| Oct. 3rd, 2007 @ 01:27 pm A natsukashii-na memento |
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Ohisashiburi. I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore, but I may as well maintain it if I've had it for this long. Things have changed since my last post. New job, new city, new apartment, new people. Everything is new, new, new. It is overwhelming being out of my Hirosaki comfort zone.
Anyway, I came across this when I was trying to clear out my email inbox. It was attached to an email from my sister, and I had sent friends and family the following email three years ago. Another point for the pro side to maintain my packrat mentality - rediscovered memories... who wouldn't want that? ;p
And so it goes:
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I am nearing my 3 month mark in this weird and wonderful country. i have learned the following about myself, in no particular order:
1. i can say just as many stupid things in japan as i can in canada. i have had many "dim" moments where i blurt out the first thing that comes to my mind. i can only wonder what the other JETS think of me! i would call them blonde moments, but thats not very politically correct, plus, i have met a lot of smart women up here, who also happen to be blonde.
2. i CAN eat weird things and not feel sick. no, i haven't tried natto yet (yes, im planning to), which is supposed to be gross and foul-smelling fermented soybeans, but i have experienced the following:
-umeboshi (i think, a very sour plum/apricot thing, interesting, but i wouldn't eat it everyday- they like pickling everything here),
-this weird square dried cuttlefish candy thing, with cheese in the middle (WHY would you mix cheese and any sort of fish together? that's like mixing cheese and chocolate, which i am also very much against),
-this cookie, i don't know what it's called, but it looks like a chocolate cookie, kinda like an oreo without the cream, which is made of squid INK. yeah, it tasted weird, but i ate like 5 of them
-beef stomach, at a korean-style bbq place. people here don't seem to realize that the idea of yakiniku originally came from korea, and they think that ramen was made in japan as well. go figure.
that's all i can remember for now, food-wise.
3. oh yeah, and there is no limit to how much dark chocolate i can eat! the dark chocolate here is awesome! and so cheap! who would've thought that japanese chocolate would rival that of the european chocolate we're used to in north america?
4. i have a terrible sense of rhythm and coordination. i joined a hip-hop class, yes, hip-hop is taken very seriously here. i have seen at least 3 hip-hop clothing stores in hirosaki. and i suck! i can't seem to get the choreographed moves down, if it requires moving my arms AND my legs at the same time! i don't get it though, i usually have no problem dancing in clubs in vancouver... maybe it's the alcohol.
5. there are times when i still feel socially awkward, but my first instinct now is not to retreat, but just get over it. i can't believe it took moving to a whole other country to do that, but well, that's life, i guess. still there are times when i still feel shy, but beer really helps me relax :)
6. oh yeah, i'm drinking more beer now than ever before! i hated drinking beer back home, but since people drink it like water here, i've adapted. plus i didn't want to be the only one in the group ordering some girly drink. no beer gut, yet! hopefully that won't happen.
7. i've become adept at frying all kinds of food at home... tofu, vegetables, meat, even cheese (but the cheese here is weird, not at all like canadian cheese)... i can't be bothered to prepare food any other way, because i'm too lazy, although i did boil pasta to make spaghetti once, because you just can't fry pasta.
8. i like living on my own! it's nice having your own space! but i've discovered that it sucks cooking for one person, and shopping for one person. i have had to throw out a lot of food that's gone bad. i cannot hoard my food here like i can back home.
9. i kind of like teaching! officially, i'm an assistant language teacher at a high school, but sometimes i kind of get the feeling that the other teachers don't see the importance of my being here... i mean, i help as much as i can, but since i'm based at only one school, i end up with a lot of free time, because i'm not needed in all the classes. i'm working hard to make them see that i'm not someone they have to babysit and that i do take my job seriously, despite what past JETS may have done. but i like working with the kids, they're all first-years, which makes them about 16, and they're all generally sweet! i think they kind of see me as a peer, which is cool, so a lot of them call me by just my first name, (which they pronounce DEE-NAH, which is fine) i'm kind of uncomfortable with the title of "sensei" anyway.
10. i can procrastinate in japan just as well as i can back home! i've signed up for the japanese language proficiency test in december, but i haven't really studied! i know i only need to know 100 kanji, but they still look just like symbols to me... hopefully i can motivate myself to study soon.
well, that's 10 things... which is a nice round number to end at. there are a lot of other things i've learned, but i just can't remember them right now...
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This was written three years ago... how time flies... my newbie enthusiasm jumping off the page ;p It has made me realize how much I have changed, and how perhaps, how little I haven't. |
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