２００９年５月２５日
All I can say is, “Sorry I’m late.” I don’t remember the last time I wrote anything substantial about my time here, let alone the last time I actually posted a blog! My apologies for those of you die-hard fans who have been drooling by the computer just… erh, well, ok that’s an exaggeration. Back to reality: if you actually read this blog than you are a dear friend (or one of my parents) and hopefully I have sent you a personalized message since April 29th (last blog)!
It’s a well-known fact that when you settle into a routine (and cherish the time outside of that routine), you hardly notice the time passing by at an ever-increasing rate. I’ve been in Japan now (quick look at the calendar) 2 months and a week now. There is a side to this fact that screams, “Man, I am happy THAT part is over!” and another side that doesn’t understand how summer could possibly be approaching! Isn’t it still the end of winter? Peter and I have concluded that our days at school can seem like an eternity (if we don’t have many classes that day) while the weeks simply fly.
The degree to which I enjoy Toyama, this job and my overall lifestyle here has varied greatly over the past 10 weeks. Here’s a slice of that “mille-feuille” for you:

Stage One – Japan! Japan! Japan! I’m dreaming this, right?

Stage Two – Toyama! Toyama! Toyama! I really get to live by the sea AND the mountains?! This Leo palace isn’t THAT small. Peter, we have our own place! Wow, you can get around pretty easy here for not speaking a word of Japanese!

Stage Three – Toyama… why exactly do people live in Toyama? Because they have no other choice? Kanazawa is much more interesting. Peter, you’re hogging the pillow AND our one sheet! Japanese will be impossible to learn. At least we have one friend here, Mr. Dave Meyers!

Stage Four – We get to live by the canal in downtown Toyama! The stale smell of smoke at the Leo Palace was a gift after all! (For those wondering what the heck is a “Leo Palace,” it’s a tiny apartment often rented out to transient Japanese or clueless foreigners. They are very compact, quite efficient really, but lack any charm. They also apparently inspire people to take up chain-smoking.) School is both nerve-racking and BORING!!! No internet connection means little contact with family L Oh the luxury of speaking Japanese. I’m feeling jealous of my co-workers for the ease with which they can speak to one another.

Stage Five – Still love our apartment (bare floors, walls and all); classes have started at school; feeling less like a small animal at the bottom of a large food-chain.

Stage Six – Apartment is as sweet as ever (we bought a coffee table and floor cushions!) and classes are going well. Our social circle is expanding with Dave’s help; we host a dinner party at our place. (Number of invites tops 8!) I hope Yui (Dave’s girlfriend) becomes my best friend. Peter looks skinny from eating only rice and barley. Feeling ever-more strapped for cash, we stick it to the man and buy ourselves a vegetable garden for the balcony. haHA!

Stage Seven – Peter and I begin discovering how to use products here to make delicious meals. Chinese shop across the street offers the spices we were missing, new rice cooker from 2nd hand store solves the lack-of-good-bread-dilemma and Lindsay inspires us to get creative with Japanese ingredients! Can you say “miso chutney?” A trip with Lindsay and Sune for Golden Week reminds me of WHY I wanted to come to Japan in the first place. Nothing like camping and rock-climbing with good friends to grant you some perspective. Peter begins to look healthier!

Stage Eight – I’m happy I live in Toyama. It’s doesn’t boast any major tourist attraction and it’s local specialty is firefly squid, which is foul, but it’s where I live now! I start to recognize Toyama’s small charms and appreciate the fact that it’s NOT a tourist trap. Peter and I begin Japanese lessons with our friend, Kuboshita! She likes our dry humor, offers us a Tupperware of her own “rolled cabbage” dish, hates air conditioning and has the cutest shoes! Internet connection found and long-awaited chats with family had! Major downer: our building is covered with scaffolding (blocking fresh air and sunlight sources for our garden!) and workers begin chipping away at the grout early one Saturday morning (to be repeated the next Saturday, as well). What’s the flippin’ idea?! Sunday Japanese lessons have commenced at the International building downtown. Peter and I arrive soggy, late and empty-handed to our first lesson and some Chinese guy in the class is a jerk. He likes to repeat after the teacher just slightly before the rest of us to show us he’s better. Jerk.


Stage Nine – No vacations in the near future, which is a bit disconcerting, though school weeks are now racing by and I feel mostly happy when at school. Most of my students are great, though some make my teeth hurt. It’s amazing, however, to be supporting myself financially… in Japan! Hey, I can read Hiragana (one of the 3 Japanese writing systems) now! A Japanese woman who teaches private lessons invites me to help out with English parties at her house… she is also my new tutor and we make plans for next week! Peter and I spend our dinners watching David Attenborough’s State of the Planet series. We are going for runs more often and occasionally play badminton in the nearby park. Dave stops by and we head to The Golden Bowl (our local bowling alley) just next door. Nothing like sipping sake and hitting a few strikes to get you giggling J

Stage Ten – Discovery! Peter and I can run just 20 minutes from our apartment and end up at a beautiful ridge, lined with bamboo forests! The park also boasts 500 Buddha statues, a tea house, several museums and a jankey-looking Victorian home that advertises “Wine, beer, steak & ice cream”… sounds rough. Most of the other English teachers we meet (mostly from U.S. and Australia) are weird or offensive…or both. However, Dave is becoming a dear friend and we have plans to throw Yui a grand birthday party next week. I will prepare her favorite dessert – chocolate pudding! Peter and I get paid for the first time (hallelujah!) at the end of this week! (A.k.a. no more stressing over the $1.89 soy milk that looks gross or the $1.99 one that is definitely more delicious!)

Wow, yeah, so there you go. I guess each “stage” really just represents one week (something I figured out as I kept adding stages). These can be viewed as both segments of time and segments of emotion as time inevitably eases you into a niche, wherever that new “niche” may be.
Now that you’re bum has fallen asleep and my work day is over, it’s about time I head out. And if you have arrived all the way here, then you really are a die-hard fan and I commend you. J