Overwhelmed in Amakusa!
My first few days in Amakusa were understandly overwhelming! I slept in different places each night, was left alone with no English speakers for the first time, and the heat and humidity was almost suffocating! Consequently, my memories may be a bit garbled... I apologize ahead of time!
Getting off the plane in Kumamoto city was one of the scariest times in my life! For the first time, it really hit me that I was here to stay, with no realy English speakers, and knowing no one. It was a scary thought. These thoughts made me reluctant to head through the doors to the Welcoming Committee that had gathered outside of baggage claim. Alas! For the first time during my admittedly terrible travels thus far, my bag was almost the first one one off the plane! (Literally, the 3rd or 4th! I guess the baggage claim gods were trying to make up for Tokyo!) I said goodbye to non-Amakusa folk and headed into the throng. Another ALT (Wai) and my main supervisor (Keishi Idenaga) were there to meet me and the others heading out to the islands, and I was thankful to not have to deal without an English speaker quite yet!
They took us out to dinner (sushi, etc. DE-licious!) before heading to the Hondo Board of Education (BoE) and sending us off to our respective locales. The drive to Amakusa-machi with Yoshida-san is a blur, (I was sooo tired and completely overwhelmed) but I do remember him telling me I head to learn Nihon-go! "Study!" he commanded me! I meekly agreed, I was too tired to suggest that he learn English! :-P ANYHOO, we got to the home of Keiko-san (my first homestay) where I was to spend the night and I met the head of BoE in Amakusa-machi, Shiiki-san. Keep in mind, none of these people spoke English! Still, they were very kind to poor shell-shocked me, (I'd literally thought I was going to die at points on the road. The roads here are incredibly narrow, barely room for A car sometimes, much less two!) offered me tea and a couch, and informed me (thru charades and broken Eigo) that we'd be dining at Shiiki-san's house. Luckily, a woman named Onaka-sensei also came and (hallelujah!) she spoke some Eigo! Apparently she was to be my tutor for the evening! Yay!
Dinner at Shiiki-san's house was freakin' amazing. The man's house is HUGE and we ate in a dining room the like of which you'd see on TV. All tatami matts, long low table, cushions to kneel on, more food than I could eat in a week, and the shashimi! Heaven! I was offered use of his spa, (yes SPA) before dinner but I was starving so we just ate. DE-licious Skiiki Keiko (his wife) is the best cook EVER! Shiiki-san said that I was like his daughter and that he would look out for me in Japan... I simply adore the man! :) We got back late and I went to bed asap... travelling is tiring! The next day was incredibly busy. I went to my BoE, gave a little self-intro (in JAPANESE! EEK!) and was promptly shuttled off the all of my 6 schools to give the same self-intro to the teachers and meet the principals. It was insane. I was never even allowed to finish my tea! That night (Thursday, now) I stayed at Yoshida-san's house and they had another little dinner/drink party for me. This time, Yasuda-sensei and his wife (Kimmi) were there, (with their ADORABLE little boy) and they both speak amazing English! He spent some time in London, she in Australia. Kikai-san and his 3 kids were there too, and his Eigo is nothing to be sneezed at! We had a mini-yukinori and more shashimi, (I love the food!) and I was again complemented on my use of chopsticks! (I guess they assume all gaijin only use forks!) At Yoshida-san's, I also made my first HUGE feux-pax! They were filling the tub and telling me to wash, so I took and bath and drained the tub. AHHH! WRONG! In Japan, you wash yourself in the shower first and then, THEN soak in the tub. Plus you never, NEVER drain the tub unless you are SURE you are the last one to use it. Once I realized, I was so embarrassed... still am. How bad am I!? sigh.
Anyway, no use dwelling on spilt milk! The next night I was going to stay at my own aparto (finally!) This meant that most of Friday was spent trying to get it ready for me. My aparto was cleaned, scrubbed really, 3 times and never my me! Whenever I tried to help, I was told to relax! That night I went to Miwako's house (my first friend here) for a yukinori. She had invited me on my first day at the BoE... she really wants to learn Eigo, but she's already pretty good. Yet I digress! That night was a blast because everone there was relatively young, (23-33) so we just drank and had a good time. Miwako's little son, Yuuta (3) was nearly out of his mind with excitement... he loves his yukinori! Plus everyone loved him! He also introduced me to the coolest (and I mean you must find him cool or Yuuta will shun you!) anime superhere called Anpanman. (try to Google him for pics, the guys hilarious looking) The night was so fun! One guy decided that I should marry him but I assured him that would be a bad idea. "I love you!" he declared. "No you don't" I said. "Heartbroken" he cried! "No you aren't" I replied! All in all, a really good time. I was falling asleep in my chair by 11:30, though, (stupid jet lag) so Minudo (Miwako's husband) and the heartbroken young man walked me home. I left with promises to go to Hondo with them for fireworks on Sunday. I passed out pretty soon after getting home, I've never been so tired! Yet I still woke up at 5am... have I mentioned how much I hate jet lag? This meant that I was more than awake enough for the festival in Hondo on Saturday but that's a story for another post! I'll close now, congrats to everyone who made it through all of this rambling. I hope that my posts get shorter in the future!
Love and miss!
My first few days in Amakusa were understandly overwhelming! I slept in different places each night, was left alone with no English speakers for the first time, and the heat and humidity was almost suffocating! Consequently, my memories may be a bit garbled... I apologize ahead of time!
Getting off the plane in Kumamoto city was one of the scariest times in my life! For the first time, it really hit me that I was here to stay, with no realy English speakers, and knowing no one. It was a scary thought. These thoughts made me reluctant to head through the doors to the Welcoming Committee that had gathered outside of baggage claim. Alas! For the first time during my admittedly terrible travels thus far, my bag was almost the first one one off the plane! (Literally, the 3rd or 4th! I guess the baggage claim gods were trying to make up for Tokyo!) I said goodbye to non-Amakusa folk and headed into the throng. Another ALT (Wai) and my main supervisor (Keishi Idenaga) were there to meet me and the others heading out to the islands, and I was thankful to not have to deal without an English speaker quite yet!
They took us out to dinner (sushi, etc. DE-licious!) before heading to the Hondo Board of Education (BoE) and sending us off to our respective locales. The drive to Amakusa-machi with Yoshida-san is a blur, (I was sooo tired and completely overwhelmed) but I do remember him telling me I head to learn Nihon-go! "Study!" he commanded me! I meekly agreed, I was too tired to suggest that he learn English! :-P ANYHOO, we got to the home of Keiko-san (my first homestay) where I was to spend the night and I met the head of BoE in Amakusa-machi, Shiiki-san. Keep in mind, none of these people spoke English! Still, they were very kind to poor shell-shocked me, (I'd literally thought I was going to die at points on the road. The roads here are incredibly narrow, barely room for A car sometimes, much less two!) offered me tea and a couch, and informed me (thru charades and broken Eigo) that we'd be dining at Shiiki-san's house. Luckily, a woman named Onaka-sensei also came and (hallelujah!) she spoke some Eigo! Apparently she was to be my tutor for the evening! Yay!
Dinner at Shiiki-san's house was freakin' amazing. The man's house is HUGE and we ate in a dining room the like of which you'd see on TV. All tatami matts, long low table, cushions to kneel on, more food than I could eat in a week, and the shashimi! Heaven! I was offered use of his spa, (yes SPA) before dinner but I was starving so we just ate. DE-licious Skiiki Keiko (his wife) is the best cook EVER! Shiiki-san said that I was like his daughter and that he would look out for me in Japan... I simply adore the man! :) We got back late and I went to bed asap... travelling is tiring! The next day was incredibly busy. I went to my BoE, gave a little self-intro (in JAPANESE! EEK!) and was promptly shuttled off the all of my 6 schools to give the same self-intro to the teachers and meet the principals. It was insane. I was never even allowed to finish my tea! That night (Thursday, now) I stayed at Yoshida-san's house and they had another little dinner/drink party for me. This time, Yasuda-sensei and his wife (Kimmi) were there, (with their ADORABLE little boy) and they both speak amazing English! He spent some time in London, she in Australia. Kikai-san and his 3 kids were there too, and his Eigo is nothing to be sneezed at! We had a mini-yukinori and more shashimi, (I love the food!) and I was again complemented on my use of chopsticks! (I guess they assume all gaijin only use forks!) At Yoshida-san's, I also made my first HUGE feux-pax! They were filling the tub and telling me to wash, so I took and bath and drained the tub. AHHH! WRONG! In Japan, you wash yourself in the shower first and then, THEN soak in the tub. Plus you never, NEVER drain the tub unless you are SURE you are the last one to use it. Once I realized, I was so embarrassed... still am. How bad am I!? sigh.
Anyway, no use dwelling on spilt milk! The next night I was going to stay at my own aparto (finally!) This meant that most of Friday was spent trying to get it ready for me. My aparto was cleaned, scrubbed really, 3 times and never my me! Whenever I tried to help, I was told to relax! That night I went to Miwako's house (my first friend here) for a yukinori. She had invited me on my first day at the BoE... she really wants to learn Eigo, but she's already pretty good. Yet I digress! That night was a blast because everone there was relatively young, (23-33) so we just drank and had a good time. Miwako's little son, Yuuta (3) was nearly out of his mind with excitement... he loves his yukinori! Plus everyone loved him! He also introduced me to the coolest (and I mean you must find him cool or Yuuta will shun you!) anime superhere called Anpanman. (try to Google him for pics, the guys hilarious looking) The night was so fun! One guy decided that I should marry him but I assured him that would be a bad idea. "I love you!" he declared. "No you don't" I said. "Heartbroken" he cried! "No you aren't" I replied! All in all, a really good time. I was falling asleep in my chair by 11:30, though, (stupid jet lag) so Minudo (Miwako's husband) and the heartbroken young man walked me home. I left with promises to go to Hondo with them for fireworks on Sunday. I passed out pretty soon after getting home, I've never been so tired! Yet I still woke up at 5am... have I mentioned how much I hate jet lag? This meant that I was more than awake enough for the festival in Hondo on Saturday but that's a story for another post! I'll close now, congrats to everyone who made it through all of this rambling. I hope that my posts get shorter in the future!
Love and miss!
posted by VW | 4:44 AM
1 Comments:
V,
It sounds like you've been eating a lot of sushi! Yum!
Miss you!
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