Mount Ibuki

October 1, 2014

                This past Friday, I was taken to the Gifu immigration office.  I had found out that I needed to submit some paperwork in order to be able to work as a dependent.  Language barriers later, I had paperwork done and was taken to the immigration office.  Once it was my turn, the process was very easy, they simply stamped my ID card with something that says I can work up to 28 hours (I think that's what it says, all I can make out is the 28 on the stamp).  I was told it’s finished, so as far as I know I can work 28 hours a week... I think.  It was very nice to have a Japanese speaker with me to handle the process.  As it was the end of the month, I also got paid in cash.  Paying for things with cash and being paid in cash gives me a different perspective on money.  I feel like I’m making all this money when it’s handed to me in cash form.  I also feel like I’m spending a lot more money when I’m paying with cash.  In Canada, I hardly ever used cash to pay for anything and certainly wasn’t paid in cash other than babysitting as a teenager.

                As a side note, the way that you get groceries here is slightly different too.  Vegetables and fruit are sold per piece (not per pound or per kilogram).  The shopping carts are made to put two baskets in the top and the bottom.  When you go to pay for what you bought, you simply put the basket on the counter.  The cashier takes it out as she scans it, and repacks it into a different coloured basket which means that you paid for it.  Some people have their own baskets that act as the “paid for basket” which they can then just take home.  Alternatively, you take the store “paid for basket” to the counter that they have lining the back of the store and re-pack it into the bags that you brought.  I think this system is more efficient than the Canadian one. 

                This past Saturday, Adam and I went to climb Mount Ibuki.  Luckily, we were nowhere near the volcano eruption.  This mountain is very close to Tarui, but we still had to take a train and a bus.  Earlier in the week, I had gone to the tourist information in Tarui to ask about Mount Ibuki with a few sentences that Miki had helped me to prepare.  The tourist information man managed to communicate with me that I had to take a train from Tarui to Sekigahara and that there were buses at Sekigahara for Mount Ibuki.  I came home and researched the bus.  I found a schedule for a bus that went all the way up the mountain and figured that it must stop at the bottom first for the people who want to hike.  I also looked up directions from the bus stop to the trail head and landmarks we should pass during the hike. 

                Saturday morning, we get off the train at Sekigahara and go outside.  There are people waiting for a bus going to Mount Ibuki, so we wait with them.  I go and look at the tourist information across the street and have some sort of a “communication” with a lady.  The bus comes, we get on, we try and communicate with the bus driver that we want to hike, he says, “Yes,” and we start driving.  It seems like within a few minutes the bus stops, waits a couple minutes, but no one gets off.  I’m wondering if that was our stop, but didn’t want to get off too soon at the wrong place and have to wait an hour until the next bus passed.  Next thing I know, we’re going through the toll road and I’m thinking, “Shoot, that was the stop.”  I spend the rest of the time up the mountain, enjoying the nice scenery, but also wondering if we were supposed to get off at that first stop.  Forty-five minutes later, we’re at the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately, this made the bus fare that much more expensive.  We made the most of it though and still hiked around the summit.  The highest parking lot (which is where we were dropped off) is about a 20 minute hike to the top and there’s a 2km hike that you can do around the summit.  It’s really beautiful: you can see Lake Biwa, cities, rolling mountains, etc.  We took some time in prayer, ate a picnic lunch and relaxed.  We could’ve hiked down the mountain since we failed to hike up, but it looked like it would be hard on the knees (17km downhill), so we took the bus back down. 

                At the summit there are a bunch of little souvenir shops that sell some food too.  The only thing we bought was a bag of yams.  Yams here are around 95-195 yen a piece, and sometimes you can get a bag of three little ones for 195 yen.  We got a bag of 5-6 yams for 100 yen, so quite the good deal.  We thought it was so funny that the cheapest place to get yams is at the top of a mountain, go figure.  We wondered, “Who would buy things from this little produce stand, when people come here to hike and would have to carry it down?”  Apparently, people like us do.

                Sunday brought the second English Mass that we’ve attended.  Adam and I were the only English speakers there with a Pilipino family who were there to attend a baptism preparation seminar afterwards.  It’s interesting having a Mass said just for us.  We did the readings and the music (acapella).  Father’s homily was like a conversation with us.  He had his power point with pictures, but he stands only a few feet away and asks us questions, such as: who we identify with in the Gospel, how things are different in Canada, etc.  Needless to say, you sure don’t get distracted during his homilies. 

                Adam and I are still discovering new things in our home.  There are a few storage spaces in the house where previous ALT’s have left things.  Just this week, I discovered Halloween costumes and a toaster oven (along with a bunch of other things) in one of the closets in our bedroom. 

                We have also started to internet shop.  On Amazon Japan you can buy pretty much anything and many things have free delivery.  So far we've bought air beds, an air pump, and bike helmets.  Yes, we gave in and decided that we prefer a soft bed to increasing our bone density while sleeping.  I think it's funny how all last year I slept on an airbed and here I am for the second year sleeping on one too.  

                 Until next time :)

Our Weekend Travels

September 18, 2014

                This past weekend, Adam and I headed to Gifu city on Saturday.  The trip only takes about 20-25 minutes.  When we first arrived we walked down to the river where they do the cormorant fishing to make our reservation for the evening.  The heat and the hour long walk required us to take a break, conveniently, outside the waiting room for the cormorant fishing where they had free wifi!  Then, we headed to hike up to the Gifu castle.  There’s a beautiful park at the bottom of the mountain and it took us a while to find the path we wanted to take up the mountain.  

Finally, we got on the right track to the “Horseback climbing route.”  We decided on this route because it looked like the most direct path, and believe me it was!  It went straight up the mountain.  Most of the time I was using my hands to climb it was so steep!  This made me think that the reason for calling it "Horseback Climbing Route" is because people look like horses going up on all fours.  What was really crazy is that we saw people coming down this way, and I’m not sure how you’d manage that without hiking poles.  I’d call it the “Grouse Grind” of Gifu Castle.

 

                We reached the top and were rewarded with a view of the entire surrounding city/countryside/mountains.  I don’t think it would have been as rewarding had we not climbed the mountain and taken the gondola instead.  We ate our picnic and then checked out the castle.  It was much like the Ogaki castle with some history, samurai armour, weapons, pottery shards, pictures of Daymio lords, etc.  Tired, we decided to head back down and on our way we discovered a restaurant right beside the gondola.  The top of this restaurant had an even better view than the castle since there were less people and no safety bars in the way.  

                After this, we discovered the coolest thing ever!!!  Squirrel World!  Renamed by us from the original Squirrel Village, this tourist attraction is one that the whole family can enjoy.  Basically it’s this area/cage that you can go into for $2 and there’s a bunch of squirrels running amuck (as well as one chipmunk and one rabbit kept in separate cages).  The squirrels were slightly bigger than Canadian ones, but really nothing special.  They give you a glove to wear so that you can try and get a squirrel to sit on your hand (you can’t pet them).  I saw one little 2-3 years old running after this squirrel putting his hand on the ground in hopes that the squirrel would come sit on his hand.  The squirrel would run away, he would follow and repeat.  In any case, Adam and I thought this was pretty funny, and not worth the 200 yen when you can see squirrels everywhere in Canada, but it was worth the laugh.  We headed back down the mountain taking the “Seven-turn climbing route" which was a nice gradual decline.

                                                 

                That evening, we went to see the “Cormorant Fishing.”  It’s pretty cool and has been going on for the past 1300 years.  We decided that it’s a Japanese version of a dinner theatre.  What happens is that there’s these cormorant fishing masters in a boat with about 8 cormorant birds on leashes swimming alongside the boat.  They have a wire basket that they keep feeding with pine wood covered in oil that creates a fire to attract the fish.   Once a cormorant catches a fish, the fishing master pulls it out of the water and gets the fish out of its mouth.  They get the birds to fish for them!  We got to see 6 of the fishing masters, and there’s not too many left as you have to be born into this "art" and years back it almost became extinct until it came under the protection of the Imperial Household Agency.  

                                      

These are the fish that the cormorant catches, they're pretty small and you can buy them at the gift shop.

            We began our cormorant fishing experience by being taken out on a boat and given time to eat supper (we didn’t know that there would be time for supper).  Then, they shoot off a few fireworks to signal the beginning of the cormorant fishing.  Each viewing boat gets to go along side one cormorant fishing boat, so you get to see it pretty close.  In any case, it was a neat experience.

                                 

                                                

                On Sunday, we decided that the hiking from the previous day hadn’t tired us out enough.  After our Japanese class and Mass, we headed out on our bicycles into the Tarui countryside to climb another mountain.  This was yet another stair master as there were actual stairs the whole way up.  At the top we were rewarded with a beautiful view and binocular stand that was free. 

                                 

                Monday, we were tired and decided to head to the beach on Lake Biwa by going to Nagahama.  We get off the train and ask at the visitor information about a place to swim (with actions of course), to which she replies with actions that there is no swimming.  We don’t believe her, and figure we just find the lake and there’ll be beaches.  Well we found the lake, and we found some sand by the lake, but for being the largest fresh water lake in Japan it sure is dirty, at least where we were.  We still made the most of our day by walking around checking out different shops, a giant kaleidoscope that’s randomly in the middle of a flea market, some temples, the castle, and a park by the lake. 

                               

                This week, I started my training in a private English school.  I basically just observed the teachers teaching.  The classes are between 2-5 children and everything is a game where they get these chips as points.  Then, at the end they count them up and whoever with the most wins.  There is a lot of memorization with flashcards that are associated with common questions or sayings.  They also do phonics and some reading.  I think it will be fun to be with the kids.  For the most part, the kids were very well behaved.  The one thing I’ll have to get used to is kneeling on the floor with my bum on my feet.  The other day when I was getting up to switch classes after only 30 minutes, I felt like such an old lady all stiff in the joints. :P The classes are entirely in English and it doesn’t seem like I should have too much trouble without knowing any Japanese. 

   

September 21, 2014

                                     

                We’ve had another adventuresome weekend.  We’re trying to get quite a bit of travelling in while the weather is still nice and Adam doesn’t have to work on Saturdays.  On Saturday, we decided to go to Hikone.  Originally, we had wanted to go to the ocean to go swimming, but train travel in Japan is costly, especially when there is two of us.  I don’t know if it is more expensive than Europe or not.  When I was in France, I got a discount with my under 25 card, and then the euro is worth more, so it’s hard to say.  In any case, we decided on Hikone which is only about 30 minutes away.  It’s a beautiful city right on Lake Biwa with a castle.  This castle was an original construction and not a rebuild like most of them.  However, there still wasn’t too much to see on the inside of the castle but it was cool to see wooden floors and everything.  Going into the castle you have to take off your shoes because of the wooden floors, Adam thought it was funny how many Japanese people passed us taking off their shoes much more quickly than us.  (I'm pretty sure the majority of the shoes they sell here are made for easy slip on/slip off.)  The grounds of the castle were exceptionally beautiful.  We saw a plum orchard and garden.  It’s neat going to a real “Japanese garden” and not the Canadian or French version. 

                          

                                             

                              

   

             We set off and checked out the old part of town, then wandered down by a creek that led into Lake Biwa.  Our plan was to try and find the swimming area in Hikone for future reference.  After walking for a long time and stopping at a grocery store which had a Starbucks next to it (Greg we thought of you), we finally made it to the beach.  This time the lake looked much cleaner.  

          That evening we had plans to go to this insect festival.  The Japanese want to preserve the listening to insects at night and have a festival for these insects.  (Sitting in the living room now, I can hear plenty of insects loud and clear from outside.)  We were told that at the festical they had music that played along with the insects and that you got tea and cake.  The festival was in the castle gardens that we visited earlier in the day and we show up early, going through a gate and walking through the garden.  It seemed odd that the garden was completely deserted except for two ladies sitting at a table looking like they were going to sell something.  So, we asked if they sold tickets for the festival. They said, "No." We continued on to the other gate.  When we got there we met a group of men in red and one very kindly opened a gate for us to get out of the park.  We tried asking again about tickets and they just told us to come back at 6:30pm.  Although it seems like you have to show up early in Japan, or else you’re late, some things only start right on time.  So we wait outside eating our leftover lunch.  Once we get in we’re given a paper lantern with a flashlight that hangs inside.

                                                  

  It’s really beautiful seeing all these lanterns bobbing around the park as people carry them around.  I was hoping that we could keep the lantern, but alas we could not.  We made our way slowly over to the sitting area and plunked ourselves down.  We thought that we had gotten front row seats for the music.  As it turns out, we were seated in the restaurant area and the food was not complementary with the festival ticket.  We’re sitting there and sitting.  We’re wondering how other people are getting food and if the waiters just haven’t noticed us.  We see people eat, then leave and more people come in.  Finally, we figure that you have to buy tickets for this food.  So after wondering if one of us should ask about the food, if you can wave down a waiter (who are dressed in traditional attire), or if we should just go and ask the two ladies selling tickets at the table, I get up and head over to these ladies.  Keep in mind that these are the same ladies who saw us wander through the garden half an hour before it opened, now saw us sit in the restaurant area for half an hour waiting for the show to start, and now approaching them to ask the pivotal question, “Ikura desuka?”  (How much is it?)  “500” she says in perfect English.  I say thank you, go tell Adam and we both get up and leave.  They’re both very kind to us as we walk away.    

                                          

                Earlier, I had heard something that sounded like the tuning of flutes and I thought that meant that they were getting ready to play music.  As it turns out, that sound of tuning continued, and as we made our way back through the garden we found five men playing what looked like two wooden flutes, 2 piccalos, and some kind of panflute that sounded like an organ.  We listened and watched for a bit, and it sounded terrible.  Or at least, we haven’t developed a taste for that kind of music.  I guess what do you expect when they’re playing along to the insects which also don’t sound so great.  It’s interesting that they want to preserve hearing these insects on a summer/autumn night.  

September 24, 2014

                Apparently, you can tell what season and even what month it is in Japan just by what flowers are blooming.  Since we’ve arrived these red flowers have sprung up in masses everywhere!  They’re beautiful and grow out of any little cranny that they can.

                                                

                On Sunday, after going to our Japanese class and English Mass we went to a festival in Tarui with the other English speakers.  Adam was quite the celebrity with his junior high students saying, “Hello.” to him every few feet.  The food here was cheaper than the previous festival and a lot better.  

                              

They have some games set up for kids.  At one game, you pay some money and get this little net to catch minnows with.  The catch is that the net disintegrates the longer that it’s in the water and if you move it too quickly, so you need to try and catch the minnows before that happens.  As we were with a group of people with kids, they tried it.  There were other games where you get to take a scoop and see how many toys you get, etc.  They had a parade down the street with people dressed as Samurai and in other traditional garb.  The festival was to celebrate how this road let between Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo).  

                                

Once it was dark, we got to see the drum playing and some traditional women dances. 

                                                                         

                Monday, I decided to try and research some other schools around the area and while I was looking for work, I got a phone call from a lady wanting private lessons.  Interesting how God provides.  I was thinking too how hard it was for me to find work in Calgary and here, although it’s not a lot of work, things are still falling into place relatively quickly.  I also had my first “real” class at the English school.  I had four boys and was happy that they were a bit older (around 8) and more respectful than the other 6 year olds I’d observed as it was my first class and my transitions weren’t as smooth or as quick as the other teachers'. 

                Tuesday was another holiday and so we went to Inuyama.  Although it’s only about 50 km away it took a while to get there as we had two train transfers.  Inuyama is a fairly touristy town.  We decided to first go to the Monkey Centre.  We weren’t sure what to expect for 600 yen, but it was well worth it.  First, we sat and ate our lunch before exploring.  It’s basically a zoo of monkeys from all over the world.  What’s neat though is the different “cages” that they have for them.  Some of them you can go into the enclosure and get really close to them, and it’s very natural.  Others, they can cross over bridges above our heads, some are traditional zoo cages and some not so humane looking cages.  All in all it was actually a fairly large place and took us quite a while to go through. 

 Next we headed to the castle.  We decided not to go in this time as we doubted that it would be much different than the other three castles we’ve been to and we don’t know enough about the history to really understand how pivotal each of these castles was in certain battles.  We walked through the old part of town which wasn’t as impressive as Nagahama and then headed back.  We missed out on a couple of the other tourist attractions, so we may go back.  On the way home we went to the import store in Ogaki to stock up on peanut butter and coconut milk.  It’s interesting how much of this stuff we go through, but maybe when it’s accessible we don’t realize how much we normally use.

Towns have intricate man-holes and some are even painted.  This one is from Inuyama where they have Cormorant Fising and the Castle.

Our Adventures in Japan

After the raving reviews I got from my J in France blog, I’ve decided to create a sequel called J and A in Japan.  This blog has many of the same characters as the previous one with the difference that this time Adam has a main role.  I hope to make some improvements from the previous blog by actually adding pictures.

                As I am writing this, Adam and I have now been in Japan for about four days.  We arrived Wednesday night and stayed overnight at a hotel right at the airport.  This worked very well for us as we both had hardly slept and were very jet lagged.  The first thing I noticed upon entering Japan was the toilets.  So far, all the washrooms I’ve been in, including public ones, have shower toilets.  These give you the option of washing your bum and then blow drying it clean.  In Tarui, a town where we are having trouble getting wireless internet (and in fact will not have it), we still have a shower toilet in our home.  In the women’s public washrooms, they have the option to squat over the ground , use a toilet, or use a urinal (?) (not sure how a woman is supposed to use that).

                The next morning we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the hotel and were picked up at 10am and brought to Tarui.  Tarui is a small (28,000 people) town nestled in the mountains.  It’s really quite scenic.  It also seems to have everything you could want in terms of shopping and outdoor activities. 

When we arrived, we dropped off our bags at our new home.  Our house is really nice here and a lot bigger than I expected after looking at pictures of apartments in Japan.  We have a spacious bedroom, a hallway, a living room, a kitchen, and a downstairs for a washing machine and shower room.  We sleep on these “futons” that are on top of a tatami floor with carpet over top.  Since there’s a number of these futons in our place (5 to be exact), Adam and I have piled them up to make for a more padded bed.  I’m thinking that sleeping on these is good for your bone density since the floor is still pretty hard. 

                After dropping off our luggage, we were taken to the school board office and met everyone there, then to the immigration office to register our ID cards (we have to have the cards with us at all times while in Japan), and to the bank.  Then, we were taken out to eat.  After lunch, we had our first experience of grocery shopping.  It’s a wee bit difficult as you’re really not sure what you’re buying and if the price is good or not.  For Adam, who is used to reading the ingredients on everything to know what he’s eating, this is quite the challenge.  We came home and started to settle in. 

                The next day, Adam was to meet the mayor at 9:00am.  He wanted me to come too, to share in the experience.  So we got dressed up and went out.  First we met the superintendent.  Adam was asked to introduce himself, so he did in English and Tomomi (an elementary English school teacher) translated.  Next, we met the mayor.  Pictures were taken and the mayor spoke a little bit of English.  I joked with Adam that he’s taught 4 years in Calgary and hasn't met the mayor.  Here, on his first day he meets the mayor of Tarui.  I went home after this and started to clean.  Cleaning is my way of making our house feel like home.  I also wanted to kill/clean up any bugs that were hiding. 

                Later that morning Adam came home and said that we were being taken to Ogaki (a town that’s 8 minute train ride from here).  We went to the Suitopia centre to register for a beginner’s English class and we found the Catholic Church. 

                On Saturday, we did a lot of walking.  First, we walked to Fuwa, one of the junior high schools Adam will be working at.  Then, we walked to a grocery store.  However, we didn’t know where the store was, except that is was close to the junior high.  After wandering around and Adam getting to try out his Japanese of asking, “Suupaa wa doko desuka?” we found the store.  Coming out of the store we saw a street vendor selling these skewers of things.  We pointed to two that we wanted.  I thought I picked one that looked like beef and figured that’s why it was more expensive.  In the end, Adam’s was a mystery fish and I think mine was some animal liver.  Needless, to say neither of us was very full.  We stopped at the farmer’s market close to our house and bought a few more things before heading home. 

                We had some lunch, then with great anticipation, I cut into what I thought was a watermelon.  Our faces dropped as we discovered that it was some kind of squash.  I tasted some raw and it was terrible.  I thought that 200 yen for a watermelon that size was pretty cheap.  I’ve now used it in stir fry and found it quite delicious.

 

                We left for Ogaki that afternoon to make sure we could find the Suitopia centre and the church on our own.  At the centre, we went into this science exhibition thing for kids.  We went around and looked at the things, but seeing as we couldn’t read anything we went through pretty quickly.  We headed for the church and got to meet Father Rey.  He’s a missionary priest from the Philippines and very welcoming. 

                Finally, we went back to the mall by the train station for some supper.  We chose an Italian restaurant.  We took off our shoes and placed them in lockers by the door.  We ordered our meals by pointing at the pictures.  The waitress asked us questions, but since we couldn’t understand her, we just nodded our heads.  She must have been asking us if we wanted bread, nod yes (since there were other waitresses just going around offering people different breads), then asking us if we just wanted what we pointed to, nod yes, then asking if it was ok if Adam’s was cold, nod yes.  I ended up with a delicious mushroom pasta meal, and Adam ended up with a cold avocado, shrimp, fish egg, pasta meal.  We both thought that was pretty funny.  Interestingly, the Japanese people were eating with forks and we were eating with chopsticks.  I think it’s like how in Canada when we go to a Japanese restaurant we eat with chopsticks.  They go to an Italian restaurant and eat with forks.

                We proceeded to another cafe type place to get this strawberry/shaved ice/ice cream dessert before returning home.

                Yesterday, we went to our first Japanese class, I found it rather fun and the other people at our table spoke English (3 from the Philippines).  We left early so that we could make it to the Mass in Tagalog at 11:30am.  We got there right on time and were the only people in the church.  Father comes up and welcomes us and then explains that they have something called “Philippine time” where Mass will only start at 11:55am.  Then, the girls who were sitting at our table at the Japanese class came in, and so next week they can give us a ride to Mass.  The community was so welcoming to us.  Many of them spoke English.  Father gave us booklets to follow along in English and assigned two ladies to translate his homily to us.  He also got us to come up to the front and introduce ourselves to the church.  A few of the ladies gave us their contact info and said they would ask about a job for me as some of them teach English.  All in all a great experience so far and we’re settling well into our new home.

September 7

                Adam and I have had quite the eventful weekend.  We started off Friday night with a game of Canasta.  Then, Saturday morning we went on a biking adventure.  First, we biked to the second junior high where Adam will be working to see how long it would take and exactly where it was.  Then, we decided that we should check out this waterfall.  The night before we had talked about going, looked at the map, were unsure of how long it would take us to get there or if we would just get lost.  In the end, we found the way on the first try and got to the waterfalls in about an hour and a half from leaving our house.  It was so hot biking and although the roads look flat they are slightly uphill.  I don’t know if I’ve ever sweat so much!  On the way, the rice fields start to be enclosed with electrical wire and there are beware of bear signs.  Unfortunately, we didn’t bring our bear spray to Japan.  I was wondering too if bear etiquette here is the same as Canada.  J 

We thought getting to the waterfall would be a hike into the mountains, but it was more of a walk up the road.  We left our bikes lower down as one of them has no gears and both the seats are low, so going uphill is hard (good thing Tarui is flat).  The falls were beautiful.  Adam started to go down to get closer to them when we saw a snake.  Since we had read somewhere that there are venomous snakes we decided to head back.  It is so lush and beautiful.  The road was right along a creek with many other baby falls and a number of little lizards and larger insects. 

We were going to have a picnic at a little park area on the way down, but after being chased around by a huge hornet (which are also apparently fairly dangerous), we got on our bikes and rode away in order to escape.  We stopped instead at what we think was a frog sanctuary, or at least there was a lot of frogs hopping around us and a sign had pictures of the developmental stages of the frog.  We has chicken with some cooked vegetables, some sort of leaf thing that I bought at the Farmer’s Market that tasted like lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and figs.  Delicious! 

As it was only 1pm and we had planned this to be a whole day excursion, we decided to head to a nearby lake to go swimming.  (We have a map of Tarui and mountain area which a previous AET had labelled with some English.)  Back on our bikes we go, passing temples, creeks, houses until we decide that it’s probably uphill from here and once again leave our bikes.  We walk up the road the rest of the way and arrive at the lake.  Our faces drop as we see that the lake is not swimmable. In fact, you can’t even get down to it if you wanted to.  Instead, we walked on the road/path all the way around (probably about an hour walk) and enjoyed the mountain scenery.  Feeling like we had had enough heat and exercise we headed back to our house.  Going home was much easier as it was downhill.

That night, we had been invited over to Michael and Miho’s house for dinner.  Michael is a previous AET who married a Japanese woman (Miho).  We were able to socialize with them and three other Albertans living in the area, one of whom was a previous AET and her husband.  They made tacos and we felt like we were back in Canada.  Even in Japan, Adam got razzed for being an Oilers fan.

We arrived home and start getting ready for bed.  Adam is sitting on the edge of the futon when a cockroach flies into his toiletries case.  He quickly zips it up and then we consult about what to do.  We decide to clear the living room, assemble a number of different whacking tools and dump the case on the ground as we are both armed and ready to kill.  This was my first time seeing a live cockroach and if it is my last, I believe that I will live a very happy life.  On the count of three, AKA

Adam, “Are you ready?”

Me, “No.”

Adam, “Are you ready?”

Me, “I’m never going to be ready.  Maybe we should just do this in the morning.”

Adam, “Ok, I’m going to open the case.”

I proved to be fairly useless in the killing role as I screamed and threw my book not exactly close to the scurrying cockroach (those guys can move, let me tell you).  Luckily, Adam had more of his head about him and hit it on the first try.  We were lucky it didn’t decide to fly, that would have made things trickier.  We wondered how it got in; we’ve got cockroach poison on every window sill and in other random places.  We also have these high pitch frequency speakers to deter rats.  I must say, I’ll take cockroaches over rats any day. 

Today, we got up and received a call from a lady saying that she will pick us up and take us to the Suitopia centre in Ogaki for our Japanese class.  I tried to figure out whom she was and if we had met her.  She asked if we lived in the same house as the previous AET and that she’d be there in 5 or 8 minutes.  It turns out that we hadn’t met her, but that as she worked at the centre and used to give the previous AET rides there, she thought she would drive us. 

Today, I felt like the Japanese class was like a university class.  I just copied everything down and decided to figure it out when I got home.  There’s a wide range of people in the class and 3 of them go to the Catholic Church.  We’ve chatted with them more as we all headed to Mass right after the class and they all speak a little English. 

After Mass, we went to our first festival.  Apparently they have this one in Ogaki every first Sunday of the month.  It was much like a Canadian festival/market.  You have lots of booths set up with food or other things that people are selling and a few places for entertainment.  One of the most interesting things was these girls (maybe teenagers) who were “singing” and dancing on stage.  In front of the stage were young men and the sitting area was almost exclusively all men too.  The thing was that the men were dancing along, they were really really into it.  

We also checked out Ogaki castle.

 We thought it was funny that the Samurai armour had fake ferocious facial hair.

September 10, 2014

On Monday, when Adam got home, we did what I had been joking that we could do: we biked up to the same lake we went to on Saturday, ran around the lake, and rode our bikes home.  It actually wasn’t as far as it had seemed on Saturday, but it was still a very good work out.

Today, the lady who drove us to the Suitopia centre on Sunday took me grocery shopping.  We went to a couple stores and I sure stocked up on food, being relieved that I didn’t have to carry it home.  People here are very welcoming and helpful, I find. 

In our town, there are bells that are chimed at 7am, 10am, noon, 3pm and 6pm (I believe).  At first we thought these bells may have some religious significance.  Later, we found out that they actually just indicate things like: time to start work, tea time, lunch, and they use them for town announcements (ie. Grandpa So-and-so has wandered off.  If you see him, please, etc.). 

Garbage is another thing that is different here.  You have to separate your garbage into “burnable,” non-burnable, and recyclable.  I suppose that with so many people in such a small country they don’t have much room for landfills so they opt for burning garbage.  The challenge is to figure out what is burnable and what isn’t.

Finally, instead of putting your mail in the mailbox, they ring the door bell and hand deliver it.  Of course, if you aren’t home they put it in the mailbox. 

September 11, 2014

                Yesterday, I had an interview in Nagoya for an ALT company.  I left around 9am and took the train to Ogaki, having bought a ticket all the way to Gifu city and thinking I could just stay on that same train.  Once we got to Ogaki, everyone got off the train, a bunch of new people came on and they switched the direction the seats were facing.  It is really cool how the seats are on rollers and you can lift them slightly and roll them to the other side so you can face the direction the train is going.  I asked the man now sitting across from me, “Sumimasen, Gifu?”  “Maibara.”  Whoops, wrong train, this gentleman got off the train with me, asked a train attendant where to go to get on the Gifu train and indicated with his fingers that it was platform five.  So, I made my transfer and got to Gifu.  I feel like the train system here is much like the metro system.  There are different lines that run back and forth between cities and you have to get off and transfer lines.  

                In Gifu, my plan was to go to city hall where I was told I could apply for jobs.  I arrived there and after going up to the international relations office, I met some people who could speak some English and who tried to help me.  They told me to go to Hello Work.  I set off with a new map, got lost, tried to ask for directions, and then decided that I should just head to Nagoya.  I don’t know if I found the original Gifu station I was at or not, but instead of going on a train with the JR lines, I went with this other line.  I still ended up in Nagoya and this other line had its station right next to the JR station.  The station in Nagoya was huge and a little bit confusing.  There are all these signs about different lines, platforms, subway, etc.  Luckily, I found the visitor information and they wrote on the map where the office I needed to go for the interview was.  (I had a google map but wasn’t sure where I was on the google map.)

                Walking in Nagoya is like walking in New York except safer (I’ve never been to New York but that’s how I imagine it).  There are people everywhere, tall sky scrapers and everyone walking very fast to wherever they are going and me in the middle staring at my map. J 

                Going on the train from Tarui to Nagoya, I came to realize just how populated Japan is.  Tarui is very much in the country with mountains around, so there’s more “space”.  On the train it was basically all buildings except for the rice fields.  It seems like any bit of land that does not have mountains, either has a house, a rice field, or a garden.  If you aren’t living on it, then you’re growing food on it.  The rice fields are little too and can be found in the middle of the city (like in Ogaki). 

                

                

                 

Saying goodbye...

It's my last week of work now.  In fact, I have 3 days left of work or 7.5 hours.  I'm not sad to leave the schools, I've been counting down classes for a while.  Not to say I don't enjoy going to the schools still... for the most part.  I've just been teaching songs and playing games and have stopped lesson planning.  I think the fact that I'm looking forward to being done is confirmation once again that I should not be a teacher, I have reconsidered being a teacher while being here, especially since one of the teachers I work with keeps asking me, "Are you sure you don't want to teach?"  :)

I am sad to leave Rodez, in a way.  I feel like in February I was really home sick, but this past month I've just been really enjoying my time here and grateful for this opportuniy.  (It probably helps that the weather has improved.)  Last night, one of my friends had a farewell dinner for me with the people I had met in the parish.  It was really great and it's almost like I didn't realize that this is the last time (probably) I'll see these people.  In Lethbridge, I said goodbye for 7 months, knowing I'd see them again, but this time that's unlikely.  Even if I do come back to France, would I come back to Rodez?  But as I said last night, I am very happy with my stay here.  I received everything that I wanted, had all kinds of interesting experiences, and really expanded my comfort zone.  When I get back to Canada, I won't have the homeless guys stopping me in the street to shake my hand and ask me how I'm doing, or hearing children yell, "Hello Janelle" when I'm walking.  (Rodez is a small town, so I run into my students and the people I've met at the drop-in center fairly frequently.)

So what have I taught my students?  Line dancing, and maybe some English.  ;)  I love hearing about how my students spend their recess line dancing and teaching other students how to line dance.  One day on entering the school yard I saw one of my students teaching 4 younger students how to line dance and he was using the English prepositions that I had used when teaching them.  J'étais trops contente!  (Side note, I think my written French has gotten worse since being here.)  I also saw a student of mine teaching the Tony Chestnut song at recess.

What have I been up to recently?  I've actually had the opportunity to travel more, especially since the weather is getting nicer.  The Wednesday after Easter I took the bus to Villefranche de Rouergue which is a little town with not much to see.  I spent 4 hours there which was plenty and visited a Carthusian Monastery. Since I was the only person visiting it, it was quiet and I reflected on the many monks that would have lived and meditated in that silence.

I also visited Lyon for a weekend.  It is a beautiful city, if you stay on the roads for tourists, as soon as you walk on other streets its the same old dirty Europe. :)  I really enjoyed visiting the Notre Dame de Fourvière church perched on top of a hill overlooking the city.  I also visited roman ruins of a theatre and Odeum (music hall) where I met three Canadian high school students on exchange.  Later, wandering around Lyon, I heard the song "Everything" and walked in that direction, I met a group of Christian missionaries acting out a skit and talked to one of the girls after.  I also am getting better at eating at restaurants alone, as long as I can people watch I quite enjoy my time.  Even walking around I'll make jokes to myself and laugh out loud.  I do meet and talk to people travelling though, especially since I've stayed at youth hostels and used covoiturage.

Speaking of covoiturage, I think Canada needs a site like this.  On this site people post the trip they're going on, the time and the price of joining them.  It's like carpooling with people you don't know.  It works really well and in general is cheaper and faster than the train (faster when you live in a town like Rodez).  However, I must say my experience coming back from Millau was a little scary.  The girl who was driving had hardly slept the night before because she had gone to a wedding.  She drove 140km/h (sometimes you can drive 130 km/h on the highway, but not all the time), had road rage, and answered her cell phone on several occasions.  I was praying that if I should die that God would receive my soul into His kingdom, hehe.  But, like I said, in general it's really good and people are super nice and friendly.  Which reminds me, I think I'm learning to not judge so much by appearance because I've met some rough-ish looking characters who have been very kind and helpful to me.

This past weekend a teacher whom I work with offered to take Ammi (the Spanish assistant I live with) and me on a trip.  So Saturday morning, the teacher, her sister, Ammi and I left to explore Southern France.  I must say, travelling in a car is convenient.  Here we were with people who knew what there was to see in each place and how to get there.  We went to Séverac le Château- there's an old castle in ruins; Avignon- saw the pope's palace and the bridge; Nîmes- saw the Arènes and other Roman temple or something; Montpellier- l'Arc de Triomphe, and Louis XIV overlooking the city.  It was funny because we looked up information to know who the statue was and found out it was Louis XIV, but that during the French revolution the statue had been taken and melted down to make two canons and that the stones the statue had been placed on where now in La place de la comédie under Les trois grâces, so it was all "fake" or at least not the original.  This seems to be quite frequent- during the French revolution buildings were destroyed or redesigned (ex: whitewashing over art) and now they are restoring these things.  The next day we went to Pézenas for Mass and then off to the sea at Cap d'Agde to walk along the port and the sea.  We had really nice warm weather, so it really felt like we were on holidays.  I really enjoy travelling, but what I'm finding now is that lots in Western Europe is the same after a while.

Now my mom is coming to visit and we will travel in Southern France, Italy and see Barcelona before I return home.

Easter

Christ is risen, alleluia!

I had debated about whether or not I should stay in Rodez for Easter since we had a long weekend and I thought I could travel somewhere.  In the end, I decided to stay because I wanted to be in my home parish for the celebrations and to be focused on Christ instead of on travelling.

I really enjoyed this Easter Triduum, all the celebrations were so beautiful.  At the vigil, I reflected on how many generations of vigils had taken place there and how this would be the "only" (well you never know) time for me to celebrate in France.

Easter day I went to Mass in the morning and then I had invited myself over to the Franciscan sisters for lunch.  There have been families who have offered for me to come over whenever, but I feel like it's harder to take them up on their offers.  However, with religious I don't feel like I'm imposing, maybe because they have other people that they've invited as well.  When I got there most of them were gathered together in a room listening to the Pope and waiting for his blessing.  After, we moved into the dining room and I got to eat a delicious Easter lunch in the company of Franciscans and two priests.  I find religious are just so beautiful.  The sisters here are mostly elderly because it's a retirement home for them.  I really felt the joy of the Resurrection and thanked God for blessing me with this Catholic community.

In the afternoon, I went for a short walk in the park (I mostly sat) and admired the wild flowers that have sprung up everywhere.  The sun was shining and I soaked it all in before having a nap.

I woke up and googled directions to the friend's house who had me for Easter supper.  I think I've given up with google maps (I keep saying that and yet I keep using it hehe).  In any case, after walking in the wrong direction I asked a lady and was set back on the right path and only arrived slightly late.  I had a lovely dinner with her as well.  Once again, I felt so blessed by God.

Now only a 3 day week since I don't work on Wednesdays.

Montpellier and Sète

I went to Montpellier this weekend.
So it all started Saturday at 8am when I met my covoiturage guy at the train station.  He was a 54 year old guy with an old car.  It was his first time carpooling and you could tell.  He was super friendly though- he couldn't understand my French very well and in the mean time, he blasted an apparently famous French singers CD and sang along.  We got to Montpellier and I was dropped off somewhere, it was around where I wanted to be, it's just that I didn't quite understand where I wanted to be.  Everyone says the Odysseum is easy to get to and right off the highway so it's convenient.  So, I get out of the car and start walking towards where the signs say centre ville.  I also had printed off google directions- which I'm pretty sure are useless in Europe.  I think I walked around this one huge round-about a couple times before deciding where to go.  After asking several people for directions (I don't know what I'm going to do in Italy) I found my way downtown.  Turns out, it was very simple, I just had to go straight and it wasn't very far.
After picking up a map and some information at the Office de Tourisme I took the train (20 minutes) to Sete which is on the Mediterranean Sea.  I could tell on the way to Montpellier that I was getting closer to the sea because of how the vegetation was changing and everything was more green.  It was raining in Sete which helped me feel like I was getting a real experience of the sea, instead of a nice sunny vacation.  :)  The tourism office was closed, so I wondered around and climbed up this giant hill that had a beautiful view all the way around.  At the top, I stopped to pray in the chapel there.  Once again I was reminded to put God first in everything.  I left feeling a lot happier.
I got back to Montpellier, ate a kebab, and then found the hostel where I was staying.  It was great, right downtown.  I went out once more to walk around since I like European cities at night since they're all lit up and there's people out and about.
Sunday I wanted to go to the church dedicated to St. Roch and they have his remains there, unfortunately it was closed.  So, I went to the Cathedral for Palm Sunday Mass.  It was really beautiful.  Afterwards I wandered around the city eating my peanut butter and honey sandwiches I had packed to save money, and wearing my yellow poncho since it was still raining.  It's funny because apparently it's really strange for it to rain a whole weekend in Montpellier and yet it did for me.  This didn't change my mood though, I was happy the whole time and enjoyed the looks I got from people for wearing a yellow poncho.  Montpellier is beautiful, I visited the botanical gardens and other historical monuments.  It seemed like there was a treasure around every corner with little parks, fountains, and statues.  They have a new part of town that they designed after the Greeks and the path by the river is nice for walking and people watching.  :)
I also carpooled on the way home.  We had a hard time finding each other since we said we would meet at the Odysseum again.  This time I took the tram just to make sure I got to the right spot, eventually all 4 of us found each other and I arrived safely back in Rodez.

Taize - Lisieux - Alps

Well, I’m back from my third two week vacation. 

Taize

                The first week of my holidays was spent at Taize.  I took the bus with a group of high school students from Aveyron.  I was a chaperone with this group.  We stopped in some town and celebrated Mass after which we ate lunch.  We continued the drive and only got to Taize at 5:15pm and we had left at 8:30am.  It took a while to get settled in as 80 teenagers had to be roomed with their friends.  I felt compassion for the priest with our group who was handling all of this.  I probably would have just said, “You’re sharing a room with these people, deal with it.”  In the end, I only had 3 teenagers in my room and they were all great, coming in at curfew every night, so I didn’t have any problems with them.

                Everyone complains about the food at Taize, but it’s really not bad.  Seeing as I heard this from French high school students though, I’m not too surprised they didn’t like the food.  I thought it all tasted good.  The only problem was that they don’t give you very much food, but I think that helps cut down on waste from the fussy people.  The first night waiting in line for supper I met girls from Lithuania, Korea and France.  I was rather happy to meet some young adults amidst the chaos of high school students. 

                After supper we had prayer and I had a hard time entering in as I was at the back and so there was more noise.  For the remainder of the week I sat close to the front. 

                Everyday starts with Mass at 7:30am which is optional of course.  The first day there were 20 priests and 2 bishops celebrating Mass and it was amazing to hear so many voices joined together during the consecration (as we weren’t in the big church area you could actually hear everyone and not just those using a mic). 

                At 8:20am, there is morning prayer.  (I found that the prayer times had quite a few of the elements of the Liturgy of the hours.  The three daily prayers have songs, a scripture reading, and a 7-8 minutes of silence.)  Then there is breakfast, followed by a Bible introduction and small group discussions.  I was a small group leader with a couple other ladies.  Everyone asked me how this went and how the discussion was and to be honest I don’t really know.  We were usually in a room with several other groups and so it was loud and if I can’t hear French well I have no idea what’s being said. 

                Midday prayer is at 12 ish and then lunch to follow, I usually had about an hour of free time from 2-3pm where I would go for walks in the country before meeting again with our small groups.  Before supper they often had workshops with a talk, followed by supper at 7:30pm and then evening prayer. 

                Now for some stories: 

There were two Korean Dominican sisters with our group.  One day there was a group of students from Korean who were travelling around Europe and stopped for a day in Taize.  At supper, a man was trying to get everyone to quiet down and then we see a youth from that group and these two sisters in habit busting out the “gannam” style move and more.  One of the sisters was already older and one was younger.  I found it so beautiful and different from how I usually view religious.  Even though it seems like every time I actually get to know religious I see how human and how much fun they are.  My thought: Christ has such beautiful spouses. 

                At one lunch I met a high school student who afterwards started tagging along with me, so as I was going for a walk to pray the Rosary, I asked her to pray it with me.  She wanted to sing the Hail Marys and it was really a beautiful experience.

                After lunch one day with a few of the girls I had met we played ninja, frozen tag, and rock paper scissors with cowboy ninja bear instead.  Gotta love being a kid again.

                I met other young adults from all over: an Australian lawyer who quit his job to spend a year at Taize, a Korean lawyer who also quit her job to travel once more and stay at Taize before getting married, a girl studying to be a pastor in Sweden, a Chilean dentist, a German woman who had studied linguistics and had learned about Michif, and the list continues.  English is definitely the universal language.  It’s great meeting people from other countries and learning about how life is there, I think that’s one reason travelling is such a great education, plus I think you remember it more when it’s something you’ve lived rather than learned from a book.

                My general impression of Taize:  I’m glad I went and I felt a lot of peace while being there.  However, I still don’t know how I feel about it.  Everyone (who I’ve talked to) who has been there is very positive about the experience, but I just don’t know what I think.  I think I need to learn and understand more.  It is a truly beautiful experience in terms of the prayer with song, the simplicity, the service, the community life, etc.

                My experience was different than the “typical” experience because I went in the winter with a group of high school students and I didn’t have any chores to do.

Lisieux

My next stop was Lisieux and I got to take one of those high speed trains.  I totally sat in someone else’s spot upon getting on the train, I think this happens a lot, so I found my place and whizzed through the middle of France to Paris where I had to change train stations by using the metro.  I was able to do this no problem and felt very proud of myself. 

I got to Lisieux when it was already dark and realized I had printed off the wrong directions to where I was staying.  Luckily Lisieux isn’t very big and after asking at one place where “le Foyer Louis and Zelie Martin” was I found my way.  I stayed with consecrated lay women who have this home to welcome pilgrims and it’s a really nice place to stay, maybe even nicer since there were hardly any pilgrims there so I had a whole floor to myself. 

Lisieux is beautiful, there seem to be flowers and song birds everywhere, plus the sun was shining during my stay.  I visited the Carmel and the relics of St. Therese.  It is so great to pray with saints.  I went to the Basilica built in her honour, which is massive and really beautiful, but I hardly stayed in there because it was so cold.  In the crypt of the basilica are the remains of St. Therese’s parents, Blessed Louis ad Zelie Martin.  Behind the basilica you can pray the Stations of the Cross that are set up on a little hill.  Under each station is a line by St. Therese which I found really helpful in my meditation.  I also visited the home where St. Therese lived before entering the Carmel. 

I think St. Therese really helped my prayer life when I was there and I was able to really focus and enter in.  That being said, I did have some little things that sure preoccupied me.  First, I lost a mitt somewhere between Taize and Lisieux and I needed mitts or gloves to go skiing so I ended up trying to walk to this intersport store one afternoon and then gave up because it seemed too far.  Second, I put in the wrong pin number on my French bank card and so it locked on me and I was no longer able to use it.  I didn’t have a credit card because mine had expired, so I was left with cheques and my Canadian debit card, which ended up being fine, but it’s these little things that distract and make me worry.

One night it was just me and one other pilgrim for supper and we got to talking.  This guy is a Parisian so he really talks quickly, my goodness.  When he found out that I’m 22 and want to get married and have kids, I found his reaction funny.  He was like, “If you’re already 22, you should have your kids soon because it’s best to have your kids young so you can raise them... etc.”  I thought this was funny because I’m so used to everyone telling me I’m young, that someone telling me I need to hurry and get married and have kids was surprising.  He was fairly young (early 30s I’d say) and secular which also made his reaction interesting.

Luckily, it was the day before I had to leave that the train schedules were changed because of a  “mouvement social” so I was able to get to the Alps without any troubles. 

Alps

                I got to the Briancon in the Alps and quickly found a store that sold gloves and bought some before rushing back to catch the bus to where I was staying/skiing.  In the end, a lady ended up offering to take me to my hostel.  Usually, I would have said, “No.” for safety reasons.  I agreed though, which was good since I don’t know if I would have found the hostel otherwise. 

                The first night I sat down at a table with high school students and that’s when I realized, that almost everyone at the hostel was either high school students or a family.  So I was sort of disappointed because I was hoping to meet more people my age.  However, the next day, I got a roommate from Russia and we ended up skiing together for some of the day.

                The first two days of skiing, the snow conditions were great but the visibility was terrible with clouds, rain, and snow.  The last day was clear, sunny, and beautiful with great snow conditions.  I really enjoyed it.  The Alps are different than the Rockies.  I think the Rockies have more trees and there’s more runs off the chairlifts.  It seemed at the station I was at they could have a chair just for one run.  The mountain was huge too and I really only got to ski half of it.

                After another 12.5 hours of travelling, I arrived back in Rodez.  I now have only 5 weeks left of teaching.  I’m excited to go back to Canada.  I have enjoyed my time here- the free time, volunteering, praying, travelling- but I miss Canada.