Endgame

I started this draft on June 30, but I'm writing it write now on July 5th, which is July 4th in the US! So, Happy Independence Day!

June was a packed month, as you have read in earlier posts. Like, check out this barbecue we had the other day. Friggin' fantastic.

BBQing

Doesn't that look so delicious?

July will be even more packed.

In the first week, I've been preparing for the move back home. Things I need to do:

- Pack stuff
- Ship stuff
- Sell stuff
- Pack/ship my sword (this might be a bigger obstacle than just winter clothes)
- Sell my car
- Prepare for the martial arts workshop that I'll hold for the Miyagi Art & Talent Show
- Write "goodbye speeches" for my schools and going-away parties
- Go to Leaver's Party at Oshima Island this weekend
- Buy a bunch of chocolate for Mom
- Juggle those responsibilities with work and social life
- Enjoy the last of my days in Japan

I have a bunch of video games. Brother suggested that I ship them back, but I'm afraid something might happen to them on the way. So he suggested that I get a CD binder and put all the discs in there while I ship the game boxes. That way, if I lose the boxes, I at least still have the games. Suddenly, I wish I had all of that data in "The Cloud." Thankful for PSN. I'll do as he suggested, and carry the CD binder with me as carry-on. Or, I could pack it in my suitcase. Either way, they're comin' with me!

The martial arts workshop next weekend is something that I'm pretty excited about. We're still working out the schedule, but I intend to have some Kenpo Karate, board breaking, and Filipino Escrima in there. Unfortunately, the small budget won't allow for real escrima sticks made out of rattan, but I will try to make some out of bamboo poles. The hard part will be deciding exactly what things to go over. If I only have 45 minutes, that's 15 minutes for each section. Perhaps martial arts basics, self defense, escrima drills, disarms, then board breaking. Maybe a brief introduction of history or personal background.

2 meter bamboo pole for $0.68!

At some point, I'm actually considering writing a full-fledged book (or blog) that comprises all of my martial knowledge. Then add to it as I gain more experience. You might have seen a short film that I helped an aspiring filmmaker with back in the day. Since it was for a class project, the director experimented with various filming and editing styles. I wish we could re-create the film, as she and I have both grown a lot since then, and I think a new project would better reflect our experiences.

Last year, I helped out on the English translation for a soy sauce spray bottle product. And here it is!

Just spray it on your food. Yum!

Anyway, first thing's first. Gotta write up something for my car!

Word of the Day: 研修会　「けんしゅうかい」　"kenshuukai" or "training workshop."

The Decision

Back in the fall/early winter, I was approached by my supervisor about whether or not I wanted to renew my contract for another year. If I said yes, I would have been the first ALT to stay for longer than three years in this town. I was very happy to hear this offer, as that meant that they wanted me to stay and because I had been enjoying life here so much that I wouldn't mind extending my stay even longer.

So I had to weigh my options.

The plan was (and currently still is) to apply to medical schools this summer, with matriculation into medical school a year later, in the Fall of 2014. If I stayed on the JET Program for a fourth year, timing would be perfect: completion of the fourth year would coincide with the start/orientation for medical school. I would also be making the most out of my new iPhone 5 contract (which I started in October) and my syaken car inspection, which lasts for two years (and is currently being done).

My life in Japan is super fun; everyday is like an adventure. My Japanese language skills have increased dramatically since I first arrived, and even back then, they weren't too bad. Can I read a Japanese newspaper? No. Can I read Japanese manga (comics)? Yes. Well, for the most part. If I come across a word/kanji I don't know (which is often), I have my trusty "Imiwa?" app to help me. Can I watch a Japanese movie or anime? Yes, unless it's filled with jargon I don't know; but I understand at least the basic gist. What I can't do quite yet, though, is enjoy a Japanese video game that has lots of important or detailed story elements like Metal Gear Rising. I had been waiting for that game for months, and finally when it was released, I went and bought it. And most PS3 games have multiple language data on the disk, so as long as my PS3 is set to "English," the game will be, too. But noooooooooooooo, Konami decided to separate the language data between versions of the game. My theory is that because the game was released on PS3 and XBox360, Microsoft demanded that the content on the disks be exactly the same; and with a smaller capacity disk that XBox360 uses, it's likely that there are no options for multiple languages on them. Anyway, point is, I was super disappointed, and my language and kanji skills don't suffice to enjoy the conversation-heavy game to the extent that I'd like. I digress...

If I stayed in Japan longer, perhaps I could get to that point. I would need to buckle down and start learning and memorizing new vocabulary, new kanji, perhaps new grammar points. Well, at some point, I'd like to get to it. Staying in Japan would also allow me to have more opportunities to do things I haven't done yet, such as: racing up and down the mountain roads Initial D-style in Gunma Prefecture, feeding the deer in Nara, checking out Himeji Castle, exploring the beautiful shrines and temples in Nikko, climbing Mt. Fuji, or practicing some karate in Okinawa. But staying in Japan on JET for a fourth year creates a glaring problem when it comes to...

...Medical school interviews. The plan is to apply during this application cycle. That means taking the MCAT soon (April!), submitting the application materials in June, and doing interviews in the fall/winter. The problem is that I don't know when the schools would want to interview. And if I were in Japan, I would have to purchase an international round trip plane ticket to go and interview. And I would have to purchase another ticket for another interview at a different school. And again for another. That would get quite expensive. Plus, I wouldn't have the vacation days to be able to call off work so many times, and it would be a huge inconvenience to both my coworkers and my students. In theory, I could try to schedule all of my interviews at the same time/week/month, or better yet, during the holidays when I could be home. But that would force the application committee (and me) to wait. That would be no different from prolonging the application itself, and if I learned anything from past applications, it's that timing is everything. The earlier, the better.

So, I must come home! That means a lot of things. It sucks because now I know that the limits are set. I've always known that my time in Japan with the JET Program would be limited, but somehow it's sobering to know exactly when I have to go. Kinda sucks. But hey, at least I know exactly how much time I have left, and I could plan it to use the time wisely, right?

Lately, I've been doing a lot of MCAT review. So a lot of my time is spent with my head in the books. Well, book. Speaking of which, I still gotta finish today's review!

Word of the Day: 選択　「せんたく」　"sentaku," which means "selection," "choice," or "option."

The December Issue

Unfortunately, I didn't start any blogs in the middle of December and save it for later like I did the November ones. Except for this one, on December 31st, minutes before the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. So I'll use this space here to summarize my December activities.

December is a wonderful month; my favorite month of the year. In December are my favorite holiday, long breaks from school or work, a festive atmosphere, shopping sales at nearly every store, opportunities to spend time with friends and family, and my birthday. There are many reasons to love December. But also many reasons to dislike it: it's probably the most expensive month, it has the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice), and it's when the cold really starts kicking in. But I like to think the good outweighs the bad, so I still like it. Maybe that's the optimist in me speaking.

Anyway, the month was really fun! For my birthday, some of my coworkers and I went out to Sendai to a really nice restaurant. We ate amazingly delicious food, and they surprised me with a cake! Everyone in the restaurant clapped for me; it was so nice. ^_^ I was surprised to see American-style sushi rolls there, as well. You know, the kind that has the rice outside the seaweed wrapper rather than inside. Because the rice is outside, the roll is usually larger, so you can fit more ingredients in it. Traditional Japanese sushi rolls usually only have one ingredient. The following week, another friend took me out to Sendai (near the nice restaurant) to a cozy American-style diner/deli. The specialty? Burgers. I happily feasted on a large burger and onion rings. And a milk shake. Rock on.

While in Sendai, I saw "光のページェント", or "Pageant of Light." A street in Sendai gets all of its trees completely lit up with white Christmas lights. Looks beautiful! I'll post a picture in an update.

The first snowfall occurred! Not too different from the US. But the scenery is different. Again, pictures later.

A friend and I stuffed ourselves at a kaitenzushi place. 13 plates each! That's 27 pieces (one tray had 3 rather than 2), and a bowl of soup! Insanity.

A co-worker invited me to his house to have lunch. I happily accepted of course! He is the youngest employee at the Junior High. The funny thing is that he had actually invited me over in November, but he never set a date, so I just let it slide until he brought it up again. Sometime earlier in December, he mentioned that his sister kept asking when I was going to come over; I had forgotten that one of my students was his sister. O.o Anyway, when I finally came over, his mother had prepared a wonderful lunch, with which I stuffed myself silly. We played some Mario on their Wii, then went outside to play catch. It had been years since I had last thrown a ball, but despite my lack of practice, it was still really fun. His sister had a wicked throw. (She's on the baseball team!) His other sister couldn't catch (or throw) very well, but it was still fun. Their family gave me quite a bit of food to take home; yummy, delicious, homemade Japanese food. I am drooling just thinking about it.

So in December, because it is the end of the year, there are many "End of the Year Parties," known as 忘年会　「ぼうねんかい」 "bounenkai." Literally, it means "forget year meeting." So I guess you're supposed to party all night and drink until you forget all the bad things that happened that year? Or maybe it's a party so you don't forget? Anyway, every school and every organization and every company seems to hold one. Being involved with so many groups here, I was of course invited to a bunch, but unfortunately due to lack of funds, I could only attend...four, or so.

The first was a very small, private party, with the same people who threw me a birthday party, plus one more person. It was mad fun, and we held it at a restaurant in Sendai that Shoe and I have grown to love (and frequent recently). The next one was held by an international organization in a neighboring town, where I met new friends and ate yummy home-made food. There was so much there that I took food home to last me a couple days!

The biggest 忘年会 that I went to was held by the junior high school. We went to Naruko Onsen, which is a city in the north famous for its hot springs! Naturally, we stayed overnight to eat, drink, and bath in the hot springs. And let me tell you, that water is damn hot. For some reason, even though I was born in the tropics, my body has a tendency to be able to handle colder temperatures much better than hotter temperatures. In any case, I still took a dip, in both the inside bath and the outside bath. The outside bath was amaaaaaaaaazing. Unfortunately, it was so windy, that the steam that rose from the hot bath was quickly blown away. But for the moments that it lingered, it had a wonderful atmosphere. Minus the sulfuric smell of the natural hot spring. And the naked old men.

After the 忘年会 were all over, my vacation started! Winter break was a BLAST. My girlfriend came up from Kyoto to visit me, and seeing her always makes me happy. We did some shopping in Sendai, where she got a vest, and where I had purchased a vest just a couple weeks earlier. We also checked out Sendai's 光のページェント, this time, walking down the entire street rather than driving through it.

Christmas was a good time. My girlfriend got me a much-needed soft, beautiful scarf, and I got her many socks and stockings. And an iPod case. And Utada Hikaru's new album. And a cute leather papillon keychain. And something else, I think, but I can't recall it at the moment. Oh, right, a Christmas Cake for us to share. This brings me to a side note.

For some reason, Christmas is really improperly/incorrectly represented in Japan; it's extremely misunderstood. I thought it was bad enough in the US, but I've grown to accept its commercialization, mainly because I enjoy the atmosphere, the "Santa side," and because I'm not religious. But Japan. Oh, Japan. According to my friend Ken, Christmas in Japan is about love. But not the way it is in the US, where it's about the love shared between families and friends; no, here in Japan, it's about the love between couples, not unlike Valentine's Day. And on Christmas in Japan, the dinner usually includes a big chicken dinner from KFC (lol) and a Christmas Cake. Now conveniently, this way of celebration worked out for my girlfriend and me, where none of our family members are in Japan, so it was best to spend it with one another. But rather than grab KFC, my girlfriend wanted to cook dinner for me.

And boy did she prepare a feast! It included home-made karaage chicken, her specialty home-made macaroni and cheese, and fresh broccoli and asparagus. My contribution was a tray of appetizers, the cake, and a bottle of chardonnay. I have to emphasize "home-made" with my girlfriend's dishes, because it was a much larger endeavor than the easy Kraft Mac 'n Cheese or preparing fried chicken.

Later that evening, we watched Elf. Good times. Later than week, we watched that wretched Tekken movie. And I thought Dragonball: Evolution was bad. Well, okay, both movies are just as bad as the other. Any of the Street Fighter movies can be thrown in with that pile of worthless crap. So, to get enjoyment from the movie? My girlfriend and I turned it into a drinking game: take a drink whenever something non-canonical or nonsensical comes up. I was actually starting to run out of drink, so we had to slow it down (haha).

My friend Nana-chan came to visit before the end of the year. So the three of us had lots of fun, spending time with my friend Shoe or Ken, going to various places to shop, watching tons of movies, going out to karaoke, and even taking a dip in the local onsen for the first time! On New Year's Eve, we went to Shiogama Shrine, which sits at the top of a 220-step staircase, and with hundreds (thousands?) of Japanese people, we participated in the annual bowing and prayers during this time. I was happy to do so. I also bought a couple charms; one for health, and one that was in the shape of a giant arrow. I didn't know charms could be so bad-ass.

December 31: I am at Shiogama Shrine to check out how the New Year celebration is done in Japan!

Phrase of the day: 良いお年を！ 「よいおとしを！」 "Yoi otoshi wo!" It's a phrase said at the end of the year, which literally means, "(Have) a good year!"

Party, Dance, Sing, Drive, Teach!

Ohisashiburi desu ne! It's been a while! So much time has passed since my last post that I'm kind of ashamed of myself. Okay, well, not really, but I do feel bad that so much has happened without me updating you. Ideally, I wish I could have posted every day or every other day, but since that didn't happen, I'll do my best to fill you all in!

The last major thing that happened with the Miyagi JET community was a welcome party. A welcome party in Japan entails lots of beer, drinking food (think appetizers or tapas), and lots of socializing. It was great fun! I got to meet up with friends I had met at orientation again, as well as make new friends nearby. Before the party, there was also a little walking tour around a strip-mall area near Sendai Station. There, I saw a Subway, McDonald's, and a Mister Donut. And even a giant Pikachu. Now, some people seem to think that Mister Donut is a Japanese company. This is not true. It just happens to be very active in Japan, the Philippines, and other Asian countries. Now, technically, the Mister Donut in Japan is managed by a Japanese company, but that just means they have the right to franchise it from the American base company.


Anyway, following the epic kanpai's and festivities, the parties continued at karaoke bars. We had to split up into smaller groups because no bar would have a room to fit 60 of us. Plus, that gave people the opportunity to sing more songs. The first song I sang was a Japanese song by the Korean Group Tohoshinki 「東方神起」 (as they are known in Japan) or Dong Bang Shin Gi in Korea. They are also known as DBSK, TVXQ, or WWJD. If anyone has heard of the group, they could guess what song I sang: どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう。 That's, "Dou shite kimi wo suki ni natte shimattan darou?" as in, "Why did I have to end up falling completely in love with you?" Yes, ridiculous title. And also ridiculous music video; only because it completely accentuates the drama that is Korean Soap Opera. I also managed to find some fun American songs, like "Say it Ain't So" by Weezer, "Dream On" by Aerosmith, and "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem (Haha).


After karaoke, we bounced into a night club! Now, clubs in Pennsylvania close at 2 AM. Pretty lame. Except Zen, which is awesome enough to be open 'til 3 or 3:30 AM. Rockin'. Anyway, this club in Japan is open until 5 AM! And this particular club is foreigner-friendly. The first guy we met who works there spoke *perfect English*. People in our group were surprised, and wondered how. I speculated that he lived in the US for a while. He revealed that he lived in Canada for 10 years. Close.


Anyway, it was fun gettin' my grove on and bustin' out those moves I learned in college. I was apparently interesting enough to catch the attention of a few Japanese women there, who of course thought I was Japanese. I was hoping that my dancing with the American crowd would help show that I, too, am American, but I guess not! In any case, I was tired by 2 AM, but I hung around until 3:15 to keep my friends company.

Once we left the club, the last task we had to complete was to find a place to stay. Unfortunately the Rakuten Eagles baseball game was that same day, so all of the hotels in Sendai were booked. This includes hostels, ryokans (Japanese Inns), and probably capsules as well. I was worried that even my last resort wouldn't work: spend the night at an internet cafe. Luckily, the first internet cafe I checked still had space! It was perhaps my most uncomfortable night of sleep I've had in a very, very long time. Perhaps ever! And I was completely sober by then, too! Anyway, I rented a booth for 6 hours, slept for 5, and woke up around 9:15 to catch the 10 AM bus back to my place. I was back in my room by 11:30. What an adventure.

All this week, I have been successfully driving around the area! My first attempt at the wheel was last Thursday. My friend Shoe took me to a driving practice area. Though, for a driving practice, it's a pretty terrible location; it's right next to a river! With no guard rails! Such is driving in Japan. There are no guard rails to keep people from driving into the 3 feet deep gutters or off a 5 foot cliff into a local stream. But anyway, all is well, and I managed to not screw up yet. I've even managed to back up into my parking spot! Next thing I gotta figure out is how to fill up my gas tank.


I've also been at the Junior High this week. The opening ceremony was today! I had to give a brief two-minute speech. My speech was composed of 9 lines of English with a line Japanese after each English line to translate what I said. I composed the whole thing myself, and I had one of the JTE's (Japanese Teacher of English) take a look at it for me. And in the process, I learned a new phrase！ It is today's word of the day. :-)

At the Junior High, I have been helping out one particular student who is participating in an English speech contest. She has to memorize a 3-minute speech and present it to an audience. She had already memorized it by the time I met her, so I was working mainly on her pronunciation. Most Japanese people have a problem differentiating certain sounds from one another: l vs r, s vs th, v vs b. So I came up with some lines for my student to practice, including some well known tongue twisters:

Does she see those things that sing the thrilling songs?
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.
Let's roar like lions that are roaming the wilderness.
Ralph left the rowdy crowd in the clouds by rolling on the floor.

I hope those sentences weren't too mean. She's actually been doing well! In the meanwhile, when I'm not training her, I am working on my introductory presentation for my English class. This includes pictures I found from the net, as well as pictures of my college campus that my girlfriend managed to take for me. Thanks, sweetie!

I have also been cooking a bit! I successfully cooked my first two Japanese meals! The first was Curry Udon, and the second was Unagi with rice and vegetables cooked in my own combination of sauces (oyster sauce, soy sauce, and canola oil).


Word of the day: 全力　「ぜんりょく」　"zenryoku", or "all of one's power." This is useful in the phrase, 「全力を尽くします」 "zenryoku wo tsukushimasu," which essentially means, "do something to the best of one's ability." Literally, it means to "exhaust (or devote) all of one's strength." I used it for the following line: "I will try my best to teach you English." 「英語を教えることに全力を尽くします。」

Obon's End

Well, today is the last day of Obon! Also known as Gozan no Okuribi (五山送り火), or literally, five mountain sending off (funeral) fire. In Kyoto, they light a giant 大 in the side of a mountain. That's pretty amazing, and I would love to see it for myself! Actually, there are a few more kanji on there as well. Just go to www.google.com and you'll see what I mean. Or check out the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gozan_no_Okuribi

Yesterday, I spent the entire day doing laundry and cleaning up my apartment. Actually not quite done yet, as I'm trying to figure out what to do about all of the paper that I've gotten from the two orientations. So much stuff to read through! I've gotten through a lot of it, but I believe the majority of it is really just for reference. But yeah, doing laundry in Japan is quite different in the US. I'll proceed to describe various other differences here that I've found amuzing or interesting (or even troublesome).

My apartment does NOT have a dryer. This means that once I'm done washing my clothes, I immediately put my clothes on hangers and put them somewhere to dry. My predecessor put a bar in one of the bedrooms for just that purpose. She usually used this bar during the winter and used a bar outside on the back patio to hang stuff when it wasn't cold out. But I found that hanging them inside was more convenient, because my shirt closet is in that same room. Also, the washer took quite a bit of time to figure out how to use. I had to look up the kanji that I didn't know and then make a vague interpretation of what the washer actually did with that particular setting. For example, one of the words was about flooding, so I figured that it had to do with re-filling the tank. There was also "drying," but the washer doesn't *actually* dry anything.

Another interesting thing is the trash system. In the US, we only have trash or recycling; and only recycling requires separation of stuff. But hoooooo, in Japan, even trash needs to be separated. When I was at a government institution last week for Miyagi orientation, there were four distinct trash bins for different stuff. Trash can be...er...MUST be separated into burnable trash and non-burnable trash. In other words, paper & organic waste versus plastic waste. But then you have lots of plastic bottles for drinks, known as PET bottles in Japan. To discard a PET bottle, you must first remove the cap and the plastic label and put those into the plastic/non-burnable trash. Then you may put the PET bottle into its designated container. Things like glass and aluminum have their own things as well, but in a public place, I think there are places for any sort of bottle-shaped trash. If you think about it, it's not really all that different from the recycling system that we have in the US. But the difference is that typically, the recycling and sorting happens at home, whereas here in Japan, it's public. I definitely think that it's for the better. I've also heard that if you don't separate the trash out properly, it gets returned to your doorstep!


Driving. Everything about driving here just seems *backwards*! The steering wheel is on the right, which Americans normally refer to as "passenger side." You must drive on the left side of the road and stay in the left lane. I believe passing on highways occurs on the right lane. The lane switch also means that left turns are now easy, whereas right turns are now more difficult. But see, I already knew about all that, so I wasn't surprised or shocked or anything. What seems the most "backwards" here is parking: everyone backs into their spot in a parking lot!!! This blows my mind, because in the US, nearly everyone goes head first into their parking spot, so all the cars face each other. But in Japan, all of the cars face away from each other! I haven't seen anyone load a ton of groceries in their cars like this yet. I'm sure to be amused when it happens.

Hmm, that's another thing. I've seen people buy lots of stuff; but the mentality of having abundant amounts of things is just different here in Japan. In the US, we like having a lot of a lot of stuff (yes, I meant to use "a lot of" twice). We go to places like Sam's Club or Costco or Walmart and stock up on things we use often, like toilet paper, paper towels, drinks, food, what have you. But in Japan...it's just not like that. I mean, people DO do that, but oftentimes, people are more inclined to buy smaller amounts of things because that's all that they need. I will share a story that I heard at Tokyo Orientation about this:

A JET participant (whom I'll refer to as "the JET") went shopping with a Japanese friend at the grocery store. For a long time now, the JET had been shopping at that store. There was a 1L (liter) beverage being sold for 80 yen. And every day, it was that price. There was also a .5L size being sold for 60 yen. But when the JET and her friend had gone shopping, the 1L drink was on sale for 50 yen, less than the price of the smaller one! The friend wanted to buy this drink, so she picked up the smaller .5L bottle and was about to go pay for it. This blew the JET's mind. "Why are you getting the smaller one??? You can get the larger one for a cheaper price!!!" "Because I only want this size." (I might have told the story a bit incorrectly; the two sizes might have both been 50 yen when it was on sale. But the point I'm trying to make is the same.)

Miyagi Orientation was last Wednesday to Friday; it might be a while before I see fellow JETs again. Orientation was fun; but the facility felt like a dormitory. Males and Females were separated by floor. And there were public restrooms rather than each room having its own bathroom. And there was also a public shower room (with private showers) but also a public bath. With public stools. And public sitting area. After two full days of getting to know people, a few of the guys fought their insecurities and went into the bath. And let me tell you, that was quite hot. But I hear that real onsen's have much, much hotter water. It felt good though. But I couldn't sit there for too long, because I was starting to get light-headed. Still a neat experience. I look forward to going to a real onsen one day; my supervisor said that he'll take me to one. Apparently our area is known for its many onsens. There's even one in town!

Word of the day: ごみ箱 「ごみばこ」　"gomibako" or "garbage can." Gomi, or trash, is also often written in the katakana form: ゴミ