Beth's Blog

A Trip to Kamakura

2007-09-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

オス！

After a busy couple of weeks, I had some time to update this blog.

Last weekend I finally was able to take a trip to Kamakura city, just outside of Tokyo. Kamakura is known for many things, like one of the largest Buddhas in the world! My friend invited me to go watch a mounted horse archery demonstration as well.

So we hopped a train pretty early in the morning and headed off in the direction of Tokyo. 3 hours later, we arrived. I was accompanied by my friends Alana, Becky, and Helen (who we ran into on the the train). We entertained ourselves by scaring Japanese people on the train. Anyway, we headed off to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine to watch the exhibition. We arrived about one hour early, only to discover that we probably should have gotten tickets, or arrived 3 hours early to get a decent spot. The result was a fun adventure of standing for 2 hours in the woods, sweating alongside 300 Japanese people. The waiting was the worst part. For the first hour of the exhibition, an announced talked about the history of Yabusame (mounted horse archery), and we got to see them in full armor. It was like 90 degrees, so they had to be hotter than we were. After a long while, the horses and riders came down the narrow path past all the spectators. Finally, one at a time, the horse and riders came whizzing past everyone and hit a bullseye. It was ridiculous how fast the rider was going. Cameras couldn't keep up. It was over quickly, but it was a great experience.

It was approaching 4 pm at this point, and we all decided to take a quick trip to see the giant Buddha. I was really looking forward to seeing it, because it's supposed to be so impressive. And it frickin was. I'll put up more pictures later, when I have more time... for now, deal with this :)
We headed back at around 6 pm, just in time to make it back to quiet Gunma before the trains stopped running. It was awesome, go see it if you have the opportunity.

One year, can you believe it?

2007-08-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

Then.

I think back over the last year and think, 'has it really been a year since I've come to Japan?' Indeed it has. It is evident in my horrible butchering of the English language since I don't speak it as regularly as I once did. And now, I have to think hard before starting any sentence be it in Japanese or English.

Over the last year I've seen and done some strange things. I've seen huge alien like bugs and spiders and their minions overtaking train stations. Fish on sticks with all the guts still in place. Students screaming my name. Old men confused by my existence. Seeing the famous street in Osaka and going to all the places that I studied in college.

However, I feel like there are so many things I have yet to accomplish. My Japanese is getting better, slowly. I am definitely able to buy just about anything that I need. I am able to ask directions if I am lost. I am able to talk at length about a Japanese drivers license. I am able to follow many conversations as long as they're not too strange. I am nowhere near proficient though. There was a time when I was sure that I wanted to be involved in a job that required Japanese. Possibly it's the fact that even though I have studied it for so long, Japanese is still really difficult, or maybe it's just because I grew out of my obsession of anything Japanese. I'm not sure. Therefore my goal over the next year is to find out what kind of job will make me happy. Because honestly, this job is pretty cushy. My students are all angels, and I have coworkers who will help me with any problem that comes my way. I have little work to do and most of what I do have to do is to try to make English fun. But I know I can't do this forever, and there is a lot of stuff that I miss in the US. There are a lot of things I still don't understand about Japanese culture, but it's still interesting and I'm still having a great time here.

So my goals for the following year:

-keep in touch with people better.
-not procrastinate
-see other parts of Japan and other parts of the country
-save more money so I can do the above
-no worry that other people speak Japanese better than I do
-study for the JLPT level 2, but not take it (there's no way I could pass)
-buy a better camera and take better pictures
-visit Honami and Kumiko
-don't forget people's birthdays :(
-take advantage of the fact that I live in Japan. I mean it's Japan!
-actually turn on my TV to watch stuff in Japanese.
-hang out with people in other areas of Japan.

Now (ish)

Matsuri!

2007-08-03T21:17:00.001-07:00

Matsuri season is the best time to be in Japan, aside from the hot and humid weather of course. Here are a few pictures of the Omama festival. Today, I'm going to one in Takasaki (it's going to be huge!) and tomorrow to one in Kiryu. Good times!

The first one is me with two of my students and their mom. The little one, Kurumi, is in preschool and the older one, Yuka, is in elementary school. They're so adorable ne! After this photo, Kurumi decided to run around laughing and calling, 'Beth sensei!' I love her!

This is a shrine that people push. Usually little kids play the drums in the inside.

Okay more later!

Busy Busy Busy

2007-07-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

A little cuteness
for your day !

So, if you're wondering why I've been non-existent (or maybe you haven't noticed), the reason is there is so much stuff going on right now. I have mentioned to a few people that I was asked to be the treasurer of the Gunma Jet Organization. Basically, it's an organization which helps the JETs in Gunma keep in touch and deal with various problems. On Monday, I will take a trip to Tokyo to welcome the new people to Tokyo. Which means that in about 1 day, I will have been here for a year. The time flies, and it really doesn't seem that long. But as Rick mentioned, my really good friend is leaving, and she's very stressed out with packing. I'm going to miss her a lot. As for other things, I'll be going back to Arizona on the 20th of August. I'd really like to come to Wisconsin but I wont have time this trip! So if you'd like anything from Japan, please let me know ASAP! Anyway, other than being really busy with work, I'm doing fine. Sorry if you haven't gotten any emails from me for a while. I assure you, I am still alive and I miss all of you.

And it's matsuri season right now in Japan. What this means: fireworks, snow cones, festival food (battered octopus - which I can no longer eat due to it nearly killing my mouth one time, yakisoba - fried soba noodles), and yukata (the clothing in the picture). See ya!

The Inaka

2007-06-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things that I don't like about living in the middle of nowhere in Japan. First, it takes forever to get anywhere. I have to drive and public transportation is a hassle. I don't have any friends nearby. I don't have a lot of work at school. I don't have a lot of conveniences that other people have, or even a grocery store. And so on...

But every once in a while, something minor happens and it reminds me how lucky I am to live here. Today, as I was coming home, a man was blocking the road (the car is tiny, but in relation to the road, it was huge) and I couldn't pass. I sat there for a few seconds, pondering what I should do because if I backed up, I'd fall off a cliff. He realized that i was behind him, and he moved up the road. Unfortunately, that's where I needed to go. So he kept going and turned into my driveway. Again, where I needed to go. We finally figured it out, and it was a challenge since there are very few places to go. I rolled down my window and apologized (I was a good gaijin!), and he smiled at me and bowed in return. I thought that was the end of that until he turned off his car and got out. This man was incredibly old, yet he took the time to get out of his car and bow really really low to me and say thank you and sorry for being in the way. I know it's a really simple thing, but after that, none of those inconveniences seem important anymore.