I made it to Japan!

Saturday- I arrived at Kansai Airport and was met by Ryan, one of the trainers. We also met 2 other new teachers. Ryan had to put us on a train by ourselves because he was waiting for someone who had missed their connection in Korea. It was a little crazy because we didn't know where we were going and were immediately thrown into the wild of Japan (ok, we were still in the middle of Osaka). Someone finally met us and took us to the training center in Okayama. We tried to go to sleep, but because of jetlag we ended up staying awake for hours talking.

Sunday- One of the other trainers took us to a town called Kurashiki. It had a beautiful historical district with old houses and a canal. It's amazing sometimes to think that Japan ever looked like that, because now it is all neon signs and lights and people. We ate Okonomiyaki in Kurashiki (I love that stuff) and went to the Ohara Art Museum. The museum had pieces from Picasso, Monet, Manet, de Kooning, Chagall... I was really amazed at the diversity of the permanent exhibit for such a small museum. They also had an exhibit on Chinese buddhist sculptures which was amazing, because I studied them at school, but that was the closest I have ever been to pieces that old (they had more pieces than the Freer Sackler, but I suppose they are a little bit closer). We stopped by the 100 yen store on the way back (kindof like the dollar store). I also tried to manuver around the grocery store, but I think I just ended up confusing the people who worked there.

Monday- Another day off! We went to Okayama Jou (the castle in the town). The actual castle burned down during WWII but was rebuilt in 1966. We didn't go inside because it was expensive and the museum was all in Japanese. Instead we went to Korakuen Garden which is one of the top 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan (I'm not making that up on my own, it's written on the brochure). One of the other ones is Kenrokuen in Kanazawa and I went last time I was in Japan. The garden today was amazing. They had a crane sanctuary and beautiful little streams and bridges. When I am in places like that I wish that I could make all of the other tourists disappear and I could sit there on my own with no noise or human interference and just appreciate the place. But unfortunately they wouldn't kick everyone out just for me.

I:m still jetlagged from the trip, and it seems like everything is just flying past me and I'm not really absorbing any of it. I'm glad that I have been here before, because I think I would be incredibly overwhelmed if this was all totally new and foreign. I don't know how I ever managed before. My Japanese is coming back to me fairly quickly, and I am having a lot of opporunities to use it. I know more Japanese than most of the other teachers I am training with, which really surprised me. When I studied here last year, I knew less Japanese than the other people on the program. It is unusual for me to be the one trying to communciate.

Tomorrow the training begins and I have to admit that I am a little nervous. I only have 5 days of training before I have to start teaching and I worry that I will not learn all of the lesson plans in that amount of time. I suppose the one strong point is that I am actually an expert in what I am teaching just because I speak English fluently.

I read an editorial yesterday in which a man (I'm assuming an economist) argued in favor of privitizing the monetary system in our country. He actually thought that we should turn over the printing of money to a private company and that they should print money according to demand (money should be considered a commodity and allowed to be made according to how the free market dictates). I think that sounds incredibly ridiculous. People are constantly demanding more money, when would demand ever level off? Would we have to pay more for money because of the cost of making it? Wouldn't the people printing money just be able to print more to pay themselves? Although I don't always trust the federal government, after Enron I trust private companies even less. The whole thing sounded so illogical that I had to read the article twice just to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding something. But no, the economist was crazy.

I also went to see "Lost in Translation" yesterday with my grandmother. It was an incredible movie. I don't think I have ever seen an American movie that so acurately portrays the experience of being a foreigner in Japan (confusion, language mix-ups, frustration, etc). The movie was filmed in Japan and down to the subtle details was amazing. I'm not sure if I got more out of the movie for having been to Japan, but I could identify with a lot of things that happened to the main characters (of course I could also understand that Japanese that they couldn't). I also liked how the movie utilized slowness, people thinking, long drawn out silences, meaningful glances which was an interesting contrast to the scenary of Tokyo which is anything but silent and slow.

I leave tomorrow! I shouldn't be nervous, but new adventures always make me a little nervous because no matter how prepared I think I am, I'm not. I have no idea what the next year is going to be like, and I wouldn't really want to know, but I am still a little nervous.

So, only a week left!!!! The Japanese Consulate finally decided to cooperate and send me my Visa. I was getting a little nervous, but it all worked out and emergency trips to San Francisco were not necessary.

I've decided to be brave and have not gotten typhoid, yellow fever or meningitis shots. Those shots aren't necessary for Japan, but if I decide to go to Thailand or China (or the Philippines with Debbie) I could be taking my life in my hands. I got cavities filled yesterday and just couldn't stand the thought of another shot.

My future co-workers in Japan sent me a card to welcome me, which I thought was very nice. They are all fairly young and I think that working there is going to be a lot of fun. There are 7 Japanese women and a British guy. I'm sort of happy that I don't have to work with any Japanese men. Not that I don't like them, but I tend to not understand them (or their Japanese). The teacher that I am replacing sent me descriptions of all my classes and students. Saturdays I have 8 classes, Sunday through Tuesday I have 6 classes each day. None of my classes have more than 4 students though and most are only 45 minutes long. My youngest student is only 3 years old. My oldest student is... Well, I don't know, but she is the mother of one of my younger students. I'm a little nervous about the teaching part, but I am so excited. I'm happy that something I have wanted for awhile now is finally going to happen.