here. The other night we were at Red Spice, the bar next door, and tried to converse with a young guy we met (faces stuffed pathetically into our phrase-book). He kept telling me that my Japanese was "very good!" Note: My Japanese absolutely sucks. This is an example of the culture's flattering and humble tendencies.
The Japanese are people I want to get to know. After observing a private lesson last week with the sweetest middle aged woman in the world (I just sat there, smiled, and did absolutely nothing), she gave me a beautiful wooden heart charm and thanked me profusely. The owner of the market below us gave us a pot of white flowers. Japanese culture loves gift-giving (so we're not that special), especially during this time of year. New Years in Japan is a big deal. It's very family-focused, unlike Christmas (which is celebrated commercially as a couple's holiday without religious implications) and families visit temples to ring bells, a tradition which symbolizes the releasing of sins.
I just realized that I need to back-track a holiday. Our "Thanksgiving" was celebrated four days late at the Italian restaurant, “Il Cuorare,” directly below us. Directly below us means its ceiling is our floor. We were a bit cautious of Japanese Italian (rumored to comprise a funky blend of both) but were pleasantly surprised. The owner and his wife spoke no English or Italian (we were hoping for a menu in one or the other) so presented us with their cookbook. We pointed and received tasty Spaghetti alla Bolognese and a type of Pasta Primavera. An interesting side of Mozzarella rice balls dipped in Marinara appeared after our appetizer of Bruschetta. Overall, the meal was impressive and the couple was very nice and laughed at our phrase-book. People love checkin' out our phrase-book! We plan to return for Christmas, figuring we've found a good Italian restaurant run by our nice neighbors and we should stick to it.
On a different note, our apartment is coming together nicely. The every-day essentials, some whose purchases were delayed for a while, have slowly appeared on our shelves. Yesterday was a land-mark because I found My Mug. I've been looking for My Mug for weeks. Everything in Japan is small, so finding it took a while. Now every morning I can enjoy a tall cup of coffee that doesn't need refilling every three minutes. Last weekend we bought a few more shelves, some plants (we still need the Big Tall Green Plant) and a godly electric tea kettle. I love our apartment, the balcony, and our deep bath tub (that is basically a hot tub because it reheats itself!!). The fruit and veggie market, operational seven days a week, is a step out the door and cheaper than the supermarkets. I think we we've been very fortunate.
Now that we have real Internet access and don't have to type on miniscule iPhone keyboards, I will be blogging and keeping in better touch with America. I love hearing from family and friends and compulsively check my e-mail. I know Stephen does, too. Speaking of Stephen, today is our two year anniversary! He made us chicken curry and friend rice for dinner, and we've spent the day reading and lounging around. After the crazy past couple weeks we're happy to just relax. This weekend has been fairly low-key with a late night ice-cream jaunt, market-going with our friend, a bar stop for cheap Guinness (only 620 yen), and grocery shopping (which is undeniably still extremely exciting). We actually bought a bottle of Merlot (the "safest" option) with our friend for 1000 yen (roughly ten dollars). It was....... "awarded the Japan medal." Sake is the way to go!
Love you all and thanks for reading!
Claire