Ohayo Gozaimasu and more Aisetsu

Today I did another greeting, this time at the town office. It gets kind of confusing sometimes knowing what people want you to say. I get almost mad at myself sometimes wishing I could understand more Japanese. I think "why didn`t I study more everyday before I came!" I think it must not be so bad for other ALTs who are in towns or cities with many other ALTs because they have conversations in English often. Still, I would give advice to anyone moving to Japan for more than a short visit *study Japanese, then study it some more. You can get around on a few words, but it sucks to not be able to have a conversation if the other person doesn`t know any English.

Though many people here do know some English and we learn a lot about each other together. Yesterday, after I left the office, I went shopping with Yoshida-sensei and we got some water grass for my three gold fish and a bowl and rocks and food and the like. Then he also showed me a "snake shop" where this grocery store was known for selling this sake that has a poisonous snake in the bottle, said to make you very powerful. I asked him if he had ever tried it and he said no, it`s very smelly. Then we went grocery shopping for ingredients to make Onigiri (rice balls) and I also bought a box of Pocky (those yummy chocolate covered pretzel sticks you can get in the US at Suncoast Motion Picture Company or The World Market). He let me drive on the way back, so I got to practice driving on the left side of the road, and on the right side of the car. It`s not too hard, but the roads here are like little mountain roads, even the highway is very narrow. The town we went to was Uragawara, because there they have a place that has fish and aquarium supplies (as well as garden, bathroom and other stuff.... kind of like a mini-wal-mart).

So now my three fish (I named them Yuki-chan, Yoshi...since Yoshida-sensei helped me with them, and Hoshi, which means star and rhymes with Yoshi) are very happy in there new home and live on top of my tv.

At 3pm Chieko-san came by and picked me up and we went down Hotaru (fire fly) road to the Continue Art Project in it`s third year here in Oshima. It was lots of fun to be around art students around my age. There was some very interesting art work there. My favorite was a room which had been painted with dots of glow in the dark paint so that when you turned off the lights it looked like lightning bugs. Another, was a big half orb wood structure with arc shaped walkways around it named the star-catcher. I`m convinced it works. At another house there were several installation pieces in the works. There was an amazing and scary looking spider with a woman`s face up in the rafters, and there was a tako (octopus) with a man`s face... which really got my attention because I had been doll making this summer and had thought about doing an octopus doll with a human face. That night there was the opening celebration with a huge feast of foods and it was also one girls birthday (tanjobi). She turned 26 and to my surprise everyone sang Happy Birthday to You to her in English. I also met two lovely Jr. High students at the CAP who were helping with a bronze casting, Miki-san and Hiroto-san.

Also yesterday Chieko-san took me up to the mountains up to Shobu Kogen and it was an amazing view. It was so quiet and peaceful and serene. One could just forget themselves and their lives entirely and get lost in the landscape. I hope I can find my way back there and take some pictures. It is in the very south part of Oshima. When we came back down we went to a teacher`s home which is at a Shinto Temple. It was a very special and beautiful place. I got to see the shrine inside and see what an old fashioned taxi looked like.... the kind that rich people got into and it was carried on the shoulders of several men. There are huge koi there that I got to help the three daughters, Mami-chan, Chika-chan, and Haruna-chan to feed. They are all very smart girls and I look forward to having them in my class. Mami-chan is a kindergartener and has lots of energy. I told her "Mami-chan is a monkey!" She is very good for her age at Origami (I think she is much more skilled than I am!). Chika-chan and Haruna-chan are both in Jr. High school and know a little English already, and they both seem shy and sweet. The family seemed like a very happy one and they fed me ALOT of food. I mean I had udon, and watermelon and regular melon and miso soup and beer and rice and other things I can`t remember how to say.

Well, I`m going to go study Japanese for a bit. Thanks for all your email folks. If you have any questions I`ll try to answer them here to save time, but if you have something specific, I`ll reply to your email. If you have been trying to call me and don`t get me but there`s this high pitched Japanese woman`s voice saying something about onamae and denwa bango, well that`s the part where you leave a message, but don't`t worry I`ll be setting up my own message soon.

If you want me to write to you directly, or reply off-site, please send an email to my email address at mitchell_brooke@hotmail.com (Mom, please send an email here). Otherwise I don`t have your address and I have to reply on this website. Arrigato!