Kawaii!

Well where to begin? It's been quite an exciting weekend so far! Friday there really wasn't any work I needed to do at the BOE so Takuma-san let me and my neighbor head out early. I really needed to run errands, so he helped me navigate some of the essential places in town. First we went to the 100-yen store (basically a dollar store) but so much better than the ones I'd been to in the states! I picked out some nice things for my house, of course getting stared at the whole time! After I went to the Homewide store, which is basically like a Wal-mart. I picked up some storage supplies and things like hangers, pillowcases, shampoo (they have pantene-pro v and dove soap!) etc. After a delicious lunch of soba noodles and shrimp at a convenient store - yes I know, kind of strange but that's how it's done. Oh and ps. you order it via vending machine - I took my first trip to the grocery store. I got some essentials and some new things. They had the mini sized cups of Haagen Dazs so I got some for emergencies! After that I went home and got ready for the evening festivities.

Aso is divided up into smaller villages, and one of those villages had a festival. I was planning on going into Kumamoto city for their festival, but I thought it would be important to make an appearance at the one in my city. My predecessor had been given a yukata (a type of summer kimono) as a going away present, and one of the English teachers at my school picked us up to help her put it on. When she came to my house, we introduced ourselves and then she proceeded to tell me that I look like Mariah Carey. This was definitely a first for me and I tried really hard not to laugh! We got in her car, she was listening to the locomotion, and drove to her family's store to put on the yukata. It was fascinating to watch the intricate steps of putting the robe on, especially tying the sash - I hope I get to wear one soon! I also learned that another way to say that someone has large breasts is to call them glamorous. I found this to be quite entertaining when both my predecessor and I were told that we were very glamorous.

After we went to the festival and it was so much fun! I met the Mayor of the city and many of my future students. Finally seeing them got me so excited! They are adorable and I can't wait to start teaching. In their best broken English they tried to ask me how tall I was, how old I was, why I wanted to come to Japan, and of course if I had a boyfriend. There were a few other questions sprinkled in here and there, but these I definitely got the most. I tried some new foods, notably takoyaki, which is a fried ball with some cheese and octopus in it. I also learned that everything in Japan is cute. If you like something, really anything, you call it cute or Kawaii (pronounced like Hawaii but with a K) I probably heard Kawaii over 100 times to describe things from shopping bags, to flashing pens, to small children dressed up in their yukatas. When the festival was winding down, my predecessor, my neighbor, one of my eikaiwa students (adult class) and I were sitting down resting when two of my future students came over and brought us some beer. They couldn't have been older than 14. I was pretty much speechless when they brought them, as I tried to explain to the eikaiwa student how strict the US and especially Boston is about drinking. But oh well, it's Japan! Kampai! (cheers)

After the festival more of my eikaiwa students, my predecessor and I all went back to the bar I went to on Wednesday night for some Kareoke. It was a blast, and I was handed the microphone for way too many English songs. They had quite the random selection - I ended up singing Hit Me Baby One More Time (oh apparently the owner of the bar thinks I look like Britney Spears - I'll take her over Mariah) and MacArthur Park. Some of the songs that have English also have the Japanese characters above the words. This basically helps Japanese people get as close to the English pronounciation as Japanese will allow (they don't have some of our common sounds like v's, r's, th's) which led to some hilarious drunken songs. After the bar shut down we all went home, but sitting there with everyone, I'm finding that my Japanese listening skills are definitely improving! Speaking - not so much!

Saturday I slept in and tried out my kitchen for the first time! Then after taking care of some things around the house, my predecessor took me to one of the onsens (Hot springs) in town. I absolutely loved it and could definitely see myself going regularly. For about $4-$8 depending on the onsen you pretty much spend as much time as you want in a spa! I was a little nervous at first because you take your clothes off (this was not a co-ed onsen), but nudity is considered a way to break down barriers in Japanese culture and the people often talk about the virtues of naked communion. First you take a shower, and then you can walk around and enter the different pools. Some were outdoors, some indoors, some were really hot, and one was freezing cold! Some onsens have sulfuric pools that are amazing for your skin (even though you smell like a volcano for a couple of days afterwards) and some have electric currents running through them. I can't wait to try all of them! The really cold pool was by far the most invigorating, especially after getting out of the hottest baths. Overall, the experience was amazing and I left feeling relaxed and refreshed - and my skin felt amazingly smooth too!

After returning home I learned how to use my Japanese laundry machine, and got ready to head out to Denory's Diner (the Johnny Rockets-like place) for an event they were having. Some other JETs, people we met at the festival, and some eikaiwa students all came to have dinner, drink and listen to some live music. It was really fun to see all the different performances and celebrate my predecessors last night in town.

Well it has been a pretty crazy week/weekend so far so I'm hoping for a somewhat relaxing Sunday. Wednesday will be the start of my Kumamoto prefecture orientation where I get to meet all the JETs in my area, so I'm looking forward to that! I'll keep you posted!