Guess who just re-contracted!

Here’s a definitive, but not all-inclusive, list of things I’ve learnt during these past 6 months living in Japan. Don’t judge me for the pettiness.

Things I genuinely don’t understand:

• The obsession with PPAP – It makes my life a living hell because I hear it almost daily, and god forbid I have to teach a lesson about fruits. I will admit though, I have found myself dancing along to it, and found the “Pan Pineapple Apple Pan” (pan is bread) at a nearby bakery to be quite ingenious.

• Don Quijote - a wonderful emporium where you can buy eggs, Tiffany jewellery and sex toys under one roof. I may not understand it, but it’s fabulous.

•  Why, Japanese people, do you complain it’s so cold and set the staff room heater to 25 degrees? Maybe, if you actually closed some of the windows in school, it wouldn’t be so baltic.

• Pee fright – Everyone pees, please stop with the obnoxiously loud river sounds produced by the toilets, or frantically flushing the loo when you hear someone enter.

Things that make me irrationally angry:

• Tatami mats – I practically have a pet in my house that I neither wanted nor asked for, but requires a ridiculous amount of sweeping and drinking red wine in anywhere but my kitchen levels up the risk factor by 100%.

• Shampoo and moisturiser – The cause of the most recent rant in my life. I am not dry, I do not need to be extra moisturised a.k.a made greasy. Happy to report I got shampoo and moisturiser for Christmas though yay.

•  Nobody holds doors open for anyone - I’m mainly looking at you, young females. How about making both of our lives a little easier and open the door, rather than squeezing through the smallest gap so you don’t feel obliged to hold it for me.

• Laces. I didn’t realise how many of my shoes are not practical for Japanese life, especially winter ones.

General life:

•  I’ve been craving a crumpet for about two months now.

•  In summer, I live in what is comparable to Satan’s sweaty paradise.

• In winter, when it’s -4, your apartment will also feel -4 because there’s no insulation.

• Finding underwear to fit your junk is impossible.

• The inevitable ‘what’s the best konbini’ discussion. I’m a Family Mart girl all the way (unless I want a yoghurt drink or chicken teriyaki onigiri. That’s the only time 7/11 makes a break for 1^st place).

• The lack of bins – However, the “garbage disposal Granny”, who inspects my varying bags of recycling daily, has finally left me alone because I’m more abiding than most of my neighbourhood. It’s sad that I even think that’s an accomplishment.

• I still don’t know why my ‘bathroom’ sink is by my front door.

  

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. I wouldn’t have signed a contract to spend another 18 months here if I wasn’t having a ball here in Kumamoto!

In fact, this is more something for me to look back on in the future, when many of these things having seemingly become the norm, so I can laugh at my foreignness in the early days.

Here’s hoping that I manage to continue my winning streak of "not dropping a bathroom slipper into a squat toilet" until July 2018.

Merry Christmas and 明けおめ！

Over winter break I went up to Kanagawa to spend time with my best friend’s family. As strange as it sounds, we did a “family swap”, with Haruka spending Christmas with my family, since she’s still studying in England. Mimi, their pug, sealed the deal for me.

I was as sick as anything for the first few days of the trip, so I was super grateful for being in an actual home rather than my apartment. Don’t get me wrong, I love my apartment, but it doesn’t quite have the homely feel you want when you’re feeling under the weather. I’ll admit, eating Christmas dinner was the first time I’ve felt really homesick my entire time in Japan. As you can see, I’ve got my priorities straight… missing roast dinners with my Dad’s gravy takes precedence over anything.

I choose not to speak Japanese around Haruka’s family, mainly because I never have done and don’t need to. Much to Haruka’s mums delight, she declared Christmas day was “Japanese day” because friends of the family were coming round for Christmas dinner. I thought she was joking until I was greeted by a cheerful “おはようございます” after just waking up, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought, more just weird talking to them in anything but English.

New Years was a fabulous experience: getting to eat toshikoshi soba at midnight, drinking sake to ring in New Year’s Day, and eating traditional ozōni and osechi-ryōri despite it being a texture nightmare (I’m looking at you, kamaboko). New Year was made even better by going on a morning stroll while Skyping my parents and getting a glimpse of Mt. Fuji in the distance; it really cemented the fact that I’m in Japan and I’ve actually started this whole ‘adulting’ thing.

During my time there I met up with a few friends, Cathy and Jae in Tokyo, Daichi in Yokohama; along with doing some exploring of my own. Here’s a little breakdown of some gems I found during my time there, and I’d definitely recommend going to if you’re ever up in the Tokyo area!

Dominique Ansel Bakery, Omotesando – I’ll admit I found this place scrolling through Instagram, but it’s so-called blossoming hot chocolate had me sold. It’s hidden in the back streets, and a cool place to go to get some strangely innovative desserts. I didn’t get my hands on one of their frozen s’mores (which they put on a stick and toast, might I add), or a cookie shot glass filled with milk, but I did try my first ever cronut... strawberry jam, chocolate elderflower ganache and mint sugar magic.

FYI: they change the cronut flavours monthly. If that’s not an invitation to return, I don’t know what is.

Starbucks Neighbourhood and Café, Tama Plaza Terrace – I’d heard a lot about these elusive Starbucks where you could by alcohol, and was pleased to find that although there’s 13 dotted around Japan, one of them was on my way home from Yokohama. 

I’m seriously bitter that my Starbucks wasn’t like this; selling beer, wine and allowing you to customise your coffee with whatever bean they had. I treated myself to a local Hokkaido beer which was recommended to me, and their food looked fabulous too. If you’re a fan of a chill atmosphere, whatever coffee you want and a little bit of booze, go, it’s very different from other Starbucks you’ll have been to.

 Kawaii Monster Café, Harajuku – A pink, sparkly, cute paradise. For me, at least. I’ve been wanting to go for a while and its outrageousness didn’t disappoint at all! It’s one of those places that leaves you wondering why it’s a thing, but I wasn’t complaining in the slightest.
The food was surprisingly nice, and I managed to time my visit to coincide with a show performed by the ‘Monster Girls’. 

It’s also given me some rather far-fetched ideas for my apartment. Hold that thought, in a few months I may have crafted some papier mâché macaroons for my bedroom.

T-site, Daikanyama – I never would have found this on my own if Haruka’s brother hadn’t recommended it to me. I took a trip to this Tsuruya book store one afternoon where you can browse to your hearts content and read anything you want. 

It’s got a whole at one with nature vibe, and is really more than just a regular bookstore. I was quite content with a coffee, reading a book about Kyoto, in what is considered to be one of the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Red Rock, Takadanobaba - Beef. Lots of it. A runny egg. Need I say more?

We climbed up a volcano. Well, we thought we did.

Something that’s proving a little difficult lately is actually exploring the hidden gems of both Kumamoto city and Kumamoto prefecture. Whenever I seem to have a free weekend, or take any nenkyuu (holidays), I always overlook my new home as a place to discover.

Thanks to impromptu plans with Sheridan and her friend Willem, who’s over from Australia, I recently got to finally visit Mount Aso and some other sights along the way.

True to form when you’ve made plans, the weather was absolutely shocking. Kudos to Sheridan to actually getting us there and back in one piece, since the mist was so bad up the mountains you could barely see… more on that later.

First we stopped at Yasemegane Bridge, but sadly couldn’t really see much since the earthquake damage in the area was so bad. It’s an ongoing theme in Kumamoto, with most areas at least having some areas closed off due to collapsed bridges and landslides. We then headed to Tsuujun Bridge, which will be a lot more spectacular in better weather, but we were treated to some random sculptures on the riverbank.

Sheridan played a blinder yet again with a fabulous little restaurant in Aso. The ceiling was covered with hundreds of knickknacks hanging down, dumplings, and “I don’t know what this is but its bloody good” dishes filling us to the gunnels. Anyone who visits me and wants to go to Aso, heads up, we’re eating lunch there.

Since the eruption of Mount Aso a few months ago, it’s a little bit more difficult to get close to the crater. We made it, despite roads being half cordoned off from landslides, to what we thought was the way to the view point.
After trekking up a hill and convincing ourselves we were almost definitely walking up the volcano, turns out the actual crater was in the completely opposite direction and we just couldn’t see it because of the fog. Pretty much sums up that dynamic you get when you put Sheridan, Willem and I in a car together and hope for the best.

Earlier on in the day we’d joked that the scenery resembled a Spirited Away plotline and we’d end up in a magical land in the mountains. Honestly, we all thought we had when we stumbled across a little German café in the middle of nowhere. Very Hansel and Gretel-esque, and I’m still not quite sure why it’s even there.

Either way, it was a laughter filled day despite us being cold, wet and stressed when every road we drove down to leave Aso was closed and we thought we’d be stuck there forever.
Let’s hope next time I go, I actually have better luck seeing the sights we’ve drove all the way for!

New places, new faces.

Tomi's Shortbread House
On my way downtown I pass a small, very British looking shop, but most days it's already closed before I finish work. I finally ventured in not too long ago, and I was so glad I did. As I walked in, I was greeted by the sweet Japanese owner who had the most London accent you could imagine. We spoke for over an hour reminiscing about England and she welcomed me with open arms & big hugs.
Today Tsuruya, one of the department stores downtown, currently has a British food fair. I spent my afternoon sampling craft beers, ciders, Welsh cheeses, marmalade & made a visit to the shortbread stand to spread my love to my new favourite baker in Kumamoto. It's nice to have somewhere to go where I can feel a bit of a home away from home, even if it's just to look at some tartan & smell some proper butter.

My new nail salon - Calm Place Palette
Following Okinawa, I had to find a nail place to frequent in Kumamoto, and the one I found did not disappoint! After exchanging numerous pictures I went to meet the most adorable girl ever, and spent my time teaching her some English. She was thoroughly amused by the word "thumb" of all things, and my Japanese is really benefitting from just chatting to her. I left so happy with how they looked, and all of my students love how I have Rilakkuma nails... cue the squeals of 'kawaii' at me daily.
Check out her Instagram @kao_comocomu and await the next designs we'll have in store!


Taiko
I went taiko drumming for the first time with Chloe & Kim, which is probably something you'd recognise being performed at various festivals around Japan. Within two minutes of walking into the room I already had a rather large drum thrusted upon me with no clue what to do. It's actually a lot more difficult than it looks, so we spent almost an hour practicing how to hit the drum properly, the positions they use, and how it all ties together.
The second half was more my thing, when I got given a tiny tambourine size drum and a stick with a ribbon. We began learning a dance that is going to be performed next year sometime, and bloody hell, talk about multitasking to the max! Everyone was so welcoming and even though that is miles away from me too, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to try again. Next time, I've promised myself to not just be aimlessly twirling myself around with a stick in my hand.
  

Kumamoto Sweetie Lady Bears

I know, what a name. I finally bit the bullet and dragged Sheridan along to try out some rugby with me. The girls were all so lovely and despite being a hot mess to say the least, I really enjoyed it! We actually train at the same sports park where the Rugby World Cup venue in Kumamoto is. The only downside is that there's a treacherous 40 minute trek to get there going through rice fields in the pitch black. If I don't blog again, you know I've been murdered by some haunted scarecrow.
I've no idea who saw me, but all the rugby lads at my junior high the next day were nagging me about when I'd come to watch them. This month, my schedule ties in really nicely with theres, so I'll actually be able to go and support them like they want.

In terms of the activities I've chosen, I'm a bit worried for my clumsy self being in proximity of my students. I now play rugby with two students, and go taiko drumming with another. The rugby girls kept it quiet until I saw them in school, cue me feeling like an awful person. My junior high school has 600 students alone, so I have to cut myself some slack when it comes to recognizing my elementary school students which are in utter abundance.
I can see it happening now though:
"Why do you have a broken arm?" "Keito-sensei tackled me."
"Why have you got a black eye?" "Keito-sensei hit me with a drum stick."
Nothing is sacred in this city anyway, since the Chinese whisper culture of what the foreigner is up to is ridiculous. Let's just hope I don't actually injure the kids.

Undoukai: The Japanese sports festival

Yesterday, I was asked to attend one of my elementary schools sports festivals. From the word go I was playing the clueless foreigner card, as I had no idea what was going on for the majority without asking a few questions.

The day was a mixture of the usual races, dance performances, and other events that were only comparable to something you’d see on Total Wipe-out. The second graders at all of my elementary schools have been wandering around with flower basket hats lately, and I finally got a chance to watch this schools rendition of hanagasa, or “flower basket dance”, which melted my heart.

One thing I absolutely loved about the day is that only certain grades compete in a designated race for that year. That meant all of the students got a chance to compete, and despite being split into the “red phoenix” or “white dragon” team, the amount of enthusiasm, teamwork and comradery was something I’ve never seen at sports days back home. It was lovely to see how the children also consider themselves one big family, with the 6^th graders taking it upon themselves to comfort the little ones if they came last or fell over.

Did I mention I got roped into racing 4^th graders in their 100m dash? God forbid a child is sick and their race has one less participant. At least I showed willing, and if anything, gave the kids a slight panic attack amidst their exclamations of “eh? Keito sensei?!” at the start line.

Along with bumping in to a few teachers from my other schools, who were pleased to know I was teaching their kids, I found a British companion. She has been living here for 15 years after coming to teach English, and found out about me thanks to a rather large picture of me in the school newsletter; one I was completely unaware of might I add. It’s nice to know someone who’s got their life settled in Kumamoto, but can also relate to the position I’m in. I’ve already been invited to afternoon tea too!

In the evening, I was invited to the schools enkai celebrating their successful day. This was hands down the liveliest enkai I’ve been to, as the teachers had the day off today. The highlight had to be everyone dancing to the music from the festival earlier, and I’m not sure what I loved more; the cute hanagasa by the 2^nd graders, or the drunken rendition at a Chinese restaurant using seat cushions in place of a flower basket. Once the words nijikai (second party) were mentioned, I had to put my foot down before being bullied into karaoke by my principal. He wanted to perform “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for me, something that will have to wait until next time, as I’m not usually one to turn down a bit of karaoke.

All in all, I had a great day, despite wallowing in self-pity at my desk now. I’m pretty sure I hallucinated the smell of a bacon butty earlier, which helps explain my current state, but here’s to regretting drinking a bottle of plum wine, and waiting for 5pm to come. Happy Monday!

Welcome to Kurokami Sunrise

Although it’s nowhere near being finished, I thought I’d give a little tour of my apartment here in Kumamoto. It’s not the biggest, but definitely more than enough space for just me, or any guests who want to visit *hint hint*.

I’m currently trying to put my own stamp on it, which is something that will take time, mainly due to people stopping me from buying “unnecessary” Hello Kitty items to fill the place up. I know I’ve started to hit adulthood though, since I now enjoy homeware stores a little too much, and my most exciting purchases lately were a blender and a kettle.

I have two tatami rooms, which I have a definite love/hate relationship with. The tatami is super comfortable to sit on, looks cute and I’m actually fond of the strange smell it has. However, I’m forever paranoid about spilling even the slightest bit of water, god forbid anything else, and it’s a nightmare wanting to move furniture without ripping it.

I’m still not used to the fact I have no dividing walls, just sliding doors I have to be more delicate with. That’s not to say I’m still not as heavy handed as I used to be, I pulled my shower off of the wall and hulked the door handle off all in the space of 5 minutes. All is well now, but next time I’m blaming it on an earthquake.

It’s lovely though now its cooler, and I can open all my windows and balcony doors and get a lovely breeze through my entire apartment. My balcony has a nice view of my neighbourhood and the river, while I love to nose at the main road when I’m cooking. That’s definitely going to be the scene from a zombie movie one day though; something about the konbini (convenience store) being the only light source on the road and my neighbourhood being so eerily quiet lends itself to the plotline quite nicely.

I live a little further from downtown than others, but not too far from Kumamoto University. Hopefully now their year is starting again, I’ll be able to befriend some cute students at the kobini to make up for it. There’s a little old lady in my neighbourhood, whose name I’m yet to learn, who shouts good morning at me from down the road most days too.

I’ve only met two of my neighbours, as they’re either too shy or home very late from work, but both were lovely. Even though I haven’t seen life in my building since, I don’t actually mind how silent my neighbourhood is at night.

It’s got a long way to go while I clear out all the stuff left from previous ALT’s, since I aim to stay here a little while. I said in the beginning, “I want it to look like a unicorn has thrown up in here”. Who knows, when I’m done it could be like a wacky warehouse of plush toys… they are my weakness.

Enkais- The ins and outs of Japanese work parties

I’ve been to two enkais now, one for my junior high where I spend most of my days, and one for an elementary where I’d spent only one day prior to the enkai. This should have been a precursor to what I was getting myself into in terms of their desire to use me as an excuse for a party, but they were both very different experiences.

There’s some enkai etiquette that first needs to be mastered:

• NEVER let anyone pour their own drinks, and never pour your own.

• When clinking glasses, always clink lower than your superiors

• Never take a sip before the “kanpai” (cheers)

• If you’re a girl, don’t sit cross-legged

With all these in mind, I headed to my first enkai with my junior high school. It was at an Italian restaurant, and I spent the evening with my five fellow JTE’s (Japanese Teachers of English), with a very informal conversation and environment. I could tell that it was really helping them get to know me better, we shared a lot of laughs, and now in school I have much more banter in the staff room. Just this morning, I got a playful slap from a teacher for taking the piss out of the shrine on her desk of a Japanese actor 20 years her junior.

One of the JTE’s is newly qualified and is the closest teacher I have to my age at any of my schools. We’re bonding too, with her sending me cute LINE stickers asking about my weekend, bitching about her boyfriend and only afterwards discussing lessons plans with me for the following week. I guess you could call her my first friend in the workplace.

My second enkai couldn’t have been more different. At this elementary school, barely any of the teachers speak English. It was held at a super fancy Chinese restaurant, providing free-flowing beer pitchers and lots of tapas like dishes. This was much more formal, as I was told to sit next to the vice-principal and await the principal’s arrival. Many speeches given at various interludes and I also had to give a little speech myself.

My night was spent trying to decipher slurred Japanese, mainly from my tantosha (supervisor), who told me in small terms he loved me, couldn’t wait to work with me, and proceeded to try to set me up on a date with one of the other young teachers. My principal is also super enthusiastic for me to practice calligraphy with her during my free periods as we did it last time I was there.

All in all, while enkai’s can get pretty expensive, and I barely had time to eat my food since so many people wanted a conversation with me, I got to experience two very different ones. Hopefully the enkais in the future, will be just as, if not more, entertaining.

Okinawa - A much needed tropical break

This past week, I went to Okinawa for 5 days with Sheridan, Clare, Ellen and Devin; fellow ALT’s in Kumamoto. It was honestly so needed, since I’d had a pretty crap week prior to going. I was getting super irritated at having no proper schedule, since I’m in a different school almost every day. That, combined with living alone, made me feel my life consisted of school, cooking dinner, doing chores, lesson planning for the next day, and being asleep by 10pm, day in and day out. I knew I needed a holiday when the fact I’d done laundry on Sunday, but it was stuck outside in torrential rain for 4 days and I couldn’t bring it inside because I have bamboo floors, pushed me over the edge.

Yet another typhoon was on its way, so we were praying our flight wouldn’t be cancelled. Thankfully it wasn’t, and even during our time there it barely felt like a huge typhoon was in the area. Kouri Island was beautiful, where we discovered a small café amongst the sugar cane fields. Miyagi Island was also another highlight, and I LOVED Makishi Public Market. We stayed in Naha, and the only way I can compare it to somewhere is that it is Japanese Miami. Parts of Chatan, with so many Americans everywhere, honestly made you forget you were in Japan at all.

I’ve been converted to loving vegan foods, something I thought I’d never say. I always overlooked those restaurants in the past, but we practically lived in them during our time in Okinawa. The food there was fabulous on a whole, and I ate at the best Mexican restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life. Go figure that’d be in Japan.

I’m also practically famous now too; after meeting some random Japanese guy, he introduced us to one of his friends who raps. Turns out he’s actually quite good and won some freestyle rap competition that was on Japanese TV, and even has a music video to speak of. Fast forward to him posting a photo on Instagram with me and 700 likes later, I’m now getting followed by all sorts of Japanese rap fans. Let’s just hope they don’t actually think I have any talent, it’s only drunk Caitlin who thinks she could challenge Nicki Minaj if the opportunity ever arose.

I wouldn’t say I’ve been fully rejuvenated after the trip to Okinawa, but it was a welcome break from work for a little while. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kids, but I could feel myself losing enthusiasm by the second. I’ll definitely be heading back to Okinawa at some point, hopefully going to some of the other more secluded islands closer to Taiwan. Now, back to the grind that is prepping for the speech contest my students have in a few weeks. Wish me luck and pray the children don’t develop Scouse accents!