Constant Headache


I have had a non-stop migrane since I got to Japan. I think it's from overusing my brain, it's not used to working this hard. The most menial tasks require a great amount of thought. For example, going to the gas station, which I did all by myself tonight. Its amazing. You don't actually pump your own gas here so you have to converse w/ the attendant guy! Difficult to do when you dont know what the HELL he is saying. On the upside,they wash your windows, fill your tires w/ air if needed, clean your rims and stop traffic so that you can leave the station all while bowing a-kajillion times-- oh yeah and pump your gas!

Before I go anywhere I have to get mentally prepared and come up w/ lists of pre-made sentences. One of what I need to say to get what I want, one of possible things that the other person may say, one of possible responses, one of directions, one just-in-case I get lost and need to ask for directions --happens A LOT !! I have become a walking post-it note FREAK! So after this long rant, all I want to do is sleep where I can dream in ENGLISH and dont have to worry about talking to ANYONE! Because I know I have to do it all over again tomorrow. When do you reckon that the headaches will finally go away? Hopefully soon. Goodnight!

People I see everyday:

The Sanjo Gang: Jenny, Paul (speaks Japanese and acts like our father), James, me, and Joey

Makiko (my best friend here) Will (Her boyfriend from Mississippi) , Lopaka (Mr. Hawaiin who lives in a city 10 minutes away) and Me (The left handed Japanese)

Shitada Big Snake Festival August 26th 2006: (8/26/06)

This is the last summer festival of the year that I get to go to. Shitada is a village about 20 minutes from Sanjo. It's tiny! Their festival is the Big Snake festival. They start a big fire in the middle of the festival and men carry in a big snake (represented by bails of hay) and throw it in the fire. It is to ask the Gods for rain in the coming season. I have no clue why they do this festival AFTER rainy season and not before. I asked some locals and they didnt seem to have a clue either: Just another tradition.

The snake has just gone into the fire....
The best part of festivals is the food! Even though I wasnt hungry I had tacoyaki (fried octopus in balls --really good, dont know it til you try it -- yakisoba, shaved ice, edamame, japanese crepes --below -- and cotton candy of course! No festival would be complete if I didnt leave w/ a HUGE stomach ache!
This is Naomi's son... Ryu-sei. He is really cool and likes anime. He is also the only person that will hang out with me in public! Even though in the pic above, he doesnt really look like he is happy! He really loves me! LOL...anyways this is a pic of him..We fought w/ those swords all night and then I pushed him down the hill! But I WON..all that counts! :)
This is Saya (Naomi's other daughter) She is sooo cute that I had to put this picture up! She likes me too..but I think its only because she doesnt know any better!

Of course no festival would be complete w/o HUGE FIREWORKS! (hannabe) Im so proud of myself for this picture! Its called Niagara Falls and it is set off the bridge over the Shinano River! Please take a moment to admire my AWESOME photography skills!! LOL
This is Jenny. Im sure you will hear lots about her. She is another ALT from North Carolina. She is REALLY excited about being in Japan as you will see! She bought this yukatta and wore it to the festival..she also bought this stuffed animal for 15$ and goes everywhere with it. Dont ask....because I DONT know.

Only in Japan
Random Picture:

-A grown man wearing light-up Mickey Mouse ears..AND allowing me to take his picture all while giving the THUMBS UP!!!! classic!

Update: I went to the Sado Earth Celebration on the weeekend of the 18th-19th. 1 hour drive and a 2 hour ferry later, I was on the tiny island of Sado, which you can drive end to end in about 1 1/2 hours. I didn't know that hippies existed in Japan, but apparently they do, and they were in full force this weekend -- and btw: hippies in Japan dont shower either! But its worse in Japan b/c it's 105 degrees w/ 85% humidity...the stench is almost overwhelming! Minus the hippies and long commute, Sado was GREAT! We saw Kodo which is supposedly the world's best Taiko drumming group...they perform all over the world and we were able to see them perform in their own backyard! I think the performance was about 2 hours w/ a 15 miuntes encore at the end!



About Kodō:
In Japanese the word "Kodo" means 2 things: "heartbeat" the primal source of all rhythm and, read in a different way, the word can mean "children of the drum." Kodo's aim is to play their drums simply, with the heart of a child.

They are baased in Sado Island they have been a major force in the post-World War 2 revitalization of taiko drumming, both in Japan and abroad.

Since their debut at the Berlin Festival in 1981, Kodo have given over 2800 performances on all five continents, spending about a third of the year overseas, a third touring in Japan and a third resting and preparing new material on Sado Island.

Traveling abroad, I do things that I would never even considering doing back in the U.S. Before this my mom taught me the defintion of camping was a 3 star hotel...now I know the true essence of camping. After KODO, we took a 20 minute taxi ride down to the beach, picked a RANDOM spot and set up tent. I set up a TENT! A 2 person tent that we modified to fit 3 of us. Remember: it is still over 100 degrees. We went to bed around 2 am in what felt like a pressure cooker (bright side: I didnt get eaten by mosquitoes that night--aparently they dont like boiling temperatures!)..anyways... a piece of info that I had forgotten is: The sun in Japan rises at about 4:30 in the morning! 2 1/2 hours of sleep in a tent on the beach makes for a very unhappy Kristen! I couldnt wait to get back to my little apt. (which now quasi feels like home) and take a much needed shower and nap!

-I forgot my camera so I'm waiting for Makiko to send me the rest of the pictures, as soon as i get them..they will be posted.

Monday was my first day of classes: Well, actually no classes, just school. Since the kids in Japan start school in April, they get summer vacation for the month of August. We start classes officially Sept.1. I am dreading this day. Imagine if you will: Me in an auditorium filled with the entire Junior High introducing myself IN JAPANESE!!!!!!!!!!! Its going to maybe be the most embarrasing thing ever! But hopefully I will get through it without passing out or tripping onstage or just making an overall ASS out of myself. We can only HOPE!

First day: watched Judo for the first time ever. It looked really painful. They asked me to join and I respectfully declined. Something about being thrown onto a mat and kicked around just doesnt seem appealing to me!

The guy in the glasses below is one of the English teachers. He gave me a 3 hours Japanese lesson today, in which I managed to be more confused after the lesson than when I started! For example: in Japanese omoshiroi means 2 things: funny and interesting. So if I were to say: Kanojo wa omoshiroi...We wouldnt be sure if I were saying she was funny or interesting. I guess you can just pick whichever one you want..and go from there...but it wouldnt make any sense if I were to say: benkyo wa omoshiroi ( my studying is funny?) or (my studying is interesting) funny just wouldnt work...Just a random point..but confusing nonetheless.

I also got to watch Kendo...ouch!
So here is an interesting story: I was told that male teachers need to watch their backs because bad ass little boys will come up behind them and SHOVE their fingers up the guys' butt: Its called the Conch or as we used to call it: A JAB. They also hit guys in the balls and climb all over them! They didnt warn us about the girls doing RANDOM things too. So...Im sitting there and the girl in the middle of the picture comes up to me and says: Booyyinne. And I was like: huh? and she said it again and again. Then finally I turned my head for just a second and her hand is clasped firmly around my CHEST! I got felt up by a 13 year old! If I wasnt so in shock I think I might have hit the poor girl..but all I could do was nervously giggle. James who is another ALT said that he figures that since their parent's tax money pays his salary they better get their money's worth and grab with 2 hands! Needless to say, I keep a close eye on grabby little hands from now on.

The perpetrator and 2 accomplises. They arent as innocent as they look..dont be fooled like me!

Only in Japan
Random Picture:


I like Hello Kitty as much as the next person, BUT DAYAM!

-actually I dont like Hello Kitty at all...but you get the idea.

Everything has been so hectic lately! Like always...

Sat: Nihongo Club, where local Japanese people who are interested in English come and teach us Japanese and in return we teach them English for an hour. Then to Niigata City (45 minutes away on the train) for a Beer Garden Enki. Basically, you pay 30$ and it's all you can eat and drink until they close at 2:00am.

This is the whole JET Group from Niigata Prefecture...We are all completely different but they are cool...well most of them...

Makiko and I drinking Chu-His (Korean Vodka, Sprite and Grape syrup) they are really good but stronger than beer, which I didnt know until I had 4 and then tried to stand up!! lol
After the Beer Garden, we went to a Karaoke Bar...I sang "Just Another Manic Monday" w/ our PA (Rosalind from England)...lets just say..it was ummm interesting!
I think these boys are singing "Barbie Girl" or something like that!!!

Sunday: Lunch w/ Naomia and then onto Kamoyama Koen (which is a park 30 minutes from where I live where you can feed squirrels). Then Maze Beach for Ros's Bday (she is 28) I am definitely the youngest person in our group as you can probably tell!!

This is Naomi's daughter: Saya. She is soooo cute and only 1 year old. She is already using chopsticks, I bet Fitzus cant even do this!!

Squirrel Park where you can feed the squirrels sunflower seeds...it was wierd feeding them when Stephen and Jeffrey are usually trying to shoot them w/ their guns!!..I think these were dfferent squirrels though because they were small and cute!!!

Maze Beach at Sunset (The only shitty part about the beach here, no waves....oh yeah and Jellyfish. 2 girls got stung while we were there) This is the beach where I got bit by a spider or mosquito or something and my foot swelled up huge and turned black and blue. I feel like a LEPAR...

I think that this is a river that goes into the ocean

story about my foot and my first culture shock experience!!
Sooo..I went to school this morning and asked the english teacher to take me to the hospital so that I can get a prescription for my foot b/c i cant walk on it. They call the hospital and it is CLOSED! since it is OBON week and apparently people in Japan dont need emergency care during Holidays, the hospital is closed along with every doctor and dermatologist! The only way that I could have gotten to a hospital would be in an ambulance !! So then, the teacher asks me to see it: he looks at it and says: "Thats not a spider bite, spiders dont bite humans! I have never heard of a person getting bit by a spider, but you go to beach. Must be jelly fish!" Now, Im not a genius and never claimed to be ....BUT I think I would have realized if I got stung by a DAMN JELLYFISH!!! He told me he has seen many jellyfish bites and this is what they look like...like he is some sort of F-in expert!!..his advice to me....put Ice on it and wait. So to make a looon story short, I still havent gone to the doctors, I still cant walk on my foot, and ice and WAITING does NOTHING for a "jellyfish sting"!!!!

here is a picture of another bite that I have..b/c my foot is tooo ugly and I wouldnt want ANYONE thinking that my feet look anything remotely like this one does now! I think that this is just a mosquito bite..but if i told the teacher, he would probably tell me that Mosquitos in Japan dont bite people...

Annnyyywayyys...moving on.

Monday and Tuesday: We had orientation in Uchino which is near Niigata City (1 hour away) If I get any more orientated, I honestly think Im going to SHOOT myself!!!

me on the train...do you know how uncomfortable riding a train w/ a skirt and panty hose + a jacket in 100 degree weather is??? FOR AN HOUR! anyhow...this is me, doing just that..trying to look happy!

Final Destination...it was a really boring seminar and they turned off the air conditioner at night! We all had curfews like we were in Junior High and I got bit by ANOTHER bug!

On the UPSIDE: I was walking through the train station and stumbled on these lovely ladies...lol. I like pink just as much as the next person but DAYAM!! I dont think this is what Koreen meant when she said that Japan was AHEAD of us in fashion!!

Random Picture:
Lets just say: I feel bad for the person who was given this license plate number!!! Im going to make sure not the cut him off before I'm in desperate need of an exorcism...which is probably closed this week anyways for OBON..

MY YEAR IN JAPAN!!

Me: sitting in the Hotel in L.A for Pre-Departure Orientation…my DAD on the side of me trying to get out of the picture…good job DAD! This is what we call: “business casual” lol!! J

Jill (left side of pic)- my roommate in Tokyo and Tomoko (right)- my very 1^st friend in JAPAN! Yay, I guess I’m capable of making friends after all!! LOL…Us in the airport (only waited for 4 hours in this room!)

Finally in TOKYO!!! This is an underground tunnel! We decided to venture out into the city the first night instead of going to seminars!!! I know, great start huh? That’s Tomoko and Terren

We went to a club on Saturday Night..well it was kinda a club, but we were just happy that they played American music!! Tomoko is in Blue, Terren in Black..LOL Tomoko turns BRIGHT RED when she drinks as you can tell!! J

Sunday Night: We went to Shibuya. This is where American movies are usually filmed! (Lost in Translation, The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, Matrix) It’s 11:00 AT NIGHT on a Sunday and look how many people are still in the streets…it was like this until 12:00 when we left.

Shibuya is a crazy place…

look what I found. Sooo random that I had to take a picture of it!!! Those are really talking CONDOMS!! LOL

There was also a fight in the streets. I don’t know if this happens very much because within 30 seconds (no joke) there were over 20 police officers and 5 guerilla men there to break it up and arrest the guy. I had to be the typical tourist and take a picture… but then I got in trouble and we had to go away… see that guy’s arm on the left, yeah?? He yelled at me in Japanese and pushed us away! Oops..

This picture is also from SHIBUYA! It’s a 2 story Starbucks!! We sat up there for an hour and people watched…this is where I took the picture of the street! This is when I thought: Japan isnt going to be so bad, they have all the stuff we have in the US, some of it is even better!!! BUT THEN…I moved to my “city” and got a big SLAP in the face! I got tricked… Sanjo isnt a city…it’s a town at best!

Last Dinner before we left! I guess the girls in the back were trying to get into the Japanese spirit or something throwing up the peace signs!!! Off to my “city”!!!! Tomoko is going to Shizuoka and Terren to Aomori!!!

Tokyo @ Night from 51 stories up

August 3, 2006, Thursday

IM HERE!!!!!!! The day started out bright and early at 8:00 a.m. I didn’t sleep very well because I don’t have an alarm clock and so I woke up every hour to make sure that I wouldn’t oversleep and miss Paul’s pickup. First we went to the City Hall to get our Ginko Cards (alien registration) and then to the bank to open up my own account. Then onto lunch and my Nichu School (2^nd school) which is my base school that I will visit twice a week. The guy was pretty nice but didn’t seem to speak English considering he was an English teacher. Interesting… At 6:30pm we went to the Language Salon where I met two really interesting people and learned a lot about Yukatas (summer kimonos).

The first was a lady who dressed me in a Yukata, remember left over right because right over left means that you are dead. She says that the back of the neck turn men on so make sure in Autumn and Spring that Yukata is pulled firmly to the neck. Another sweet spot is the akiles tendon so if you let men get a peak and slightly lift the Yukata, it is like you are flirting with them. Also, don’t show any of your chest b/c only fat and old people do it. Fat people do it because it elongates your neckline and makes your face look slimmer, and old people do it just because they are old. They say that small features on your face and to have a small face (whatever that means) is beautiful. They say I have a small face, so I guess I’m BEAUTIFUL! (…but we all already knew that!! J/k) Another fad is that young girls are tanning bright orange style and dying their hair bright blonde, and wearing white lipstick they are called Yamamba. I also learned that if I want to impress men to say: Oh-nik-i-yu for thank you because it is a word that only princesses say, so they will think that I am royalty and be really impressed! If I was trying to impress Japanese men than I might give it a try… but since I’m not really interested, it’ll just be something fun to know! Also when you where traditional sandals, don’t put your toes all the way in, your heel should be hanging out the back because they give you blisters between your toes. AND since its been giving people blisters since the beginning of time the Japanese have made it part of their tradition…those crazy Japanese! The craziest part is that when we were leaving she gave me the Yukata to borrow for the ENTIRE summer so that I could go to festivals and wear it!!! She is going to teach me how to tie the Obe correctly next week at Language Salon. I can’t believe how generous people are! I felt awkward accepting such a gift….I mean who does that?? Who gives a complete stranger a 400$ (probably more!) YUKATA w/ all the trimmings!!?!

The second lady was named NAOMI. She asked me to have lunch with her tomorrow at 10:00a.m and of course, I said yes. I think I’m going to take her some See’s Candy, I’m sure she will enjoy it. She is really nice and has 3 kids. I love her son’s name Ryushi –dragon star – pronounced Ru-Si in Japanese. (Remember for my son’s middle name possibility). She is also taking me to the YamadaDenki (electronic store) so that I can get a digital translator. I’ll write more about it tomorrow.

Here are pictures of the Sanjo and Nagaoka Fierworks..I don’t really remember which one is which but you get the idea.

For some reason, the fireworks (Hanabee) look really small in the pictures but truuuust me, they were huge. Some of them took up the entire sky! K I don’t know how to explain it. Umm…the ball they shoot up was supposed to be the biggest in Japan..It was a ball 6 feet in diameter. I guess you can actually see a replica of it and it looks like the size of my car but I didn’t see it, so Ill just have to take their word for it!

-These are all shot off on the other side of the Shinano River, which is the longest river in Japan.. You can see all the people sitting along the edge of the river!

I included this picture b/c I knew MOM would have a fit! LOL..look at how much this melon is! It’s the equivalent to something like a cantaloupe or something. Damn near $20.00 USD!!!

The language thing is REALLY hard! I always feel lost and my head hurts from concentrating so hard. I listen soooo carefully just to see if I can pick out a word or two and get the jist of the sentence! I’m sure I will write tons more about this but I’m tired now and have to wake up early to go to lunch!! Goodnight.

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Update: Today was 105 degrees!!!!!!

I bought a car and a cell phone (the number is:08031915558) just in case you want to make a super duper long distance phone call!

This is my car…I wish I would have taken a picture standing next to it so that you can see how small it is.. It is a yellow plate which means the engine is less than 600ccs (whatever that means)…the guy at the dealership kept saying: MUCH different than Mustang, NO POWA (power)!

but I wanted this one.. ITS PINK!! But it was 50$ more a month…oh well..

Friday we danced in the Sanjo Festival. I know it may be confusing but Im the one in the middle...and these ladies were 5'2 sooo I'm crouching wayyyy down.

The past two days we have been working at Osaki Camp to teach kids the value of volunteering and international studies. It is so cool, but kinda tiring. All we do is talk to kids all day and help them with English, then cook lunch with them and play games…and the best part about it is that we get paid for it!

This is a Somen drain. We had Somen for lunch obviously. Soo..here’s how it works. These handy-dandy guys set up the shoot! They attach a hose at the top and send water down the shoot like a water slide…

The old lady at the left puts the Somen noodles into the shoot and the people all line up w/ chopsticks and try to catch noodles as it goes down the Shoot.

Yummy…OH! And also we carved our own chopsticks and bowls from bamboo. It took about an hour in order for mine to somewhat resemble anything like Hashee!!

This poor student had the very end spot! Needless to say, he didn’t really get any noodles b/c they were all picked off by the time they got to him…sooo sad, now I know why Japanese kids are soooo skinny (cuz they have to fend off their classmates for their food, only the STRONG SURVIVE!!!)

LOL…since Japanese kids always throw up the peace sign. I tried to show them how we do it in CA. The backwards GANGSTA GANGSTA sign..doesn’t really look all that gangster-ish but they got a kick out of it and posed like this for the rest of the pictures!!

Things have been so hectic. We get up at 7:30ish every morning and work til 5. But since we just got here, we have been doing tons of errands so usually we don’t get home til 10 or so. Needless to say, I have not really set up my apt the way I want to yet. I still need to pick up my car tomorrow and then after that I can drive around all by myself, get lost, and hopefully eventually find my way home! I actually got home somewhat early today at 4:00p.m and was soo tired that I crashed for a couple hours. I’m still waiting for my internet to get here. It is taking FOREVER!!! I just applied for it on Saturday and it usually takes 2 weeks but since Obon is this week, it may take 3. So I am looking at getting it around the 22ndish.

Jenny and James (the other 2 ALTS) get here tomorrow. I have to find my own way down to the City Hall before 11:30a.m. and since we all know how I am with directions, I’m thinking I’ll probably leave super early because I have to walk there in heels, 100 degree weather, 90% humidity, and with the help of 0 street signs. Apparently they don’t believe in them here, just like they don’t believe in stopping at red lights – but that is an entirely different story!

Reminder: buy Stephen nice hashee and geenbei (even though he is an Ass)

Think of something to buy Jeffrey