Iki Island Lover!

Another reggae concert on Iki. I believe the last one of the summer.This time this show included artists from all over Kyushu. After some researching, I found out that the concert was part of a fundraiser to raise money for people affected by the volcanoe eruption in Miyazaki. Good food, music and dancing! RESPECT!

Weekend Disaster: Nagasaki Orientation

Nagasaki Orientation....a weekend in which I was supposed to have a relaxing couple of days off of Iki and it turned out to be a disaster. Okay...I exaggerate, but the trip could have gone a whole smoother if a couple things didn't happen. Such as...

1. Flying the day of orientation. I don't know why the Iki crew wasn't flown in the night before. After arriving, we had to take a bus to the orientation area, but we missed the bus stop because hmm, well I can't read Kanji. At the bus station we were told we had to take the tram about two stops to the conference center. On the tram and on our way, I realized that my Iki Island discount card along with my plane ticket had fallen out of the protective sleeve. smh! We go back towards the bus station and then I realize I left my backpack on the bus. DISASTER! This resulted with me breaking down in front of the attendant at the bus station because I couldn't remember the Japanese for "I forgot." Everything sorted itself out though. I got my backpack within twenty minutes(yay Japan!) and two people from the orientation picked us up from the station. Sorted!

2. Drinking way too much at the JET party.

-_____- I lied to myself when I woke up the morning after and said I was fine. By about 10 a.m. the night of debauchery hit me and I was a zombie for the rest of day. So much for sightseeing. I stayed in the mall the whole day with some other JETS. My friend assured me that I did not look hungover. Ah, but my body was saying different. I felt like I'd been hit in the head with a baseball bat, runover by a bus, and trampled by thousands of people. Oy vaaay.

3. Allergic reaction on my eyelids. On Saturday night, I was with some of my JET peeps when I felt my eyelids getting puffy. I don't know what the hell was going on with my eyes, but my bottom eyelids swelled up. I bought some allergy medication, but took too many and as a result felt like throwing up and then falling asleep right where I stood. Rough.

3. Being overwhelmed by the city. Trams? Buses? Trains? TRAFFIC?! I guess being on Iki for a month now has gotten to me because Nagasaki City was stressing me out with all that city...ness. A bunch us huddled together on an overcrowded train...ugh! Take me back to the inaka (country) please!

4. The orientation. How many times do I need to hear this information?! BAH!

However, I must say the weekend was not all that bad. I met so many awesome JETS in Nagasaki and made lots of new friends. D'aww! I met up with my friends from Tokyo Orientation( shout-out to Stephanie and Melissa!) Then there was that party. Hot damn and that's all I'm gonna say. o__O Yeah, the next day I was hungover, but who doesn't love a good party? My dear loves, rum and whiskey, we need a break.

By Saturday night, I was ready to go back to what I now call home, my dear Iki.

Obon!

(Note* O-kun and B-Chan are code names for the other ALT's. I didn't ask them if it was alright to use their names in the blog.)

Obon was about two weeks ago now. Obon is a three day Buddhist event in which the spirits of the ancestors come back to visit their relatives. Families clean the graves of their relatives and provide food offerings at grave sites and temples. How people celebrate differs from region to region. This also time when people all over Japan visit their hometowns. So it's a big family event! This will probably be the only time when Iki is crazy with the traffic.

Oh..and my massive error. We (we being O-kun, B-chan) left the festival in Ishida early. On the drive home from Gonura, after taking B-chan home, we could see the fireworks light up the sky in the distance. When we got to Ishida, I thought we could catch the last bit of the fireworks. Well, when I pulled into the parking lot, the fireworks finished and we got caught in traffic. It took us almost 30 minutes to get home when usually it's a 2 minute car ride.

As the Conductor says..."massive error."

Kids playing tug-o-war

Some Lanterns at a stand
A woman doing the Bon Dance

Impulse

Saturday evening I did something totally unexpected of me. Usually, I stress myself out between trying to be my own person and conforming with what is appropriate. On this particular evening, a bunch of went to the beach. It was a cloudy day and the sky looked as if it would unleash a flood at any moment, but we still ventured to the coastline.

And then it started to rain.

And not just a little light rain, but a torrential downpour! One of the guys that joined us ran out into the sea and started swimming. I looked at him as if he was craziest person alive. How could he do that? We all just stood under the porch of the beach bar and watched him swim. As the rain began to pour down harder, I was struck with the thought that I might have left my car window down. A friend of mine, offered to go check for me, but I ran out into the rain anyway. The good news, I didn't leave my windows down. -_____-

I ran back into the bar completely soaked. I looked at the guy having a good time in the water and I wondered why I was so afraid of the rain. I'm always running away from it, but I've never stood between sea and land and just let it rain on me. A friend of a friend was visiting. I told him that I feel like swimming in the rain and he expressed that he wanted to do the same. He changed into his swim wear and we ran into the ocean as a storm raged on (wasn't that bad of a storm, don't go cray cray on me). When the rain had settled, more friends joined in and we just chilled in the sea with the jellyfish. Some of us drank beer. And thus it was a good night.

And there is only one picture from this event and it wasn't taken by me, so when he uploads it, I'll post it here!

Nihongo speech...onegaishimasu.

So, I just have to write about this now! I'll write about other events later!

Today I did my jiko shokai (self-introduction) for the Junior High school today. I had to say a short speech in English and....dun, dun, dun, dun, Japanese. I was so freaking nervous. Today wasn't even a hot day, but the butterflies in my stomach were setting my body temperature at an all time high and I was sweating so much it looked like I just ran a 5K. The ceremony was only about 10 minutes. It was very Japanese with all the bowing and the students in these rigid straight lines. The Kocho-sensei(Principal) introduced me and before that we had to walk onto the stage at the same time. So I did my speech and the whole time I kept telling myself, "slow down, woman!" But it went well. By the time I said the Japanese version, I was bit calmer. Hopefully, I was loud enough. Thank God for the microphone.

After I said my speech, one of the students representing the school greeted me in English. I like to think of this as a bonding moment for us because I was nervous to speak Japanese and she was nervous to speak English. Afterwards, I ran into her in the hallway and gave her a thumbs up for a job well done.

One of the teachers led me back to the teacher's room so she could give me the pictures she took. And she told that I'm good at speaking Japanese to which I replied, "thank you, but I'm certainly not peda, peda(fluent)." I'm so grateful for this experience though because I really feel that it broke down a barrier between me and the students and the teachers. On the way home I went to Shun-chan's pharmacy to tell him about the speech. He made me recite it again and only then did I discover the grammatical errors. I said it many times for the Japanese teachers and they kept "ii desu," it's good. The errors weren't anything major. It was like if one forget to put the "is" or a "the." No biggie.

With all of the introductions out of the way, I start teaching in two weeks. And I'm so ready! YOSH!

I didn't realize till I stepped off the stage that the students had made signs for me and actually drew me! Love it!

Just a Girl and Her Karuma

Alright, so I have a love/hate relationship with my car. Actually, I think it may have those feelings toward me. And let's pretend we're in a world where all cars have feelings. Okay, so I have named my car Brunhilda!

When I think of a Brunhilda, I think of a strong and robust person that doesn't take shit from anyone. That's my car. I gotta be thankful to this car. Since I'm still adjusting to driving it, I have been giving the transmission some stress. I amazed that it's still running amazingly! But Brunhilda has endured 15 years of the Iki streets. She can surely handle me!

Pictures of Brunhilda coming very soon!

Driving Standard

Ganbare!

"Do your best!" I tell myself as I am stalled on the incline of the hill with my supervisor right next to me. He's saying something in Japanese, but by that point in the driving lesson I'm too tried and frustrated to translate what he's saying. I just do the Japanese grunt, "un" and say "hai" after he finishes his sentence. That was driving lesson number 2.

Before moving to Japan, I bought my predecessor's old car for a great price-I didn't have to pay the additional tax included in Japanese vehicles for maybe another year. Only downside of paying such a low price was learning how to drive a standard car. I learned how to drive on an automatic, but deep down I always wanted to learn how to drive a manual. Well, my wish came true. Before my predecessor left the island, she gave a couple of lessons and was impressed by how quickly I picked up standard driving. I think I may have gotten a little cocky because when I had lessons with supervisor he sprung some challenges on me...the uphill start. The first lesson was fine and it was obvious that I needed to starting on a hill. There are no excuses or ways around this; I have to learn because Iki is just one great big hill after another. Driving lesson 2 was just a disaster. I slipped into the stage 2 of culture shock quite easily after it was over. I cursed at myself for buying a manual car and was thinking of ways I could switch the little Toyota Starlet for an automatic. I was able to drive home that day, but could hardly pull a smile when my supervisor said goodbye. I ran upstairs to my apartment and broke down crying. At a lost of what to do and definitely in need of someone to talk to, I logged onto facebook and did the obvious cry for help....update my status. I searched the sidebar for close friends I could message and pour my soul to, but there was none at that point. Well, there was one person, but I wasn't sure if he wanted to be bothered by problems. However, two wonderful people replied to my status and one my good friends logged on. I then called my mother and whined for an hour. I love my mother because she has this tender way of telling me to suck it up, but at the same time encouraging me to be the best.

The next day was driving lesson number 3. I was so nervous about it, I had dreams the night before. More like nightmares. I watched youtube videos for most of the day and practiced with my feet in my living room. My friends gave more words of encouragement, but I realized I needed to encourage myself. It was me who was getting in the way of mastering the uphill start. After my supervisor picked me up, I drove to the hill. It was like David staring down the giant. I wonder if my supervisor noticed the intense glare that I gave to the hill.

I messed up a couple of times, got it and then messed up again. But I remember what my mother and friends told me, 1)keep my composure and 2) I don't have to be perfect. Things take practice, which is something I struggle with being a perfectionist. I want to be perfect right away and skip the practice part. Whenever I stalled, I just laughed it off and tried again. When it seemed that I wasn't getting it on one of the hills, I pictured one of the youtube clips that I watched. The voice of an Irish guy filled my head with the steps on making an uphill start. And from there it worked. I took my time.At one point, I went away from stop sign on a hill so smoothly, my supervisor yelled out "yatta! Yosh," which is Japanese for....well it doesn't translate well into English. But it was like he was saying, "YEAH! Alright!"

I was proud that I didn't walk away from the challenge and faced it head on.

I'm going for another driving lesson and yes I'm nervous, and I will most likely stall on the hill, but I'm not letting a car get the best of my emotions. But I find it funny the challenges God throws at you and what forms they come in. So far mine has been in the shape of a little silver car with a stick and giant hills.

I guess this is growing up, yeah?

Iki Photo Series

Here are some photos of my new island home! More to come...I just gotta master driving my car so I can explore!

Iki Island Sound

Sunday, I went to my first reggae concert! Iki Island Sound!

I can't drive my car because I'm still learning how to drive it and I don't have car insurance yet. The owner of the bar was kind enough to give me a ride. An old Japanese man with swag. He's so freakin' cool! As a result, I was about thirty minutes early for the concert. Meeeh! I was totally nervous about being one of the first people to show up. My Japanese isn't that great so I was worried about communicating with people. But hey! This is reggae. One love! I had no reason to be worried or nervous. Everyone was so friendly. So I'm meeting all these people and it didn't hit me till I looked at that poster again that I was actually meeting the artists. Sugoii(amazing)!!! The venue was tiny; it was just a little bar and there seemed to be about thirty people including the artists. Oh and a couple of toddlers and a baby. The music was great, but the djs talked a lot. I'd be in the groove and shaking my tail feather and they'd lower the music to talk about something. But there was never a dull moment! People just kept getting crazier as the night went on. 


I got shout-outs throughout the night from the djs(I'm the new kid in town) and the main singer Ninety-U pleaded me to stay with him. Awwww. He was quite cute actually. Eh...there were a lot cuties. =) And everyone kept buying me drinks to the point I had to say no because I was almost three sheets to the wind. Afterwards I went to the after-party with the artists and some Iki locals and of course they bought me more drinks. I held myself pretty well considering I had nothing to eat for dinner! Of course, I was obliged to sing karaoke. Bah! After the party, I went to a ramen shop with two of the dudes. Squished in between them in the taxi, I was hoping that they dropped me off near my apartment, but then they asked me to the ramen place. Watev! The ramen shop ended up being a five minute walk from my apartment. Felt like 3 in the morning, but it was barely midnight. When I got home, all the alcohol hit me. I went in between chatting with my friend on FB to being sprawled all over my tatami mat cursing Japanese sake.

So how was your Sunday?