And She’s Got A Lot To Say

First of all…Mosquitoes!!!!  Ewwwwww!!  My legs and arms are dotted with little red bites from mosquitoes.  They love my foreign blood.  They come for me while I’m sleeping.  In order to keep from roasting to death at night, I’ve had to keep the porch door open.  Which lets mosquitoes in.  It’s either die from mosquito bites or from over heating.

I’m actually in a different living situation now.  But first I want to tell you about other stuff.

All last week I’ve been studying during the day and giving 2 hour private lessons during the evening.  The private lessons are a pretty sweet deal.  I get paid $15 an hour just to chat in English.  And I get all kinds of snacks and pop!!

As for the studying…..I’ve actually kind of figured out how to do it now.  I was really not quite so good at the whole studying thing last year, and that turned out to be quite a problem.  But I’ve got a whole system now and like…I’m doing really well.  It’s quite surprising actually.  I know all kinds of stuff about the brain and neurons and axons and agonists and synapses and its all quite interesting.  When I started writing my flash card for ‘terminal buttons’ I was so expecting something exciting like a button in your brain that instantly kills you if pressed, but they’re actually just little buttons that secrete neurotransmitters.

On Saturday I met up with the exchange students and Paul and went to a Kabuki play.  That was interesting and amusing on quite a few levels.  I can’t even describe to you how they talked in the play…it was horrifying and hilarious.  Kabuki is played by men only and the poor men playing female roles had the worst voices.  They tried to be feminine  but just sounded screechy.  It was a little too long to keep my interest though.  it was interesting at first but I was more than ready to go by the time it was over.

The next day I met up with Tamaki’s mother and little sister.  We went to Takarzuka to see the Takarazuka Revue.  The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female theater troupe.  They did waaaaay better than the kabuki boys.  I was actually quite shocked.  Some of them were able to make their voices sooooooo low!  It sounded a little awkward to me but it was still quite impressive.  The show was 3 HOURS long!!!  Are most plays that long??  Wow.  I was kind of surprised.  At the end of it they had an extra little show to show everyone off.  At one point they had a can-can line dance, which I thought was hilarious.  Whats the point of a line dance???

Well, let me tell you.  In order to be in the Takarazuka Revue, one must enter the Takarazuka School (I’m not sure exactly what its called).  At the end of the first year in the school the teachers decide who will play the male roles and who will play the female roles.   The male roles are actually quite competitive as only the ‘otoko-yaku’ are able to become top star and generally get more fans.  During the second year, the male roles cut their hair and start use the male form of speech, while female roles are taught to be hyper feminine, in order to emphasize the masculinity of the ‘otoko-yaku’.  Graduation takes place at the end of the second year where they all go on to learn a complicated line dance that takes 6 hours a day for one month to learn.  When they have mastered this dance, they perform at the end of a show and are formally initiated into the Revue.

….and at the very end of the show they all descended from this huge flashing stair case and the male lead role came down last with a huge vegas-girl feather attachment on the back of her tuxedo.  And no I’m not kidding.

The next day I moved into my new host families house!  It’s awkward.  With my real host mom, we are able to communicate with each other very well.  I’m comfortable with her and she’s comfortable with me…so nobody treats anybody else very specially.  But at my new host family I’m the new pet foreigner.  And I can’t do anything for my self and they keep wanting to buy me food and they constantly are worried and its not that comfortable for me.  I just want to be left alone more.  My host mom knows that I can take care of myself and she doesn’t bother about me..but these new people are worried about every little thing.  I’m treated very much like a guest.

Today they spent an absurd amount of money on a kimono photo session for me.

I actually really like the people…especially the grandma.  They’re just hard to live with.  Before when I visited them all the time to give them English lessons, I really enjoyed talking with them…and it was fun to go out with them with my host mom.  But I just kind of wish they didn’t treat me so special.  But oh well, it’s only for one week.

And…….it’s nap time.

This isn’t surprising.

I should have known better than to trust OGSHS or Paul.

They’ve screwed me over again.  Not did Paul lie to me about actually having a job for me to do here.  The school people never wanted me to come in the first place.

And now…I’m being used as a scapegoat for an exchange students mistake to justify making me leave.

When I first got here Paul expressed some concern about one of the exchange students not fitting in very well or making friends very easily.  And he asked me to spend some time with her.  So I did…and God forbid…we actually became pretty good friends.

Now I am being blamed for her getting home too late, missing school, not fitting in very well with the other exchange students, and not making friends with Japanese students.  And I’ve done nothing but cause disorder since I got here.  Does that sound a little ridiculous to anyone else?

She miscommunicated with her host family…which is something that is bound to happen more than once when you are living with a family who doesn’t speak the same language as you.  And apparently…its all my fault.  Not only is it my fault…its sooo bad of thing that they have actually threatened to have the school security guard from allowing me to enter the school.  What????  I didn’t do anything!!!!!

I don’t understand these people.  Either time I’ve been here, they’ve done nothing but disrespect me.  If they really didn’t want me to come…why didn’t they just tell me??  Why do they have to make me go through all of this?  And its worse…they aren’t treating me like an adult..or even like a student…they’re treating me like I’m so low of a person that they can’t even bother to tell me any of this themselves.  They emailed Paul and said all of this about me.

I went to confront the person who wrote the mail…and he wouldn’t even look me in the face.  He ignored me and left.  Can you believe that?  I do not get it at all.  What is wrong with these people?????

And seriously…none of the international students while I was there made any Japanese friends.  Did they care then??  No.  Did they care if we missed school?? No.  I missed about 24 days of school in the 6 months I was student there…and they didn’t care at all.  They never even asked me about it.  What is the deal?

I can only say that these people are seriously messed up…and apparently care nothing for anyone but them-japanesey-selves.  And I’m very upset about this.

I’m really upset that I wasted my time at the school.  I’m very happy that I came to Japan this summer, because I have had fun and made some friends.  But going to the school was absolutely pointless.  I have barely been paid anything, and they refuse to treat me like an actual human being.

On a happier note I made supper for my host family the other night.  And I completely made something up…and it was absolutely delicious.  I made mac and cheese and then fried up some hamburger and egg…mixed it with the mac and cheese and some ketchup.  It was sooo yummmy.  And it was a good thing I made a lot because she had to take some for all of her friends to try too.  Lol.

And I made jello today.  Jello is yummy.

I’m also going to a Takarazuka play in a week.  I am sooooo excited.  Takarazuka is a really famous all-women theater troupe in Osaka.  Those who saw the last season of the Amazing Race will remember the check-point greeter at the Japan leg of the race was a woman dressed up in a pretty elaborate man-costume.  That lady was a Takarazuka performer.

The other day I was in the Takarazuka area to teach a little kids English lesson (sooooo much better than high school lessons) and on the train ride home I saw two girls who were students at the Takarazuka Academy.  I got really excited and wanted to go one of the plays sooo badly.  So Tamaki’s mother is taking me to one.  And also….the day before the play I get to go to Kabuki!  Fun!

What Norah Jones and I have in Common.

We both got inked at Chopstick Tattoo!

Yup yup…I got a tattoo.  Actually I got two tattoos.  One on each arm.  I really like how they turned out.

Tattooing is quite uncomfortable.  Yes, it hurt.  But it really wasn’t that bad.  What I found the most uncomfortable was laying on the table with my arm stretched out.  My leg fell asleep and my hands felt all tingly and unhappy.  The actual tattooing was less painful than piercing…but went on for much longer.  The area near my arm pits was the only place that made me squirm, though.  Otherwise a straight face was totally manageable.  It took 2 1/2 hours.

Don’t I look excited??  No tattooing has occurred yet.  Before I got on the table the outline of the tattoo was stenciled onto my arm.  My hands were very uncomfortable hanging off of the table like that.  Next….The tattooing begins!

The red stuff is ink, not blood.  Though there was blood.  Tamaki couldn’t see it though, because it oozed out in small amounts and he wiped it up with the excess ink.

At this point Tamaki got bored and took off.

So this was all I could take pictures of.

And they’re done!  I know they look huge…but they are easily hidden by a shirt sleeve.  I think that blond in my hair needs to go.

Here’s critter number one.

And here’s critter number two.

They’re starting to scab over now…and it takes a few weeks for the skin to get back to normal.  Right now they are very tender.  It feels like a really hard core sunburn.

I’m very unhappy with my current living situation.  It is toooo far away from everything.  It takes me at least two hours to get anywhere.  Thats expensive.  I haven’t gone to school very much because I want to save money.  But that means I can’t make money.  So tomorrow I’m going to make another at least two hour journey to entertain some old ladies, and then talk to some kindergartners about the differences between America and Japan.  They’re gonna pay my transportation and give me 10,000 yen    Money!!!

Let’s Save 90 Yen.

I walked from the school to Hirano station yesterday.  It’s quite a ways.  It’s definitely not practical.  But I saved a whole 90 yen on a train ticket.  And since I don’t usually have anything to do after school anyways, I may do it everyday.

I didn’t have school today though.  And it hasn’t been very fun.  I slept in until about 1pm.  I’m really not sure how that happened.  Tamaki was supposed to wake me up around 10, so we could to McDonald’s together for breakfast.  If she did try to wake me, I don’t remember it.

I guess I have been pretty tired from the last few days and just needed a good sleep to make up for it.

I went for another long walk today.  This part of Japan is a bit different than the part I’m used to.  Just a few minutes off of a main road I was walking along a tiny paved path through a pretty good size rice field. I forgot my camera though, and so got bored pretty quickly.  When I got home I stayed in bed and watched episodes of House on my laptop.

Tomorrow I’ll be going back to school.  I’m not a big fan of school.  At least not that one.  Being a student there was a joke and being a teacher there is a joke.  These kids don’t know any English and they’ll never learn any in that class.  We basically give them a sheet with either song lyrics or a script in English and they have to be able to read it for some points.  Technically they are supposed to memorize it during the class period and say it without looking at the paper.  But they can’t.  They put the paper up to the light and read it through the back.  Do they really think I’m stupid enough to not notice that?  Please.

So these kids don’t learn anything and they get points for doing nothing.  The school will pass them no matter how bad they do, because this school isn’t about the students, it’s about the school.  Paul says it’s probably going to close in a few years. Good.

I can’t wait for the weekend!  I want to play!

How I Came to Spend the Night at a Love Hotel

Japanese families don’t typically have a lot of privacy.  This is why I believe for them, Love Hotels are a necessity.  They also turned out to be a necessity for me and my friends Saturday night.

Osaka is a pretty good sized city.  And therefore has a pretty good sized gay district.  Since Grand Forks has no gay district, I decided to take advantage of this while I can.  The first Saturday night I was here, I went to a small lesbian bar with a couple of the current International students at my school.  It went very well.  We all had a good time and really enjoyed meeting and chatting with the Japanese women.  A few of them promised to meet us again this Saturday.

So return we did indeed!  With plans, this time, to stay out all night.  We met up with one of our old friends from the previous Saturday, and I especially made friends with her.  The other foreign girls charmed a new lady, who came to the bar that night because someone had told her that we were coming.  She invited to us to anther place, that was having a 2nd year anniversary celebration.

Some of you know that I’ve been talking online a little to a girl whose webcomic I read, Nena.  I had discovered that she was heading to Osaka for a semester of college.  So I talked to her on msn about Japan-y things.  We totally randomly ran into each other at the new bar!  It was very exciting..we had not planned to meet or anything.  I was really excited to meet her, and there were lots of new Japanese ladies to talk to at this bar.  And they were all especially festive because of the anniversary celebration.

This is where things took an unfortunate turn.  One of the girls got scary drunk.  She started flopping around in her seat..so I went over and held her up, and when she told me she needed to puke, I took her into the bathroom and stayed with her.  And then…another of our girls started throwing up.  They were both flopping around in this bar and throwing up and I was like, Oh no…I have to get these girls out of here right now.

Fortunately, out of our group, I had another sane girl with me, and Nena a few of the Japanese girls helped us carry them across the street to a love hotel.  That hotel was full, so one of the Japanese girls ran to a nearby Karaoke place and tried to get us a room.  They assisted us in carrying the girls through the pouring rain to the karaoke place where they left us.  The karaoke place quickly decided it didn’t want two puking foreign drunkards in it…so they asked us to leave.

So now, it’s just the two of us, hauling these passed out drunk girls through the streets trying to find a love hotel with a free room.  There were no free rooms!  We went soooo far through the rainy streets from love hotel to love hotel, losing our umbrellas and a drunk girls shoe in the process.  To top it all off they would puke on us whenever we entered a hotel.  We finally found the last free room in the city at the Hotel Candy Box.  It was a double room, so the lady would only let us get the two of them settled before going back to the streets.

After we left them we didn’t really know what to do.  Sam was hungry but we didn’t really want to go very far to find a place to eat.  I wanted to go back to the bar, but we were both extremely exhausted by this point.  So we decided to find a place to crash ourselves.  But as I said…the love hotels were full up that night.  We ended up sneaking back into the girls room.  And it was a good thing we did, because they required some more looking after.   The two of us both got to take showers and brush our teeth and be amused by things in the room.  They gave us two little baggies full of goodies when we checked in.  Things you would expect to get in a love hotel..such as condoms…and some things that were just like ‘huh?’..such as hair clips.  There were also a few snacks with interesting illustrations on them.

There was a convenient hairdryer which I used to dry clothes and sheets.  They had all kinds of lotion and shampoo and conditioner and bath salts and a really nice sponge.  There were dimming lights and a karaoke machine.  And bath robes!!!  Which I stole for a souvenir.

When we left in the morning…we totally got in trouble by the hotel lady.  She figured out that we snuck back in.  And she was not pleased.  She started yelling at us and I had no idea what she was saying, and the girl I was with pretended like she had no idea what she was saying.  In the end she got tired of us and said that we could go, but we weren’t allowed to return to the room!

After that we went back along the path of our journey looking for things we may have dropped.  Didn’t find anything.  One of the girls was still really sick, and she threw up a few more times as she trudged back to the station in one shoe.  I had to leave them there because I was due to move to Tamaki’s house.

That is where I am now.  I didn’t make it in to school today, because I’m too sore and too sleepy from a rough night.  Last night I was kept up by a mosquito determined to have its way with me.  I have bites all over my hands.  I’m also all bruised and chaffed from my night in the pouring rain.  I was wearing jeans ok…and when jeans get wet…and you have to walk long distances in them…its not good.  Nope.

It was a really stupid thing for them to do.  If your gonna drink…at least have sense enough not to get to that point.  Its embarrassing for yourself…and its just plan unfair to the people who have to take care of you.

But I did enjoy myself a bit.  It was really cool meeting Nena in real life..especially since it was so random.  And I made a Japanese friend whose number and email I now have.  And everybody involved in the situation got to see how cool me and Sam are with our amazing drunkard-care capabilities.

And I got to stay in a love hotel!!!!

The Medicine did it this Time.

There is something Japanese-y.  Moments in my day where I get the Japanese-y feeling.  Moments where I think…’Only in Japan.’  You can’t really understand the Japanese-y feeling unless you’ve been here, and have experienced it first-hand.  It’s a quirky-ness.  A quirky Japanese-y feeling.

Today it was the medicine.  I coughed like you wouldn’t believe last night, and Tamaki’s mama got worried.  I refused the need of medicine, knowing that this was probably the last day of my cold anyways.  But Tamaki’s mama wouldn’t allow it.  She got me some medicine.  And as soon as we exited the store and got in the car…that medicine was down my throat, as she commanded.

The first type of medicine was an instant shot of liquid genki, of cold-fighting energy.  It tasted sweet.  It comes in packs of three, so I still have two shots of genki, to be taken when I’m feeling poorly.  The second type of medicine is in pill form.  They look like white M & M’s, and taste like them as well.  They’re to be taken 3 at a time after every meal, until I’m back to normal.

The medicine gave me the quirky Japanese-y feeling.  Only in Japan would medicine taste like candy.  And look like candy.  It didn’t feel right.  How could something that doesn’t taste as medicinal as licorice-y Nyquil, possibly make me feel better?  But…I’ve never experienced such relief because of medicine.  My cough has disappeared, my nose is no longer running.  You wouldn’t believe that this afternoon I was hacking away and constantly blowing my nose.  I feel as good as new!  Why don’t medicines in America work this well?

The sweet tasting miracle drugs.  The brown one is to be drunk straight from the bottle.  The white is full of little M & M shaped pills.

Packets of tissue, taken out of a cell phone store.  Essential for runny noses and train station bathrooms.

I got a cell phone today.  What I’m paying for 62 minutes of call time a month is a bit unreasonable.  But cell phones are essential to a social life in Japan.  To get around unnecessarily complicated rules, Tamaki’s mama sacrificed her cell phone for my usage.  I still don’t understand why I didn’t get the shiny new free cell phone.  She keeps her plan and gets a new phone, I get her old phone and get a new plan.  I don’t understand.  I was definitely hoping for a non-pink phone.  Oh well, somethings you just have count up to Japanese-y quirkiness.

I totally used school to justify my purchasing these sheep-shaped flash cards.

We have been converted.

I finally found a plug adapter for my laptop.

They didn’t have any at Midori Denki.  But last night I went to Umeda with some of the current International students.  There is a massive electronics…and everything else store there.  I found one in the suitcase department.  So now I have a laptop.  And I can blog!!!

I don’t like teaching English all that much.  Thats all I have to say about that.

I have a bad cold.  A sore throat and a runny nose.  Its no fun at all!  Why do I have to be sick in Japan??  I want to play!

Well…it hasn’t really stopped me from playing.  I went out last night and I didn’t make it back home until around 5:30 am.  The trains stop at midnight and I missed the last one to my home.  Fortunately I had a friends place to stay at while I waited for the trains to start up again.

I’m feeling to sick and uninterested to talk about anything else today.  Someday though, Someday.

Nothing Changed.

I’m back in Japan!  Everything is exactly like I remember it.

The journey was difficult….as air travel usually is.  My first flight didn’t leave Bismarck until about 9:50…my next flight was scheduled to leave at 10:18.  I didn’t make that one.  I did make the 11:20.  I had about 15 to run to the other side of the airport.  But I made it.  My luggage didn’t.  I have no idea where it is right now.  I’m in Japan…my luggage is…somewhere.  Its really not cool.  My clothes smell bad..like airplane and sweat.  But they are the only clothes I have!

I went to the school for my first lessons today.  I had 4.  I’m not very good at it yet.  Its hard to come up with things to talk about, and the kids are not very interested and definitely don’t help at all.  But it was sooo much fun to see all the teachers again.  They were excited to see me!

After school, I walked to Tennoji and bought a t-shirt, some underwear, and stuff.  Everything is exactly how I remember it.  It was very nostalgic, but not quite the same without the rest of the Internationals there.  I didn’t really meet the current Internationals….one of the teachers took me up to their room and I waved at them, but we didn’t talk.  Later.

I’m really surprised at how well I’m doing with speaking Japanese and getting around.  I feel like I’m doing better than when I left because I’m not terribly shy anymore.  I talked to my host mom for a long time last night…almost completely in Japanese.  It was awesome.  And as for the trains.  I was worried about them…but as soon as I got to the station I remember everything.  I had no problem getting home from the airport…and I had no problem getting to school this morning.  I’m so happy to be back….it’s awesome.

I don’t work at the school tomorrow.  So I’m heading into Umeda for some private lessons….and Paul says they’ll feed us lunch!  Right now I’m enjoying some of my favorite Japanese snacks  Milk Tea and Consomme flavored Potato chips.

I’m a happy, smelly, girl!

That made me LOL outloud

So today was the last day of my freshman year of college.  I screwed up a lot… a lot, a lot.  But that was good for me.  I certainly learned a few lessons…the hard way.  And next year I’m going to do better.  There were some very very hard times for me this year, lonely times, not get out of bed times.  But thats all over now.  And there were some very good times too, things that I’d never experienced before, things about myself I didn’t know before.  The good and the bad times were all intertwined and some things that started out good ended up breaking my heart, and things that started out bad made me grow so much closer to those I really care about.

Would I change what happened?  Nope…I didn’t know before, and now I do.  That’s so worth it.

Moving out of my dorm this morning was intense.  How did I get all of that stuff?  I took a whole six tubs worth of stuff when I arrived in August.  Why did I need another six to get it all back?  Next year I’m only going to have half of a room to fill up (Roommate!!), so I’m definitely going to have to keep track of stuff accumulation.  I’ve never had a roommate before….much less live with 3 complete strangers.  I’m very excited.  I just hope they aren’t messy.  That would make me very sad.

I haven’t yet started packing for Japan.  I leave on Sunday morning.  Everything I want to take with me is randomly dispersed throughout the 12 tubs now stacked in the garage.  This is stressing me out a little bit.

This afternoon I sat at Tim and Candy’s house waiting for 4:45 to roll around so I could go pick up my check at PRACS.  I love Tim and Candy.  They are the nicest people ever.  And they gave me advice…and food…and Tim was totally my wing man that one night.  I’m definitely going to hang with them a lot more next year.  They weren’t there this afternoon though…..but Portia was.  I’ve worked my magic on that cat.  As soon as I sat down she was on my lap….purring away.

Then I drove home, got home, hugged the parents, showed my new hair to father-person, stared with bewilderment at the pile of stuff in the garage, cuddled the kitties, and now I’m blogging on my LOVELY red couch that somehow found its way into my bedroom a few weeks ago.

Tomorrow I’m packing.

Yeah toast.