The Lighthearted Wanderer

A physically exhausting day...started with cleaning my apartment, throwing out a lot of garbage, and moving my extra things to my friend's apartment nearby. I thought the day was going to turn out badly/bad karma when I brought down my first set of garbage and the garbage lady proceeded to chew me out in Japanese because I put my plastics-type garbage next to the appropriate cage as opposed to inside the cage since it was locked. I played the foreigner but I felt super guilty :( But only guilty enough that I went looking for other garbage areas without mean ladies. All of my utilities got turned off one by one and I had to pay all the month of payments I...skipped...or more precisely, didn't bother to pay because I would soon be leaving anyway. Bad karma continued as the water lady quoted me ¥901 but upon calling higher-ups realized I needed to pay for June and July -> ¥5031. I had given her ¥1001 originally, but not having enough smaller bills for it to be exact cha...

(Just because it's fun to remember...and because I got so much help from my friends, I might as well post it here in case it can help someone someday.) The teachers and students were super surprised and super excited that I spoke so much Japanese in my speech. Obviously I didn't write all, or even most, of the Japanese in this speech, but the students and teachers appreciated the gesture so much that I am really glad I just asked for help from as many Japanese-studying/speaking friends as I could.  ------------------------------------------------------------- Mina-san, konnichiwa/ohaiyogozaimasu.  Good morningeveryone!    I have been in Japan and teaching at Ikakita (my school's nickname) for one year, and it has been very enjoyable. Ima made watashi wa ichi-nen-kan Nihon ni ite, Ikakita de oshiete imashita, taihen tanoshikatta desu. It's a shame that I have to leaveIkakita. Ikakita o sarukoto ni nari, zannen desu. Kocho-sensei, Kyoto-sense...

(this is my version of an "update me on your life" email that I've received from some of my friends over the past few months) Dear Friends, I write to you from my work desk at one of the schools I have worked at over the past year. It is my last day of work here, and I feel compelled to update the world about my life in a rather concrete fashion. (Well, as concrete as it could be, posting on my blog with an audience of about 10.) It has been almost one year since I first arrived in Japan, and my time here has been filled since day one. Not simply filled with excitement, but with emotion, reflection, and a lot of evenings at home opting for sweets instead of turning on the stove for a proper meal. Over the past year, I have been teaching English to students at two Japanese high schools in the city of Kobe. One of my schools was very close to my house, and I'd frequently find myself waking up with only a few minutes to get ready before running to wo...

If only the real Himeji castle wasn't in a box... Himeji's Yukata Masturi is an annual festival taking place in Japan's most famous castle town of Himeji. Unfortunately, construction has prevented me from ever seeing the actual castle structure, and so this model in the tourism office will probably be as close as I will ever get (reopens in 2015!).  The festival took place the weekend of June 22-24, with over 800 food vendors and amusement stalls open the whole day--and stage fashion shows, singing, and dancing picking up in the evening.  One of my girl friends who lives in my neighborhood and I, we went to the festival early in the afternoon, when the crowds were thin and we were free to slowly wander back and forth through the stalls. We had a delightful day of eating festival food, fried chicken, soft serve ice cream, tai-yaki, yakisoba, and I can't even remember what else now. There were hundreds of girls in yukata of all different colors, and quite a ...