Squat Toilets

Squat toilets

Hokay…so squat toilets are weird. I know that in other parts of the world they squat to go potty too but still…it’s odd…

And yes this is a little embarrassing to talk about…but I’m pretty sure some of you out there want to ask about this but just haven’t…so…here’s my little 2 cents on the matter…

So squat toilets are these things:



I’m sure some of you have seen these before. If not, yes, that is what I have to use at school…sometimes… I tried avoid it as much as possible my first…2 weeks…hmm…first week to week and a half I think…anyhoo, I tried to not use them because I wasn’t ready to embarrass myself trying to use one.

Well, one day I really had to go…so I tried it… And part of the reason I never tried it before was that I didn’t really know how to use one (actually…there’s a small chance I’m still doing it a little wrong…keep reading). But I was like, “I can’t keep running away from it. I have to do it…and I really have to do…”
So…I remembered what the seminar during Tokyo Orientation said about squatting while facing the plumbing…and about squatting as close as you can to the “action” (well…that’s how the presenter said it). So I did…and in fear of my pants getting wet from any spillage that might have gone on before, I pulled up my pants too…hard to explain…but yea…because I really had to go and was afraid of going on myself (which would be so unbelievably embarrassing) I tried to make it as controlled as I can. Which of course meant that I was there longer…Now…what happens when a person who’s not used to squatting squats for a long time??? Oh that’s right…the circulation to the legs gets cut, right?
Right…
Simply put, getting up was a bit of a challenge…

Anyhoo, after that, it’s gotten easier and easier to do.

However, I have noticed that they tend to flush as they’re going…I’m guessing so you don’t hear them going…which explains why some public restrooms have that “flushing sound effects” machine (some that go automatically). But…I don’t do that…and they haven’t said anything to me about it. Are they just as embarrassed to talk about it as I am or are they letting me slide since I’m the gaijin (foreigner)???

But yea…so glad my apartment has a regular toilet.

Oh yea. Just a couple weeks ago, I found the western toilet at my school. So of course, I tend to go there if I really don’t feel like dealing with squatting…
;P

Typhoon Weather

Ok…I think I remember what I wanted to type about: Typhoon weather!

So a typhoon was supposed to hit Fukuoka some weeks ago (like 2 weeks ago or so) but it just missed us. (*phew*). We did however get these really dark clouds and some rain. I’ve heard that the rain during a typhoon is crazy…so kinda glad that didn’t happened (especially since the night it hit I had a private lesson in the city which I have to ride the train into…).

But I have a buddy in Teipei who’s experiencing a typhoon right now! She said that over the weekend she looked out her window to look at the rain going sideways!!! Crazy!!! And well, since Teipei is really close to Japan, and Kyushu for that matter…another typhoon may come…again…

It seems like we’re just getting some rain at the moment. It’s not crazy heave sideways rain but still, it’s raining. But now it’s starting to cool off (finally!) so the rain and wind are actually a little chilly. Hurray! But…now I need my “winter” wardrobe…and it’s where? Oh that’s right…still at home… :P But you know…in a way this is a great opportunity to go shopping. ;P mahaha. It’d be great…if I actually fit into their pants!!!
D’oh!
><”

Ah well…more of a motivation to lose weight…

Anyhoo…should this next typhoon hit, I’ll write about it…but hopefully it won’t be horrible…hopefully just interesting…

:P

Humidity, fall, Gap...

What to write about this time???

I had thought of something to write…but now I’ve forgotten…grr…

Well, I’m going to talk about the weather here in Japan. So as I’ve said before (and have told many of you over and over) it’s hot and soooooooooooo humid over here. Like, we hit 94% (maybe even 98% humidity). And even if it’s technically around 78degrees, it feels really hot just because of the humidity. Gah, I miss the dry heat from Mexico…). Oh right, and because of this high humidity, I can’t keep my hair straight…oh yay… ><” So no I haven’t stopped straightening it but it definitely is not very straight for very long. It just tends to kink up after some time outside. Especially with walking or riding my bike to and from work, I get hot and poof! It’s kinda curly. So…I’m letting it grow at the moment only because it’s easier to tame it this way. Can’t wait for fall to come in. It’ll be cooler and I imagine less humid. But then that makes me a little worried about the winter here. I hear it gets really cold. And yea…winter clothes are back at home! Also, winter in LA is not that cold (had a Massachusetts friend laugh at me when I mentioned what I thought “cold” is). And I have heard that it sparsely snows, but snows nonetheless! So…yea…I’m looking forward to it but a little worried about the cold… But I guess in a way it’s just a better excuse to go shopping. ;P I’ve only run into a problem of fitting into pants…but I’m assuming I can fit into their shirts and whatnot…

Oh yea, the sizes here vary very much. Um…I’m not sure if it’s safe to say but I think that in shirts, they run one size smaller. So their small is actually small to them and they’re not swimming in a US small sized shirt. So…If I’m right, I’ll fit into an XL. Oh! And I haven’t really seen any other sizes higher than XL…except maybe in Gap.
Gap! Right. So I checked out the Gap store (since I know I’ll like the style) and was hoping I’d find a pair of pants that fit. Well…I forgot one thing…these items are imported…and what does that mean??? High prices!!! I already thought Gap jeans were pretty expensive at $60 but here in Japan, they’re roughly $128!!! o_O; However, in the clearance rack, I found a really cute skirt and after being reduced in price, it really only seemed like a regular Gap price. Hahaha. So…deal and no deal all together.

Hmm…what else…
Well, I think I’m over the culture shock. Odd thing is that when I’m with a big group of JETs or at least a big group of English speakers, I forget that I’m in Japan ‘til something very Japanese passes by…like a shrine in the middle of the city. :P

But…I still get homesick here and there. Luckily it’s not as bad as it was my second week here. And as Mr. Alpert (high school teacher I still keep in contact with) said, it’s always going to be there. And should it actually go away, I should worry. Hahaha. ^^

Um…I’ll see what to write about later…

I’ll take requests! What do you want to know about Japan/Fukuoka???

And a couple more...

pics!

Grr...I hate how I can't upload pics elsewhere... ><"

Anyhoo...these are pics from OSAKA!!! ^^

Weekend trip #3: Osaka

And yet another weekend outing. ^^

This time, I went up by myself all the way to Osaka! I was a little nervous at first but I went through it and it all worked out well. Mahahaha!

So, this time I went up to Osaka to meet up with Terence, Kelly and the organizer of it all, Steph! None of us live in Osaka so we all had to travel there on our own. However, I traveled the furtherest…

Anyhoo, because I had purchased my tickets from a store…not really sure what to call it but they sell travel tickets at a cheaper price. Well, because I got it from there, I was able to hop onto any train really. So, once I got them and let the others know, Kelly found out that we could actually ride the same train!

So, once Saturday morning came about, I got up really ridiculously early because I anticipated things going wrong and having long conversations with workers and overall trying to figure out how to sue the tickets/search for the right train, etc etc. So, I got up at…5:30 I think it was…and after train hopping arrived at the station to get on the shinkansen. What I didn’t know was that my ticket was for the “unreserved seat” car. And I never learned the word before so after I got to the platform to get onto the shinkansen (for which I was like 45 minutes early) so I texted Kelly, “what’s ‘jyuuseki’?” Then she let me know it was “unreserved.” Then my thoughts were confirmed, Kelly and I wouldn’t be able to sit next to each other since she had a reserved seat. But at least we could ride the same train, ne? Oh yea, after we had settled that and she told me that she’ll got on the train around 9:20/9:30 I noticed that I probably woke her up…and then I felt really bad about doing so… ><” (My train was to leave at 8…and I was there really really early for it…yea…sorry Kelly!)

Well, anyway, I think the train started at my station. So I was able to get a seat. (hurray!) And a really nice older woman sat next to me. We got to talking and it turns out that she lives in the same city as me! And her son graduated from the high school that I’m teaching at!!! Hahaha. Life is funny sometimes. So she gave me her name, phone number and address. I gave her my name and the name of the school I work at. I’ll try to call her sometime and have coffee or something. Oh yea, she bought me a cup of coffee. She seemed a bit amazed that I drank it black though…

Anyhoo, the train arrived to Shinosaka and I got to meet up with Kelly!!! It’s always great to reunite with a great buddy.
:]
And then we had a small snack at the station (evil McFlurry strikes again!) and then we hopped onto the subway to get to Namba station, where we’d meet up with Terence and Steph! This time though, it was rather easy to find them. They were both wearing yellow shirts. Hehe^^

So off we go to the hostel, checked in early and left our bags in the room. We immediately headed off to explore. On Saturday we went to the aquarium which this crazy tall building and then you kinda just circle around various tanks. So at one level you’ll see the animals on top or floating about and at a lower level you’ll see them swimming about the deep ends of the tank. It was really great. Oh, and they even had a whale shark!!! Though it didn’t look that huge in the tank (then again…it could have been a young whale shark), a chart off to the side was comparing various sharks to the size of a human. Yea…we’d be like a popsicle to a whale shark at it’s full length…
Then we hung around the area. Went into a shopping area, bought towels (hostel didn’t provide any), ate okonomiyaki (one of things Osaka is known for), conbini hopping, toy store browsing and then ending with karaoke! We all sang songs together for 2 hours. We originally went in thinking we’d be there for like 1 hour but once the call came in that we had 5 minutes left, we asked for another hour. It wasn’t that bad. It was about $10 per person per hour. And they had a great selection of songs. Afterwards we walked back to the hostel and went to bed. (oh, but the day was filled with many exciting events, I’m just giving you the jist of it and let it be known, we rode the subway like crazy! And we had these awesome whale shark day pass card)

The next morning, after being awakened by our hostel roommates that turned on one of the lights to get ready for their day, we got up early and prepared for another day of adventure. After having a conbini breakfast, only to notice a bakery right next to it afterwards, we went off to find another day pass. Though it didn’t have a cool whale shark on it, it did come with a “coupon book” that provided us with free entry to various places. So we went to the Osaka castle, Shitennouji temple, hung out at another shopping mall (where we went to the arcade, played taiko drums, did 2 sessions of purikura), and then headed off to a floating garden observatory.

Here is where things get really interesting. So after getting directions to the floating garden observatory, we wondered if the area was good…since it seemed to be a bit lonely…but eventually we found the building and as we headed towards it, we noticed some music was being played live. At first it sounded like opera…but then it started to remind me of backyard quincenera parties in my neighborhood. So we got into the building and noticed that there’s some sort of gathering going on in the middle of the building, where it’s an open area. So we decided to check it out and I swear it felt like we were tellaported or something. It was a Mexican fiesta! There were mariachi (hence the familiarity to home) and they had taco stands! So we walked by them all and decided that the first one seemed the best choice (I told them that it smelled it right. Like actual Mexican tacos). Sadly though, no beans. But the stand that we went to had a Peruvian cook! And since I talked with him a bit in Spanish, he gave me more meat in my tacos. Mahahaha. And boy were they good. ^^ We then watched people dance, listened to mariachi and eventually made our way up to the observatory.

After going up an elevator and then an escalator and then another elevator, we got the “floating garden.” There was nothing “garden” about it! But apparently they were trying to include the wind as part of the garden. Something like that. But the view from that area was really nice. I’ll post photos of it later.

After sometime up there, we came back down, had one more taco for the road (tried a different one and then Steph and me got 1 more of the good ones), hit the conbini for fluids and then headed back to the hostel. But we didn’t go back to the hostel. Oh no. We went back to the karaoke place and sang for another 2 hours!!!

This morning, we had breakfast at the bakery, went to the station, found Kelly’s friend, went off to another mall/shopping area, checked out a Toys R Us, had lunch at a bagel place, headed back to the station and sadly, went our separate ways. Kelly, her friend Gene, and I went on the subway to the shinkansen station, and then Gene went off back to his hotel. Kelly bought her ticket and we rode the shinkansen together ‘til we got to her station. Then I rode alone ‘til my station. I kept zoning in and out. I was so tired. But I managed to stay awake for the end (didn’t want to miss my stop!). Then after some confusion at the station, I got onto the train for home and after nearly 3 hours of traveling, I got home.

And I’m on my couch right now, and I’m still really tired. I’ll be on my way soon. Rather earlier than other nights (definitely earlier than this weekend).

So…more details maybe later, and definitely a round of pics later.

じゃね！

Sports Day, Tenjin, calls, planning...

Hokay, so it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog. Truth is, I’ve been rather busy these past couple days.

When was the last time I wrote…last week Saturday with the news about my bike…maybe…

Blah.

Anyway, so I came to work over the week because the students were practice for Sports Day and then Sports Day was on Sunday.
IT WAS AWESOME!!!
It was such a fun day. And man, some of those students are fast!!! I was lucky to get them in the frame of my camera (oh yea, I went a little trigger happy with the camera again…ehehe^^;;). Oh, and then I got to see them do kibasen.
Kibasen is something that I’ve only ever seen in anime before and, after asking my friend Yumi (who lived in Japan ‘til high school) about whether or not they actually did it, was excited to watch it! It can be quite dangerous so most of the male teachers and some volunteer male students helped each little hurdle.
So Kibasen is a little hard to describe. There are groups of 4 boys. One of them gets lifted by the other three. So the three that do the lifting form a sort of triangle. One guy in the front, two in the back. Now, the boy in the front has his palms facing up but has his fingers pointing back. Then the boys in the back hold one hand with the guy in the front and put their other hand on the front boy’s shoulders. Then, they all knell so that the fourth boy can climb up on them. The fourth boy puts his feet where the boys are holding hands and sits on the arms of the guys from the back…is this making any sense at all???...
…well here’s a picture…hope this explains it better than my words can…




…and I just noticed that I’m disassociating my days again…I guess I’m beginning to get really busy and so am adding an extra day in my head to do it all in… What I’m saying is: Today is Thursday, but I’m thinking of it as though it were Wednesday (even if I had my Japanese class yesterday). But because I have a dinner to go to tonight and then meet with my Japanese professor tomorrow to sign up for the Japanese Proficiency Test and I still want to do some laundry, pack for Osaka and think about what to do Friday night…I’ve somehow made myself think that I’m like inbetween Wednesday and Thursday and so I have an extra day to do everything…But I don’t…now I really have to think about everything now…

Wow…totally side tracking there…

So yea, Sports day was filled with many races, some cheerleading (whose outfits were done by the students, as well as the choreography), guy form of cheerleading (which was more like a martial arts dance) and a crazy choreography thing with colored boards (can’t remember the actual word of this). And even some of the teachers got involved in the races. There were some “relay” races with various types of obstacles. I was asked to participate in the 4 legged man race. The way it worked was that there are 4 color groups and 2 members from each would run to the center and choose an envelope. Then they’d run to their colored stands (where the rest of the students were), open the envelope and look for the person whose name was written on it. I happened to see my name (ALT シーラ) from across the field so I ran towards them. They students put me in the middle and off we went for the finish line. Mahaha. We got first place. :P Once we crossed, the students turned to me and after many “thank you”’s, they said, “I love you!” and with huge smiles went to line up with the other groups that got first place. They even got the principal to participate! Hahaha.

I’d post more pictures of the event but I can’t out too many here and flickr’s telling me I’m at my limit already…so I might “go pro”…might…

So because I had to come in to work on the weekend, I got Monday and Tuesday off as “substitute days”. So Monday morning I was able to have like a 2 hour conversation with home!!! And for free!!!
xD
Skype still acted a little funny (something weird whenever a call would go home…even if we were using skype and not the ground line…) but it was sooooooooooo nice to get to hear my family’s voices again. ^^ Can’t wait to go back home for Christmas now. :] Now I need to get a webcam, pronto!

The rest of Monday was filled with cleaning (oh yay… -_-“) but I didn’t get everything done…ehehe^^;; And then I went out to eat with Grace, Carl, Seth and David! It’s always fun with them. So that was a great Monday.

On Tuesday, I went to the bank and post office and then headed towards Tenjin. There I walked about, tried one some jeans (only to remember that I’m Mexican and therefore have way too curvy of a body for Japanese pants) and bought some things…couldn’t hold back…earrings and rings man…

Wednesday I had a class (rather rowdy…) and a Kanji quiz in my Japanese class. That night I decided to go for the Japanese Proficiency Test…level 2 (which is the second highest). I’m pretty sure I can pass level 3 but I figured that if I don’t push myself to a harder level, my Japanese is not going to improve. So…one of the Japanese professors will help me prepare for the test (lots of grammar and kanji to study) and in December I shall take the test (apparently it’s like all day on a Sunday…). So Friday I’m going to buy it and register. So I’ll be making lesson plans, teaching, traveling, cleaning, cooking and studying hardcore…yippi…
Oh, and I’m going to Osaka and Nara this weekend. I’m going to meet up with Terence, Kelly and Stephanie!!! Yay for Oxy JET reunions!!!
xD

My Monday Day Off

September 8th

:]
That’s how I’m feeling. Today has been a pretty great day. I got to sleep in finally. Although I did randomly wake up at 7:45-ish. I was pretty much wide awake and considered getting up and start cleaning the apartment. But the voices in my head told me to just stay in bed. I mean, it is my day off of work and I haven’t had the chance to really sleep in for maybe over a week or so. So yes, I slept in and man I was groggy when my alarm woke me up. So I snoozed for a bit more…and although I was still a bit groggy, I got myself out of bed.

Then I didn’t allow myself to go online ‘til I got a load of laundry in the washing machine (I tend to get highly distracted by the internet). The highlight of this morning is that I finally got to chat with my family. And this time Skype calling actually worked!!!
xD
Though there was some trouble with the calls at first (something odd between skype calls with incoming phone calls at home…), it was so awesome to get to hear my family’s voices again!!! And they all have webcams so I got to see them too!!! Now I really have to go to Yamada Denki or some other electronics store and get myself a webcam! ^^ But yea, I talked with my parents, cousin and aunt for about an hour and a half. Maybe even longer. And I also got to talk with one of my sisters! She even gave me a peak at the future postcards she’ll be sending me (her own art on them all).

Once it got a little late for them (not really late but they all have work tomorrow so we had to say our good-nights) I just played around with aim. There were some buddies on so it was awesome being able to chat with them too. ^^ Sometimes it really makes me miss them and makes me want to go home now but it wasn’t that bad this time. Sure I still miss everyone, but it just makes me more excited for winter break when I go back home! ^^

After that…I had lunch and then forced myself to clean. Currently my apartment is being aired from the smell of chlorine. But since it’s starting to get a little dark I just closed my windows and locked my balcony door. More because I’m on the first floor. I’d be fine leaving it open for a bit longer if I were in a higher floor…it’s the whole paranoid drama I had back in college…except without the roommate drama being added.

Anyway. Back to the present. I plan to go out tomorrow. I have art stores to visit, shopping areas to check out and just overall exploring to do. ^^ Maybe I’ll do some shopping while I’m out…or at least figure out what my size in Japan would be and get an idea of how much things cost to plan out shopping for later. :P The weight limit on the luggage really limited the amount of clothes I was able to bring…but I guess it just means I get to do shopping and get awesome fall and winter stuff. ;P

But yea. In terms of dealing with living alone, I think I did alright today. I’ll either watch a movie later (predecessor left me so many movies!) or maybe go back to playing guitar hero. It’s been a while since I’ve played it…wonder if I can still pass heavy…

Oh! And this weekend is going to rock because it’s a 3-day weekend and I’ll be going up to Osaka/Nara to hang out with some other Oxy JETs!
xD

And that picture is a drawing that one of my students drew during my Introduction Class. ^^

Clarification!!!

Hokay, so I had a conversation with my family this morning (woohoo!) and there is something I need to make clear.

Apparently, on the post of my second weekend trip to Sasebo, I said something along the lines of "I took too many shots" and therefore couldn't remember how many islands there were...something like that. To be clear, when I said "shots" I meant photographic shots. Not alcoholic shots.

Yea. I'm not having those types of crazy parties here in Japan.
:P

Did this Really Just Happen???

September 6

So there are lot of things that I’ve been wanting to type about but haven’t really had the chance lately to do it. Although I want to tell you about the baseball game, preparations for tomorrow’s sports day, thinking about taking the Japanese proficiency test, better dealing with homesickness and culture shock, future festival outing, how I love my co-workers and generally working here, future plan to meet up with oxy jet folk…I am going to tell you about today.
Although it started off as a normal day. Walked to school but this time listened to my i-pod on the way, and had pretty much a “normal” day at work (even if it was a Saturday). The return was different.
I decided to go to Yume-town again [explanation insert], to send more postcards and a birthday card (hope it gets there in time…) and then decided to just walk around the shopping area and get to know it better (and plan future spendings).
Anyway, after many stops at various shops, I decided to head back home before it got too dark. Well this is where the down part begins. I couldn’t find it. So I thought that being that there’s so many bikes, I’m just not recognizing my own bike.
Nope
It was nowhere to be found. So I walked around other parts, you know, possibly someone else moved it or it fell or something.
Nope
Gone
Gone gone gone gone gone!
-_-“

Balh blah blah. I have to go now. Sports Day is today! Woot!

Weekend Trip #2: Sasebo

September 2nd

So once again, I had a rather busy weekend. Though it wasn’t as jam-packed as last weekend, it was still fun and exciting! ^^
I’m thinking that as long as I keep staying busy, I’ll adjust to living here more easily. But I worry that since just about every weekend that I’ve spent here in Japan so far have been busy or had some sort of exciting thing going on, that I’ll be disappointed/unbelievably bored if/when a weekend with nothing to do pops up… Hmm…on second thought…maybe there’s always going to be something going on… mahahahaha!

So on Friday, I went over to Tenjin (Fukuoka City) to hang out with some people. There was a crazy Karaoke party last week and some of my friends were like, “oh you should have come!” So I got an invite to hang out with them for last week and I went.

Since I had gone to Tenjin the day before for a baseball game (which was absolutely awesome!) I had the meeting time a little mixed up in my head. I thought everyone was meeting at 7:15 (because yesterday’s meeting time was 6:15) but it turned out to be 7:30. So…since I was early, I took a small walk around the shopping area. It made me want to go shopping…(such a girl, I know). Anyhoo, long story short, I hung out with Josh for most of the night (everyone else was like really late). It was pretty cool though towards the end of the night, being the only girl in the group meant I got hit on quite a lot…and one of the guys started creeping me out…and I see him in Japanese class…luckily though, we’re not in the same level. So although we’re in the same building, sometimes the same room, we’re not actually in the same class. Mahaha. I can somehow avoid him!

Anyhoo…I came back home (safe and sound. Don’t worry), did some general cleaning and then got to talk to my papa over skype! xD Sadly though, he didn’t have a headset so we had a rather slow and slightly frustrating chat over skype (though I’m proud of him! He managed to turn it on and log on all by himself! ^^). And then I got to chat with my cousin a bit. And finally my brother sent a “hi.” Then…I went out to eat dinner with some of my neighbors. It was a gyukaku place which really reminded me of Korean BBQ. So, Jo Jo and Terence, we’re going there once you guys come!!! ;P
Then Sunday came around. We left the Jutaku early (8am, not that early) and took 2 cars to Sasebo, Nagasaki-ken. Seth, JET neighbor, had his dad over (for a week I think) and so awesome Grace planned out the trip to go to Sasebo.

We were lucky with the weather that day. It was sunny and no rain. Although…it was rather hot and humid…but at least the breeze was nice whenever it came. We took a cruise around the islands and I took possibly way too many shots…problem is that I can’t tell one island from the other! Sasebo is known for it’s huge cluster of small islands. It has 19 main islands but 203 all together. But in Japan, it’s called the “99 islands” because “99” can be used to reference a big amount.

And since there was deal going on with the “Commonness Ticket” (I kid you not. It was called the Commonness Ticket. Not the “Common Sense Ticket” but “Commonness”) we also went to the zoo. It wasn’t the greatest of zoos but apparently it’s better than the one in Fukuoka (which I highly doubt I’ll ever visit).

Afterwards we went in search of food. There is “Sasebo burger” which I had for lunch and I have to say, it was pretty good. And I’ve heard that good burgers are hard to come by in Japan. So I guess for Japan standards, it was really good!

And then we went for the highlight of the day: up to an observatory. At this observatory, not only is there a great view of the islands and everything, it’s a popular area among photographers to capture the sunset (and Carl and Seth are the photographers in our group. So they were really looking forward to this). The other cool thing about this area is that it was used to shoot a scene for “The Last Samurai.” Now I want to see that movie again and see if I recognize the shot… Sadly though, by this time we started to get some overcast and although the shots are great, the guys were a little disappointed…and I got bit by mosquitos yet again… ><”

But yea. Great weekend once again! Woot-woot! ^^