Excellent English

Did you eat crabs?

I did too.

So, living in Japan, English is seen as 'very cool' because everyone studies it, most people can't fathom how people learn this shit, and being fluent in it is very highly regarded by just about everyone. This has led to a lot of clothing being produced that has written english on it, which of course, is cool. Now, if you'd kindly view the following Dogen video, you can see how this goes pretty quickly.

Now, "smiling Bravely, My hero." Probably written like that, even, is 100% something you would find on a Japanese person's shirt. Today, I'd like to share with you some of the wonderful phrases I've learned from Japanese clothing since I started working at my elementary schools.

Move on and get over it.

Located on the collar of a 3rd grader's shirt.

Matey

In the middle of a heart on a third grade girl's shirt.

I'm on cloud nine

Inside a heart, same age and gender

He laughed a hearty laugh.

Just as a patch on a shirt.

I am champion power

All over the shirt

Move on smile girl. Comfortable life. Always easy

all over the shirt
Honorable mention:

Je ne parle francaise

When I read it aloud, the student wearing it had no idea what I was talking about. If you don't know, this is french for I don't speak french.

Of course, these are just the things I see in my schools. The variety gets wider when you go out into the world, but I've yet to come across one of these mythical stores with hilarious phrases on them. It is one of the thing I plan to accomplish before too long though, perhaps this weekend.

Speaking of coming back to school, I guess three weeks is too long or something, or maybe my posture has deteriorated because standing up for hours at a time is hurting my back today. A girl asked me how old I was this morning, and after I tell them I'm 28, they always go '若い！' or 'so young!' which I never really understand. Perhaps this is a case of me mistaking the youthful appearance of Japanese people on the general. My English teachers for example; Now that I've spent almost a year with them, I can firmly say that one is in her 50's, and the other is in her 40's, but this only comes from knowing that one has a son ten years younger than me, and the other has a daughter 15 years younger. not quite my mom's age, but not too far either. As for the other faculty, I can't even say I'm the youngest person here because I genuinely don't know and I really can't tell. You've got the occasional man who is obviously in his 60's/70's with the sunken cheeks and wrinkled skin, but even then, they're generally very friendly and energetic whenever I come across them.

One thing I do tend to notice is that all the women, young and old alike, tend to have the same haircut. You know the one. Of course, there are slight variations from this, but when it comes to the framing of the face, they're all like this. Even the children for the most part. It comes down to about the base of the neck and stops right there, with razor straight bangs just above the eyebrows. It's got to be an art of some kind, because no matter the day or the weather, it always looks perfect too. But, that's the thing about hair here. Nobody seems to have frizzy hair like me that tends to curl in high humidity. My hair is just wavy as a general rule and because it's long, it likes to form spirals at the ends. I definitely have the longest hair most places I go.

In the very near future, we're going to get snow dumped on us, and I am not ready for it. However, because of that, the mountain near by is going to be opening a bunch of its ski lanes. Because It's only an hour away, I'm thinking of taking a day trip over the weekend soon. It's something like 9000JPY to rent gear and get a ski lift pass, which is like $50. Other than a 1000jpy for a toll gate to get into the other prefecture, I shouldn't be killing my budget for this. I went snowboarding for my 18th birthday for four days and that's still one of my best memories. I think back to that time every time it snows and there's always an album that plays in my head. This one to be specific.

My love for snow died as it became an obstacle instead of a day off, but that doesn't mean I ever came to dislike winter sports. I found out that there's an ice rink around here too, and I haven't been ice skating since I left the US. I did buy rollerblades a while ago and I have been using those, but not consistently since September at the latest. It got real cold starting in October, and the apartment is nice and warm... if I'm wearing enough clothes. I genuinely believe my apartment was built either around the time or right after the new building codes were rolled out in the 80's.

A coworker of mine who also happens to be from Texas went back home over the holidays and brought some of my stuff and her sister back with her. Since I'm like twice her size and male, I ended up taking the luggage up to her apartment after I picked them up from the airport, and you could not imagine my jealousy upon seeing that she had twice as much space as I did and a balcony in the back. It is for that reason more than any other that I want to move away from this place, and here soon, I should hear about how my wish was granted.

There are three ways this could go. The first option and probably the best option would be the Hiroshima position. However, it's very contested and the company really wants to solidify this contract and I don't know that my year of experience qualifies me for it. Interac is just the largest of several private ALT companies while the government hires JETs to ensure high schools have native English speakers in classes. Obviously, that's the better paying job, but it's a lottery as to where you land and what you might be expected to do. This guy ended up in Sakuta, Miyagi with JET back in 2012, and if you've never heard of the town, well neither had I. As a matter of fact, I'm certain a majority of people don't know that Shimane is a place in Japan, and it's not the only one like that.

What I recently learned is that San'in (山陰) literally means mountain shadow, and the other side of this region, San'yo (山陽) means mountain sunshine. Historically, this place is a dreary, rainy place all the time. There is a reason that no high speed train has been built to this area, and after almost a year, I can see why. It's inconvenient, there are few opportunities, and there are only a handful of ports. The other side has Hiroshima, which as been a huge port for all of Japan's history, sitting right smack dab in the middle of all the important parts of the islands. I hate the rain, so finding out that the side I'm about to move to is historically sunny makes me pretty happy.

For that matter, here on Sunday, I'm going to finish the mythical land of Hiroshima and see what I have time to see on foot. My students took a school trip to see the bomb dome (last thing standing after the atomic bomb landed here) the peace museum, Itsukushima island, and an amusement park further east over a three day weekend, and I figure I might as well get a sense of what they saw.

Anyways, that's all from me.
Until next time~
-KCZ