Gaijin Girl

Something weird about Japan is that almost all of the food contains mayonnaise–pastries, pizza, you name it. Who would have thought? Another thing that I didn’t expect is that they love cream and cheese, although most of the cheese that I’ve found is processed! Cakes are very popular here, thank goodness. Another novelty that I’m enjoying is individual circles of cheese wrapped up like peppermints in candy wrappers that you can set out in bowls for visitors to your home! Everything here is extremely packaged. When I unwrap something, there may be two or three more packages or containers to open before I can finally uncover the product! It’s quite wasteful, of course, but very aesthetically pleasing. Another strange thing is the fashion. Gifu kids are stuck in the 1980s. I constantly find myself staring at every other passerby in amusement and disbelief. Are they seriously wearing that in public? They really looked at themselves in the mirror and thought that their outfit was acceptable? Whoa!

Another thing that I am not used to yet is the amount of people who are constantly on the streets. I experienced my first train ride during rush hour the other day. It was pretty horrifying; I was literally held up on the train by everyone around me, so I didn’t need to grab onto the hand rails to steady myself while the train was in motion. Getting off the train was also pretty interesting. I was carrying a large bag, which I tried to maneuver between bodies. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too successful in my attempts not to whack anyone in the head on my way off the train. When walking down the sidewalk, I must constantly swerve to miss hitting pedestrians and bicyclists speeding past. All of the cyclists ride on the sidewalks here rather than the road! The sidewalks are crowded about 75% of the time. Most people in Japan think of Gifu-Shi as a tiny town; some compare it to the southeast or midwest of the US because it is considered to be such a rural conservative area. Perhaps because I’m from Mississippi, I find the city to be nothing of the sort! Each day I wish for more grass and less people!

Today I broke down. Maybe it was a result of being intensely confused all the time. Maybe it was because I can’t read anything around me or because I can’t ask anyone for help. Maybe it was because I miss my old life in my country with everyone I know. Maybe it was the political rally taking place outside my window of which I couldn’t understand a word. Luckily, Josh was around and said all the right things. I’m intelligent, capable, etc.; it’s just really fucking hard sometimes when everything around you is unfamiliar and, well, foreign.

So the current drama at my work is that the most recent paychecks were two days late for all employees in Gifu-Ken (prefecture), and the associate trainers (my supervisor being one of them) still haven’t been paid; they are supposed to get paid tomorrow, which will make their checks four days late! Welcome to Nova; yay! I think some of the students are picking up on the low morale of some of the employees, which is inevitable after such a thing. Our kids’ trainer, who has worked at Nova for four years, quit yesterday. Apparently, a few months back, Nova got into trouble for refusing refunds to students who didn’t use all of their lessons within the mandated time constraints. The Japanese government didn’t take very kindly to these practices and suspended Nova’s advertising privileges for six months and now limits the number of lessons our staff can sell to students at one time. These restrictions have reduced Nova’s profits–apparently substantially–so that they didn’t have the funds to pay all of their employees on time! Nova also pays our rent, so many employees are worried that our rent may have been late this month. The most disconcerting part about all of this is that the higher-ups in the main Nova office in Osaka have offered no real information about these occurrences to the employees; word just floats around from branch to branch, so I have no idea what is actually happening with our company!

It would really suck if this job doesn’t work out for me because of the arrangement that I have with Prescott College to count this term as part of my Master of Art Program studies. However, if worse comes to worse, my friend David in Tokyo has promised both Josh and me jobs making more than we make now and paying less rent. While that idea sounds great, the idea of another move so soon makes my heart skip a beat, so hopefully all of this Nova shit will calm down, at least until January when my practicum will be complete and I won’t have to worry about losing tuition money if I quit my job.

The good news is that I like everyone that I work with at my branch so far! I also really like the students. I am not too keen on teaching Voice, however, especially when the students are really shy or hesitant to talk, which seems to be pretty often so far. I also really like working with the kids!

I am pretty much exhausted after each shift though. Making conversation in simple terms all day can be draining! After work I find myself analyzing my grammar in my casual conversations with Josh. Paying attention to each word spoken and heard all day is an interesting experience.

Last night Josh and I explored Gifu-Shi a bit and found a video rental store and an Internet cafe with a printer! Of course we got lost for about an hour while trying to find the Internet cafe, but the walk was still fun, and we got to see a new area of our city.

Today, despite my slight mental breakdown, was a good and productive day. I headed to the post office to send some important mail to Prescott College after a late breakfast and then took advantage of the fact that Josh was sleeping in to check out some stores he’d hate to go in–a couple of beauty product import stores and a women’s clothing boutique. Though I have no money at the moment, I was window shopping for the future. I discovered that I may not be able to find any dresses or pants in my size, but there were several cute shirts that fit me on sale for less than $5!

After my window shopping spree, I headed to the train station to sign up for Japanese classes. I met my teacher, set up my lesson schedule, and received my workbook. I signed up for ten lessons and bought the workbook–all for about $38!

I met up with Josh later, and he suggested that I might have received my cash advance from work, so we stopped by the bank to check it out; lo and behold Nova had deposited about $1200 (120,000 yen) in my account! So I went back and bought some hair products at the import store. Then we went in search of a bicycle shop for which a friend had given us directions.

On the way we found the cutest area of Gifu-Shi I’ve seen yet! We walked through cobblestone streets lined with vintage clothing shops, coffee shops, and parks. We stopped off at a temple where a man was kneeling on a platform chanting and beating a drum. Two people were seated in prayer fashion in the pews below him, while we stood behind a gate and watched. The room was absolutely beautiful; there were lights covered with paper and wood and ornate carvings along the walls and ceiling. The building itself was colored with red, green, and white, and the roofs were majestically shaped. Their tiles resembled Spanish-style roofs. In the courtyard was a fountain with a beautifully carved dragon’s mouth spewing forth the water. Resting in the fountain were several dainty cups emblazoned with Japanese characters. What exactly we were supposed to do with the cups I’m sure was inscribed near the fountain, but of course we had no idea what any of the writing said.

After this brief stop, we found an outdoor supply store. I bought a giant titanium water bottle that was on sale due to an inventory error. The shopkeeper spoke very good English and directed us on to the bicycle shop. I ended up not purchasing a bicycle today because I really want to buy a used one, and this shop didn’t have any in stock. The bikes there were about $93 and included baskets, racks, and the lights attached to the wheels that are powered by pedaling! They are all cruiser style bikes, and none had a seat tall enough to fit me! One came really close, and I’ve noticed that most people sit really low when they ride cruisers, so I’m sure that it would have worked out. However, I’m holding out for a used one, if possible. One of our friends told us about another bike shop that we plan to check out tomorrow.

After we left the bike shop, we strolled through an open air market where I bought some beautiful flowers and fresh vegetables! One of the shops in this area was a hip hop shop where two young African-American men were working; imagine my surprise to turn a corner in an open-air market in Gifu, Japan and be greeted with a, “Yo, what’s up?” by a large black man! You never know what you’ll see next in this city! Another store in this area was called “Hyper Convenience U.S. Mart” I can’t think of a better way to describe our country! This was a 100 yen (similar to the dollar store but way better!) shop where we bought some groceries. I don’t think I’ll go back though; seeing all of the Japanese clerks wearing American flag aprons while ringing up our cheap shit was a little too weird.

Finally we headed toward home, and I went down to the walk-in clinic across the street from our apartment. After many gestures, pauses, repeating, and waiting, I had prescriptions for two new inhalers, which were filled ten minutes and $90 (including the doctor’s visit and both inhalers with no insurance coverage!) later.

After practicing my Japanese (I feel like a kindergartner when tracing all the characters and associating them with pictures, but, hey, it’s working, I think!), enjoying a yummy dinner, sharing some wine with Josh, and downing my new favorite drink–the ready made cocktail in a can for only 105 yen (about $1.05)–I am beginning to feel much better about my life in Japan.

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Work is a little dreary so far, but I continue to be amazed by the genuine politeness of the Japanese people. The other day I was searching for random things in the Gifu area in which I am interested. One of these interests was yoga; I found an e-mail address for a local yoga teacher online and sent her an e-mail in the long shot that she would write back (hopefully in English!) The next day I got a really nice e-mail from her not only providing me ample information about the yoga class but also offering to help me with anything that might be confusing to me in the Gifu area (in English, nonetheless). Her exact words were, “Are you feeling troubled in life? I can help you.” Such an e-mail might sound a little creepy if I received it in the States, but this is how many Japanese people are–genuinely interested in helping people feel comfortable and trying to communicate in the politest way possible. It is also quite notable that she replied in English; many Japanese people undergo much embarrassment when they speak English, as they wish to sound native and natural in their speech and realize that they often don’t. Many Japanese people will refuse to speak English to a native speaker, even if they know the language quite well, in order to avoid the embarrassment of making a mistake! Although our students obviously overcome this shyness when speaking English with us, I can still detect traces of it. All of our students also seem to exhibit a genuine desire to help others and do the right thing, which I find very admirable.

I have become a little more confident about living in Japan; I’ve even been eating out recently! Of course this means that I’ve accidentally bought more items containing meat, but I have learned some handy vocabulary words to deal with this situation. Although I dislike not seeing Josh all day because we work at different offices, it is good that I don’t have him around to depend on for speaking to people all the time. This time apart has increased my desire to learn the language quickly, as Josh isn’t there to ask the store clerk if this noodle package contains meat when I’m on my lunch break.

Yesterday I worked at a different branch than my usual one in Ogaki called Loc City Ogaki. I will be working there every Sunday with two young American men. I enjoy working there because we aren’t that busy, so I get a lot of one-on-one time with the students, and there are many children who come in for lessons. Working with the two guys however is pretty challenging. They both seem to be pretty misogynistic and talk a lot about how hot many of our female students are, in addition to many other charming things. One of the guys and I ride the train to and from work together on Sundays as well. While it is nice to have someone to talk to (in English!), he can be pretty obnoxious in public, which completely embarrasses me! For instance he delights in calling out to other people in the street or roaring at passersby. On the train he intentionally bumps into people and laughs. He’s explained to me that he really gets a kick out of scaring the little meek people. He seems like a genuinely nice person, and his antics are in good fun and are typically surprisingly well-received by most people. However, I really don’t like to perpetuate this negative perspective of foreigners that so many Japanese people share, so I try to limit the amount of time I spend in public with that guy.

Today Josh and I had our first day of kids’ training. The training strategies for this company leave much to be desired. Anyway, today consisted of a lot of holding hands, jumping up and down, and singing the ABC’s. I’m serious. Then, because of a scheduling mishap on the company’s part, we had to go to another branch in Nagoya and spend the evening teaching lessons. It was actually not bad because the branch where we taught is really cool. Everything is super organized, and we met a lot of nice people. Nagoya seems quite fun; there were many people playing music and selling artwork on the street as we made our way back to the train station. I hope to be able to make jewelry or other crafts and sell them there one day!

I should have time for making crafts and such because we only work 32 hours per week. However, with transportation time, we definitely spend over 40 hours working each week. It’s not like riding a bike half a mile to work, like I’m used to doing! We often have to take a train and a bus and then walk during our commute to work, depending on where we’re teaching each day.

At work tonight I taught a Voice lesson, which does not follow a formal lesson plan. Each Voice session is open to any number of students who are speaking English on any level. Voice lessons usually have a general topic that is chosen by the instructor, and the lesson usually consists of free conversation among all the members. Tonight I thought that we would talk about our interests and what there is to do in Nagoya so that I could get some information about the city! Somehow, however, we ended up talking about Mexican immigrants in the United States and if undocumented residents should be allowed to remain in the States. Each student seemed to have a pretty conservative opinion on the subject, and I tried to remain as objective as possible. However, I was soon labeled as “empathetic” by a student who had lived in the States for 3 years, so I guess my opinion showed through a bit. Although I was worried about discussing such a controversial subject with the students, the conversation remained respectful.

Tonight when I got home from work, I talked to my friend David on the phone. He and I were friends when we lived in Mississippi, and he now lives in Tokyo with his wife, baby, and another one on the way. It was really fun to talk to him because he wanted to talk about politics and starting the revolution in Japan. It was interesting to get to have an intellectual conversation with someone after teaching people what to say when they meet someone new all day (“Are you new here? Yes, I moved here two weeks ago.” This is one example of what I talk about for seven hours each day at work!) It was also quite hilarious because he was pretty drunk! I’m glad we had this conversation, but it made me miss all of friends a lot more!

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We actually didn’t make it into Nagoya until today. I think Josh and I spent most of that Sunday I last wrote arguing over what to do with our day. Moving to a new country together has been rough. The move implies a major commitment that I’m not sure either of us was quite ready to make. Living together–with no one else around–has also proved quite difficult. We are used to having one or more roommates. With just the two of us, our apartment is a little quieter than I had expected. Of course it doesn’t help that we can’t communicate with many people around us, so making friends is a pretty limited endeavor. It has seemed like things between Josh and me are improving this week though. I think it is because we have started work and are meeting more new people.

On Monday we started our training program. Our trainer was–shall we say–impersonal. The first day of training was incredibly boring, and the evening was intimidating, as we were required to teach a lesson with very little preparation. Almost no feedback was offered after the lesson, which added to my worries. After a debriefing session with our fellow trainee and new friend Fran, Josh and I fell into an exhausted sleep.

Tuesday was a little better. Our trainer lightened up a little, and we taught two more lessons, this time with a little more preparation. While these lessons went perfectly by no means, I really enjoyed getting to know my students during the 40-minute sessions. They were extremely polite, eager to learn, curious, respectful, and hilarious–every teacher’s dream! One of my lessons was attended by a young woman and older man. I was teaching about popular vocabulary that can be used in a situation where one person is worried about an upcoming event and another person reassures them. The male student was expressing his worries about an upcoming presentation, and the female student assured him that he could always “get drunk” so he would no longer be worried! Of course I had not taught this vocabulary in the lesson; the student knew these words and tossed them in for comic relief. When she said this, the old man started giggling, so of course I exploded into laughter as well. Soon all of us were laughing hysterically. This is one thing I really love about being here; everyone seems to laugh at everything, which helps us all to feel more comfortable.

Tuesday night after work, Josh and I were supposed to meet some friends at a pub that is popularly frequented by both foreigners and Japanese patrons. However, we showed up late and couldn’t find our friends. The pub was quite cute but also quite expensive. We had a quick drink and then took a short walk in the park right next to our apartment before returning home for the night.

On Wednesday we taught three lessons to students. This was the best day of training. We also met all of the people who work at the Gifu branch, which is right down the street from our house! Unfortunately we have to take trains to the branches where we will be permanently working. Josh has to take a train, a bus, and a taxi to his branch every day! After work we went out to dinner with everyone from the Gifu branch and a couple of other Nova employees who live in Gifu-Shi. We went to this really cute place where everyone has to remove their shoes in order to enter the second floor, and the seating consists of cushions positioned around low tables. Our trainer ordered tens of appetizers for all of us, taking care to include all of the vegetarian dishes available in the order. They actually had four vegetarian options and an English menu! Soon everyone was ordering drinks, especially one character who was getting quite sloshed and kept ordering strange concoctions such as “chocolato minto” and “pineapple peach.”

When the bill came, I pitched in about $20 to pay for my three drinks ($12 total) and my share of the food. (There is no tipping in Japan.) Josh put in about $20 for his three beers ($9 total) and share of the food, even though he didn’t eat anything. After everyone had thrown down their money, we were about $70 short. A few of us began adding more money; Josh and I ended up spending $70 between the two of us! The person who had ordered the 9 cocktails was so drunk that he wasn’t paying attention to the payment procedure, and his wife appeared to be oblivious as well. She appeared to be in denial that her husband was drunk or that he had ordered that many drinks and remained so until the server assured her that her husband did in fact owe about $70 for his drinks. Even when this was pointed out to her, she paid about $50 for both her and her husband total. Josh and I ended up paying $20 more than that couple, and another guy ended up paying $55 just for himself! We tried to point this out to the couple with the drunk husband tactfully because we had just met all of these people, but they didn’t seem to pick up any hints. They kept bringing up other topics when anyone tried to discuss the bill with them. Although the food and drink were merry, the end of the night was so disappointing that it made me quite reluctant to go out to eat with a big group of people any time soon! That evening was quite out of my budget! I had planned on spending $20 at most. So although there are a few bars and restaurants around our apartment that Josh and I want to check out, we have been avoiding them so that we don’t spend any more money! I can’t wait until we get paid so that we can explore some more!

I requested a cash advance because we are not supposed to receive our first paycheck until October 15. I am quickly running out of money, so I am excited about this! Josh, however, did not request an advance. He did bring almost $300 more than me to Japan, but he is still pretty worried about spending money, so I have to convince him that it will be okay any time I want to buy a green tea or chocolate.

Yesterday we woke up late after our night out on the town and went to the Internet cafe, where I have become quite a regular. Then we did some shopping and tried to purchase a cell phone. At the phone shop, the clerk typed something into a Yahoo! translator program and printed us a sheet that read, “Because some contracts of SOFTBANK were particular, you had better bring the friend who could speak Japanese.” We got a good laugh out of this and returned home so that I could work on some homework. After I finished my essay, we returned to the Internet cafe in hopes of being able to use a printer. However, we were told that their printer was broken.

Instead we explored the train station, where there is a gym with natural hot springs. This turned out to be too expensive for us; membership is almost $100 a month! We did find a free library with a small English selection (but no printer!) and a bookstore that sells English books. I checked out the books Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Living in Japan: A Guide for Foreigners. We also found a public study space and a space where a Japanese class is held five days a week. The class is only $2 for each lesson, which lasts for an hour and a half! I hope to start these classes next week and hope to attend classes at least three times per week.

We also had dinner at the train station last night. We found a shop that had many kinds of bread–apple, cheese, pizza, leek, sweet potato, carrot, you name it! We were intrigued, so we loaded up on goodies. However, my mini breakdown occurred when I could not buy green tea at the counter. For some reason, the tea I wanted was only available for take-out. No food, however, was sold to go. I couldn’t communicate to the cashier that I really wanted some tea. Ten minutes and a cup of horrible-tasting tea later, I felt a little better but was still frustrated that communication is so time-consuming and not always successful these days.

Today Josh and I woke up late again, this time to the sound of our doorbell. Our bank cards were hand delivered to us by a delivery man from the bank. Of course I have no money in my account to withdraw with this card, but it is nice to have all the same! Then we ventured into Nagoya with some vague directions from a friend in search of the cell phone shop. We found it almost right away in a six-story building! This shop had everything–bicycles, cameras, washing machines, mattresses, and most importantly–cell phones! We got the free phones with our super cheap $22 monthly plan, not expecting much. We were wrong! Our phones have adopt-a-virtual-pet features, video cameras, voice recorders, digital cameras, music, and more! They are tiny too! I will post pictures when we purchase a camera. (This may not be for a while.) I also saw a really awesome keyboard that goes with the iBook in this shop! It costs about $80, and I am totally getting it while I am here! You can basically play the piano on your computer with it, and there are all kinds of cool features! Josh was enthralled with all of the technological toys in this shop; I had to practically drag him out of the store so we could catch the train back to Gifu-Shi!

When we returned home, I completed a little more school work, and then we had our standard dinner of noodles with tofu and vegetables–quite good, easy, and cheap! After dinner I went (where else?) to the Internet cafe where I received a discount on my time because I go there so often and stopped by the convenience store to pick up some $1 snacks (6 ice cream bars–yes, all for $1; rice crackers, and chocolate covered almonds).

We’ve only bought three items so far that had meat in them–not bad for not being able to understand 98% of what people say to us. These accidents were quickly passed on to friends after the first bite. It’s a meat-filled world out there, especially when many translations of “meat” do not include chicken or fish.

Tomorrow is our first day of work at our permanent branches. I do not feel especially ready to teach a full day of lessons yet. For one thing, I am not familiar with the schedule at all! For another, I am not familiar with any of the lessons or students. Also I do not feel especially comfortable with the evaluation process that takes place after each lesson. I am going to need a lot of support tomorrow! I hope things go well and that I feel comfortable with my new coworkers!

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At “home,” it is actually the evening of 9/8/07. I have been waking here every day with the sun, around 5:30 AM, still tired but unable to return to sleep. Days are spent searching for various businesses around the city, and I fall exhausted into bed by 8:00 PM. My stamina is refreshed throughout the day by various snacks of toast, cheese and crackers (available at Circle K!), and noodles.

I realize that I should have begun keeping record of this immigration experience before I left the United States–as early as May, when I began the interview process and began theorizing with my colleagues about how this experience could possibly qualify as my practicum for graduate school. However, I was too busy, overwhelmed, and–quite honestly–frustrated.

This process all began one day back in December when I came home from my job teaching elementary school in Tucson, Arizona in tears. This was not that unusual of an occurrence; my job was quite stressful, and my views often differed from those of my coworkers. My dream of sharing my love of knowledge with my students was quickly turning into a nightmare of arguments over educational pedagogy, piles of paperwork, and frequent miscommunications between my colleagues. “Shit,” I told my partner Josh, “I need to do something different. Totally different….but I have to be a teacher now; I’m in graduate school, and working at this school is completely in line with my scholastic path. I want to change something major, but I don’t want to make it more difficult to complete my studies.”

I remember Josh’s facial expression, which revealed his genuine desire to help me resolve this stressful situation. “Why don’t we teach in Japan for a few months? You say you need to incorporate your current work as a teacher with a change in your professional situation for your practicum. This would allow you to keep teaching and would definitely include a change. We have both always wanted to do something like this, and I think that this is the perfect time!”

“Ha ha….move to Japan…..oh, hmmm, well, that actually sounds like a great idea! I mean, it would be totally different! I was kind of wary about adding another responsibility at my current job to qualify for my practicum anyway. I mean, I have tons of additional responsibilities already…..and I don’t want to stay here and take an unpaid position for my practicum. How would we pay our bills?” I paused. I couldn’t believe that Josh was actually making such a radical suggestion. I mean, we had only been dating for about three months, and he had just moved to Tucson about four months earlier. We had talked about our desire to teach English in Japan before; we both had close friends from the country and found the cultural differences and similarities to be quite fascinating. What he was saying was completely unbelievable, yet it made perfect sense.

The next few months were a blur of research that included sifting through many confusing Japanese web sites, frequently initiating e-mail correspondence with our friends who were living in Japan, and filling out hosts of job applications. One thing that I found particularly discouraging in my research was that most teaching companies that hired native English speakers were private and required teachers to commit to one year of work in order to qualify for a work visa. After some internal debate about how long I could reasonably commit to living and working in another country as well as how I would feel about working for a private corporation that charged its students large sums of money to learn, I decided to go through with my applications. Even if I wasn’t so sure about all that I was signing up for, the differences that this new experience was sure to hold would undoubtedly provide me with invaluable learning experiences about different cultures, educational systems, socioeconomic issues, values, and myself.

Now it was time to make sure that the staff at Prescott College would be as sure about my decision as I was becoming. My advisor, Lloyd, was unsurprisingly incredibly supportive and encouraged me to write a letter to my core faculty at the College detailing my intentions for my practicum term–to live in Japan and teach English with a major corporation. Surely this experience as an immigrant myself would support my tentative thesis topic of creating methods for easing cultural disparity between home and school for immigrant students in the United States. One vaguely detailed letter–based on many qualifications concerning my employment status with the intended company in Japan–later, Noel, my core faculty member, sent me her excited support via e-mail within a few days.

Feeling overwhelmed with everyone’s support and also planning for a three-month move to Alaska for the upcoming summer, I began the waiting process that inevitably comes with applying for employment. I spent this time working on school work and spending as much time as possible with my loved ones in Tucson, including my students. I worked diligently around the clock to finish many of the projects that I had begun during the school year and to pass on some of my duties and experiences to my colleagues, who may have suspected that some major changes lie in my future.

In April both Josh and I received e-mails from Nova Group, a major corporation in Japan who wanted to interview us! The bad news was that the interviews were two weeks later–in San Francisco. After some lengthy phone calls, we arranged for the interviews to take place three weeks later in San Francisco and had rearranged our traveling plans with a friend of mine who was accompanying us to Alaska from Mississippi to allow us to spend two days in San Francisco on our way to Seattle. We planned to drive from Tucson to Seattle and then fly to Alaska from there.

Then came the most difficult part after planning logistics–saying goodbyes. Announcing my decision to my students was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. So many of them did not seem to understand why I wanted to experience such a thing as moving away from the United States–and away from them. I fumbled over some explanations as best as I could, all the while thinking that maybe these kids were right; maybe they were the most important part of my life, and I was just giving them up like they didn’t matter. I spent the next few weeks attempting to show them just how important they were to me, and I like to think that they somehow grasped my appreciation for all of our experiences together. In the end there was nothing that I could do but walk away from so many people who love me in favor of my hopes for the unknown.

Of course Josh and I were exhausted during our interview. We were also overwhelmed by the amount of information we received, the cost that we incurred just getting to this interview (gas, clothes, parking fees, etc.), and the time spent in the interview (about five hours). We were also intimidated by the fast-paced high-intensity of the experience. Everything was timed, and we were asked to improvise in front of our peers on numerous occasions during the day. Needless to say, we were feeling less than confident after the interview. However, I tried not to let these feelings of uncertainty bother me. After all, I enjoyed teaching my students at the tiny community public school in the neighborhood filled with poverty where I had worked in Tucson, Arizona for the last three years. As difficult as my job was, I missed my students already and felt that maybe I wasn’t ready for such a big change after all. I decided not to pursue employment with any other companies in Japan and to let the result of this interview decide my future plans.

Once in Alaska I mostly concentrated on finishing the schoolwork of my last term that saying goodbye in Tucson simply had not allowed. Once I had finished all of this work and was looking forward to exploring my new home for the summer, I received the notice from Nova Group that Josh and I would be moving to Japan in about three months! Well, I guessed the future had finally been decided. I was bittersweetly excited but already too busy again to really think about the implications of this news.

There were extensive amounts of paperwork to fill out in order to accept the position. Important decisions had to made about things such as health insurance–which required the purchase and perusal of several books that were shipped to us–in a timely manner. Tens of papers needed signatures–official signatures that matched those on passports, not every day signatures used for signing checks. Documents were sent back to us that needed corrections; these were edited painstakingly, then mailed or faxed back to the company. More questions arose than could be answered by the extremely considerate man from the Japanese Embassy in Anchorage, as we tried our best to communicate in incredibly polite broken English. More documents needed to be submitted to the Embassy of Japan for medical reasons. These, too, needed to be corrected and resubmitted in a matter of days. The expenses of sending documents and communicating with residents of Japan increased each day.

In between this paperwork and communications with staff members of Prescott College and my friends and family about the new developments in my life, I tried to make time to meet new people in Alaska–my home for the time being. Time did permit for such social interactions toward the latter part of the summer, for which I am very grateful. Many people whom we met there were invaluable to our experience this summer, and we continue to keep in touch with them today.

After leaving Alaska in August, Josh and I flew to Phoenix, Arizona and drove almost three hours to Prescott, Arizona, where we found a lovely camp site and a much appreciated authentic Mexican restaurant right away. I spent the next two days in coffee shops, hoarding Internet access and electricity, which had become rare commodities during my summer in Alaska and my time camping in Prescott, completing research, and compiling information about the No Child Left Behind Act for a presentation that I was to give at the upcoming College colloquium.

The presentation went as well as could be expected with my mind already on thoughts of the logistics of moving to a new country (Where did I put my passport when I was packing up my tent in Alaska?) and saying goodbye to my loved ones during the next two weeks. During the presentation I was extremely nervous and lacked the visual aids that are typically necessary for effective presentations, due to physical limitations of what I could carry in my move from Alaska to Tucson to Japan in which this stop in Prescott was included. Nonetheless, I found myself speaking from my heart to a captive audience of fellow teachers and education students. I spoke about many of the challenges that educators face, many of which are compounded by the No Child Left Behind law. Maybe not all of what I said was constructive; some of my presentation was definitely evidence of a discouraged teacher who needed to vent, but I tried to generate a communal desire to advocate change in the educational system among everyone in that room. Judging by some of the feedback that I received regarding the presentation, I did not achieve all of my goals, but, overall, I felt satisfied with most of the ideas that I conveyed. I wish that I had had more time to gain feedback, ideas, and experiences from more members of the group that day, but time seems to be a continual hindrance in our lives, doesn’t it?

After a weekend in Prescott spent reviewing several logistical aspects of my practicum term with my encouraging advisor and core faculty, I returned to Tucson for two weeks, where my work visa application was waiting for me at a friend’s house. Josh and I spent these next two weeks riding our bicycles and taking buses all over the town in order to say our goodbyes to our loved ones; obtain all of the necessary materials for our trip; and submit all of the necessary documents to Nova Group, the Consulate of Japan in Los Angeles, and the American Embassy in Tokyo. We also squeezed a much-needed one-night backpacking trip with two friends to the Wilderness of the Rocks on Mount Lemmon in at the last minute. Despite devoting two weeks to these tasks, we simply did not have time to do all that we had wished during our time in Tucson–namely studying more about the Japanese language and culture and spending time with our friends.

The night before we left Tucson, we collapsed into bed around 11:00 PM after saying our final goodbyes and completing all of our packing. We startled into wake about five hours later when my alarm indicated that our friend Jamie was waiting for us to meet her outside with our luggage. I jumped up, fully clothed in anticipation of being rushed, hastily greeted Jamie, and began piling my belongings into the back of the truck outside. The ride to the airport was mostly silent except for a few profound statements about friendship and life lessons; I think that the three of us felt that this was a time for important and memorable moments, but mostly it was a time of exhaustion and anticipation of the challenges ahead (transporting all of our luggage, finding it later, changing planes in unfamiliar airports, seat backs crushing our knees, etc.)

I spent most of the time on the plane excitedly reading books about Japan, often drifting off to sleep, wishing I had charged my iPod, and remembering things that I should have done before I left. During the long flight to Japan, which included complimentary beers and movies and delicious vegetarian snacks, I looked around and picked out other people on the plane who looked like they were going to be teaching English in Japan. As it turns out when we met our guide from Nova Group at the airport, I was right about almost all of them.

Our luggage arrived pretty quickly, and going through customs took about two minutes. There was no line, and the officer looked at our passports and asked how long we would be in Japan. He looked quite pleased when we said we would be there for one year and waved us through. After studying my passport a little more, however, the officer said something to me that included the English words, “You have.” I wondered if he meant the medication that I had applied to bring and had never received any reply from the Embassy regarding the legality of this. I had packed all the medication anyway and had been prepared to abandon it in the case that my application had been rejected. I asked the officer to repeat his question, and he smiled and hurriedly waved over another officer, who held my medication application in his hand. He pointed to each item that I had written on the application and gestured to my bag. I produced the three types of medication that I had applied to bring in and pointed to their names on the application accordingly. When I finished the officer smiled and waved me forward. This process took about 30 seconds, and no other questions were asked.

After the customs check was completed, we waited with a large group of new Nova Group employees for about an hour until it was time to catch our train. After this hour-long train ride, we caught another train for another hour and then met up with our supervisor. After some quick introductions, we ran to catch our final train. This ride lasted about thirty minutes and concluded with a brisk walk to our apartment. We were left there at about 9:30 PM after 26 hours of traveling. “Did we need anything? Did we have any other questions?” our supervisor was asking us. Exhausted, we shook our heads no, unwrapped our bedding from its parcel, laid down on our futon mats, and promptly fell asleep.

The next day we realized that we did have questions, such as, “What do we do with our garbage? What is the faucet and basin on top of our toilet for? Where can we get Internet access? What trains do we take to get to our schools? Where is the library? Where is the cheapest place to buy food? What phone company should we use? Can you recommend a good doctor who speaks English?” and so on. Not all of these questions have been answered as of yet, three days later.

On our first day in Gifu-Shi, we went shopping for some basic household goods, figured out how to use the pay phones to call our families, went shopping at a quite expensive natural foods store near our apartment, bought Brie cheese at the Circle K for about $3, and slept a lot.

On the second day, we left the apartment early to find a photo booth, as we needed photos for our alien registration card that we were to apply for, and do some shopping. By late morning we met up with two other employees of Nova Group. They took us out to lunch, where I found it extremely difficult to order anything vegetarian, and gave us some general advice about the city.

After lunch it took us about three hours to obtain our alien certification forms, which we need in order to apply for bank accounts, gym memberships, video rental memberships, etc., and complete our application for our alien registration cards, which we are eligible to receive on September 27. Then we began our search for a bank so that we could expedite the process for receiving our paychecks. We found the right bank 20 minutes before it closed–at 3:00 PM. We were directed there by an employee of another bank who left his place of work to walk the six blocks to the correct bank with us after spoken directions proved to be difficult and confusing. At the bank the tellers asked us if we were American and pointed and stared and giggled while we waited to be helped. The employees were very helpful and friendly, and it only took us about 30 minutes of pointing and nodding before we had our Japanese bank accounts in order.

After some more shopping and a trip to the post office, we tried to decipher the news on our television at home. There is a typhoon headed from Tokyo to Hokkaido, and some people have died in Tokyo. I remember being surprised at the number of people who were saved by rescue crews (29) and the number of people who died (2) as well as the amused expressions of the residents shown on the news when their umbrellas collapsed in the strong wind and rain. I spent a good part of the evening reading an emergency information booklet that the ward office had given us when we applied for our alien registration cards regarding what to do in case of typhoons, earthquakes, and other fairly common emergency situations in Japan.

Yesterday I decorated the apartment and finished unpacking all of our luggage. Our apartment is very cute! Josh met the former residents the other night after I had already fallen asleep; they stopped by with some beers for us as a housewarming gift. They told Josh that our apartment was extremely expensive for this neighborhood and advised that we search for a more affordable home in the upcoming weeks. I am excited by this news because our apartment is pretty expensive ($1000 per month), but it is also quite large, comfortable, and attractive, and it is completely furnished; it was even stocked with cleaning supplies when we arrived! Decisions about moving to a new apartment have been pushed to a later time of consideration, once we feel more comfortable in our new city.

In the afternoon, armed with some vague directions provided by one of the other instructors we met, Josh and I searched for an Internet cafe near our home. After about two miles of walking around the city in the heat trying to make sense of the Japanese signs and several vague, confusing, and amusing conversations with the locals, we finally found the cafe about two blocks from our apartment! We devoured our e-mails for about two hours and enjoyed unlimited drinks served by the hospitable cafe employees for about $6 each.

In the evening we returned to our apartment, exhausted and starving. Cooking at home has proved to be easy and accommodating to our vegetarian lifestyles. We have not mastered the art of ordering food in restaurants yet. We prepared our safe meals of tomato sandwiches, toasted raisin bread, and granola before returning to the streets to head to the 99 yen store (basically equivalent to 99 cents). This store has almost everything–groceries and household goods all for a low price! The food is highly comparable to those in other grocery stores as well, not like the typical 99 cent stores in the United States. Some foods, however, are still expensive. For example, a single orange costs about 99 cents.

The streets last night were extremely crowded. There were young people everywhere, some dressed in their school uniforms of ties and dress shirts or skirts and knee socks. Others had changed into t shirts with bright colors, often expressing some strange combinations of English words such as “Super Tinkle Shine.” Older people rode by on bicycles, in a hurry to complete their errands of the day. Many of the younger people stopped to stare at us, and one little girl even grabbed her father’s hand in fright at the sight of us. Some people smiled; one little boy waved excitedly to me and said “Bye bye” in English as I passed. Feeling self-conscious, we made our way home, passing many inviting pubs but simply feeling too exhausted and financially unstable to go in.

Today we plan to try to take a train to Nagoya, the nearest big city. Gifu-Shi is pretty big and has all the characteristics of a city that I want, but there are other Nova Group instructors living in Nagoya who plan to meet today to go sightseeing together. I am desperate for companionship with other English speakers and also excited for the challenge of attempting to reach Nagoya today. Josh knows more Japanese than I do (which is not much at all), and I can tell that he is feeling apprehensive too. Even if we don’t make it to Nagoya, I am sure that we will have an interesting experience, so I am ready to go!

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