Time flies

I can't believe its already February! I have definitely not been following through with updating this blog as planned, but maybe thats a good sign anyway.

January brought my birthday, so now I'm another year older but I keep forgetting and telling kids I'm 25. Its confusing when they manage to communicate that question, I answer them, they are excited to understand, then I backpeddle and remember I'm older and try to explain that I'm actually 26. Then they look at me a little skeptically, maybe wondering if they're confused, I'm confused, or I'm just lying to them. Passing 25 just makes me feel pressured to have my future more in order, as always. More on that in a bit.

January also brought Jon to Japan. He has been here one week and two days now and its going well. Its crazy to have him around after six months apart, but its great and so exciting to take him to all the places I've told him about and introduce him to my friends here. I am adjusting to having someone else living in my tiny apartment with me, he is adjusting to living in a tiny apartment and in Japan. Due to working all week and not having much free time in the evenings, we didn't get out of the house much until this weekend.
Actually, last Wednesday, I had a Japanese lesson and brought him along. The idea was that he would wait and read a book while I did the lesson and then we could rush off to Kasuga Taisha (a large shrine in Nara Park and a World Heritage Site) where they were lighting thousands of lanterns for the the holiday called Setsubun that celebrates the beginning of spring. The Japanese lesson is strange, as its just for the six JETs that live here in Saidaiji and work in Nara and is taught by other foreigners who speak Japanese fluently and are studying to be teachers here in Nara. They are from all over, Romania, Vietnam, China, Korea, etc. and this is the third lesson we have had like this. Usually the six of us JETs in Saidaiji give night seminars on Wednesday every few weeks that elementary school teachers in Nara come to to learn about teaching English in Elementary school. That always feels ridiculous to me as I am just beginning to have an idea about how to teach and most of them have been teaching for years and trained to be a teacher before that. Its part of our job though. Anyway this is the third time that the tables have been turned and instead the JETs are taught a random Japanese lesson and the elementary school teachers get to come watch and are supposed to observe something about how people learn a second language and also it gives the people studying to be teachers a chance to practice on us. So after arriving, Jon was quickly invited to join us despite not knowing any Japanese at all. He survived the hour and a half or so lesson in Japanese, with much less anxiety than I thing I felt upon arriving and being put in such situation. I think the only time that was stressful was when he was surrounded by several Japanese women trying to teach him the names of body parts and quiz him on them and teach him the short dialogue. Its a little overwhelming to have your first Japanese lesson be in front of an audience.

Anyway, the lesson went too late for us to make it to Kasuga Taisha, so we just went home. This weekend we went to Osaka on Saturday for a masquerade ball put on by Nara, Mie, Hyogo, Osaka and Wakayama AJET (a JET association that puts on lots of events and has different groups in every prefecture). It was mainly to raise money for Haiti, and they never said how much was raised exactly, but we had a really good time dressing up and seeing everyone's masks. Sunday we went to Nara park and walked around up past Kasuga Taisha and past some smaller shrines. Jon got to see deer up close for the first time, though they weren't being very friendly so there was no petting happening. Hopefully next time.

Let's see...I also started taking a pottery class at the beginning of January. I have had 4 lessons so far and I am just learning the basics. I have made a bowl, a small cup, several plates...my teacher is teaching my the methods and then after we get through that in the next month or two I can make whatever I want. It is a really small shop with only a few students each night, but they produce really great work. They have a website but I can't find it right now so I'll post it later if I find it. I have class every Monday night and its a really nice time to go sit and relax for a couple hours, focus on clay, and attempt to talk to my teacher and the other students. I haven't finished anything yet, but I'll post pictures when I do.

And last but not least for today......I'm officially signed up for a second year in Japan! It seems so strange since I'm only halfway through my first year to be deciding this, but the paperwork was due February 5th so now I'm officially here until July 2011. Unless some thing completely unexpected happens, which I guess wouldn't be all that crazy, I will not extend for a third year and will come home at that time. Although I have absolutely no idea what I mean by come home because I still have no idea where I will be moving to and what I will be doing there. Actually, I have several ideas, but no real plans yet.

I'm still planning a visit back to the US this summer though. I should be there 3-4 weeks from late July through mid/late August. I'll be primarily visiting Chico, San Francisco/Bay Area, LA area, and Lander, Wyoming. I'll give you some dates when I have them settled and we can make dates.

Happy New Year! Farewell 2009

Greetings from the new decade!

Yesterday I went back to work, so my winter holiday is officially over, but I'm feeling ready to get back to work. There's a lot to be accomplished, learned, taught, explored, eaten, seen, and much more this year. I had a lovely break, spent time at home time to family and friends back home, had a Christmas party, did some Japanese style pre-new year cleaning, took care of an insane kitty for a couple friends that had the great timing to go into heat while staying here, had a great delicious dinner with Seiji Christmas eve, spent a relaxing Christmas day at a friend/teacher that I teach with and her sons, went to a second end of year dinner party with some Miato junior high teachers and the principal, and got to experience a wonderful and very Japanese New Year's by staying with a teacher from Miato Elementary and her husband and son for New Year's eve through New Year's day.

I began the vacation a little disappointed I wasn't traveling anywhere what with so many JETs going on awesome trips or just getting to go home for the holidays and be with their family and friends, but in the end, I had so many lovely experiences, learned more Japanese and more about Japan, and had some fun times out with friends. Altogether it was everything a break should be.

I began 2010 at Toshodaiji amidst many people, all wishing for good things to come for ourselves and our family and friends in the coming year. As we all crowded through the temple and back out in the freezing cold and home to baths and beds, I thought of 2010 and what is to come in this year in Japan. I look forward to moving through the seasons and seeing more sides of Japan. I look forward to learning more and more Japanese, seeing more of the country, and getting to know my community here more. I look forward to improving as a teacher and becoming more integrated in my schools. I look forward to learning more about myself and the world. I look forward to figuring out my post-JET plans and continuing on this journey. I look forward to Jon's time here with me, and all my friends and family that will hopefully make it to visit, and sharing with you my new life here!

I hope that you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday break as well and that 2010 brings you happiness, health, and the fulfillment of your resolutions!!!

If you'd like to check out pictures of all I've been up to, go to my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katiecaminadora/collections/72157623143693108/
There are lots of captions!

Also, I just realized I never posted pictures from our Kinosaki trip...promise I'll get around to that soon!

Cheers,
Katie

Kinosaki, cross-cultural experiences, and blog linkage

This weekend I went to Kinosaki with three friends, Tara (another ALT, from New York), and two Japanese friends, Mayumi and Aiko. We had a really great time. I will post very soon with pictures and details about the trip. We had some very Japanese experiences and generally relaxed all weekend and learned new Japanese words (Tara and I) and new English words (Mayumi and Aiko). The trip has left me feeling very happy, relaxed, and content.

During the trip, so many very interesting cultural differences came up, when we realized we had different expectations or ideas about certain situations, and through talking. Mayumi and Aiko both had a lot of interesting questions about American culture. One thing we were talking about on the way home was our homelives, as in what we do at home, what our homes are like, and a lot about shoes in the home (or not, as in Japan). It turns out, it is not so different at all, but we each had very different expectations of the other. I think when we learn about the daily lives of people from another culture we usually learn about quite traditional ways of living. For example, I learned in Japanese class about Japanese families eating on the tatami mat at a low table and generally spending a lot of time on the tatami mat floors. Both Mayumi and Aiko said they spend almost no time on the floor, and actually Mayumi said they very rarely use the tatami room, except on very special occasions with visitors. Her family has a couch in the living room and eats at a western style table, and in general their house is quite western. This is not really so surprising when I think about it, but it made me realize that without realizing it, I had a very traditional image of Japanese daily life in my head, even though many Japanese people today are not living like that. Interestingly, the ideas that they had about American daily lives were a little different, in that they were not more 'traditional' than we actually live, but more based on American movies and TV shows, like most ideas people have about other countries. I really love learning about people's ideas about America and American life, and talking to them about the reality (at least for the part of America that I'm familiar with), and also talking to them about my ideas of their culture and hearing the reality. It is so interesting and generally very very amusing. There were a lot of Japanese people staring on the train....and most of the weekend possibly....

I was looking up a couple things online about Japanese culture and I came across a blog that a woman who lives in Tokyo writes called Here and There Japan. She posts about everyday things in Japan, including many cultural insights. Its written with a focus on children so most of her entries are very short and simple. I really love looking at it! She shows you the kinds of things that you usually would not learn about unless you came and lived in Japan. Also, I like that she seems to notice the very small things, which I also like to notice. Check it out if you are interested!

I meant to post a few sentences and ended up going on a bit. Maybe I should start proofreading and editing these entries.....not today though.

More to come soon about Kinosaki!

Take care,

Katie

Anthropology

For any anthropologists reading this (and everyone else)....

A friend of mine posted this video of a girl singing a song she wrote about anthropology. She says she was recently asked to play it at the AAA meeting in December. That's because anthropologists are awesome!

A note on shipping to Japan

So, I have had several people asking for my mailing address and rather than explain to each person what the shipping situation is, I thought I would just explain here for anyone interested. This is just what I've gathered from advice and my research to ship some of my things over for the best deal, and the short experience I've had with it thus far.

The two best options for shipping from the US to Japan are the US Postal Service (USPS) and Yamato Transport. I have heard of Yamato Transport being referred to as basically the UPS of Japan, but they also have a great overseas shipping service (at least to the US) that I am not sure whether UPS has or not.

First of all, if you are shipping anything normal letter/card size, USPS is the way to go, Yamato only does packages.

Now, on to packages. USPS international package shipping prices are here.

Basically, you can ship the average flatrate box (that you get at the post office) of up to 20 lbs. for $42 (11"x8.5"x5.5") or $54 (12"x12"x5.5"). As the size of box and weight goes up, the price increases vary, so I'll leave it to you to figure out pricing for other packages sizes.

With Yamato Transport, they have a service called Besso Takkyubin to ship from USA to Japan. If you are shipping a small package, it is no cheaper, and possibly more expensive than USPS. However, if you are shipping a large package, it can become much cheaper. A large box from Lowe's (61cmx45.7cmx45.7cm or 24inx18inx18in) was shipped to me for about $117 through Yamato. It contained clothes and backpacking gear, though I am not sure of the exact weight.

So, my suggestion is that if you're planning to send something, it might be worth the time and effort to arrange with others who plan to send something to ship as a group in a larger package and split the shipping.

If you would like my address and don't have it yet, feel free to send me a message and I'll pass it on to you!